Buying A New Car In 1970 - What Was It Like?
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- čas přidán 21. 06. 2019
- What was it like to buy a new car in 1970? What where the buying choices back in 1970? Was it easier or more difficult than purchasing a new car today? For the answer to these questions and other questions related to car buying in 1970 watch this video.
Back in the day, when America actually had a real “middle-class”.
In 1977 my dad went out for a loaf of bread and milk, about 8 hrs later he came home with a brand new Chevrolet station wagon but he forgot the milk and bread. 😆.
Every new car came with free factory rust
Back in 1970 we had REAL cars, not the computerized trash we have today. I would have had a hard time deciding what car to buy, even with my modest income. It would have been an American car or a VW bug. Sadly, today there isn't a single new vehicle on the market I have any interest in, I drive vintage cars almost exclusively. I have been an auto mechanic for 36 years, and have seen year by year what a nightmare cars have become. Not only is the technology insane and absurd, but it is almost impossible to find a 2 door car, a rear wheel drive car, a car with a V8 engine, a 2 door pickup, a car/pickup with a manual transmission, a station wagon, or even a car with tires. Now it's 20" GHETTO wheels with a very thin strip of rubber wrapped around them. No thanks.
The real pandemic is people buying stuff they can't afford. Too many people I know buy $30-50k vehicles on $50-60k salaries. How do you even justify that? Do they understand they can't work forever?
Today’s dealerships are awful! I’d rather go in for brain surgery and a double vasectomy than try buying a car. Discounts are minimal, doc fees, few choices, and a take it or leave it mentality. Well they can keep it!
The good thing about cars back then was that you could do your own repairs.
When I was a kid I started working at a Lincoln Mercury store. The year was 1975. Everyone in the sales department were well-dressed men. All in very nice suits and all long time employees. A nice little perk was that all of the sales department had their own demo. I was in the service department as a technician. In 1975 starting pay was $11.50 per hour. It doesn't sound like much but my first brand new car was a 1978 Toyota pickup that cost me $3,838. It took me less than a year to pay it off. I had a nice apartment that cost me $180 per month. Utilities usually ran about $20 per month. It was carefree living back then.
Not all of this is true. You could call the dealership to see if they had the car you wanted back in 1970. We did have phones back then. We also had sliced bread and TVs too.
The narrator sounds like he just lost his best friend.
I graduated high school in 1970. Minimum wage was
Don't forget the beautiful brochures that were art work in their own right!
In the 60's and early 70's my dad bought a new car every year. He was a traveling salesman and put a lot of miles on a car in a year. He preferred Chryslers or Plymouth. He always bought at the same place with the same salesman. We used to refer to the salesman as "Uncle Jack" since he was almost part of the family.
This is a great topic. I remember as a little 6-7yo kid my dad got a new ‘69 Oldsmobile Toronado in a metallic silver-olive color and similar nice fabric interior. He actually kept that car for at least 5 years. But he had a new car every 2 years. My aunts and uncles all traded their cars in every 1-2 years! It was like a great American past time! But they did have their loyalty to dealers and brands. Pontiacs and Oldsmobile’s mostly ha. The men had coupes and the women had wagons. All kinds of colors. Then we’d all take these 2-4 car caravan road trips from Pittsburgh to the Carolinas for 2-3 week summer vacations. Like there wasn’t a care in the world. That’s what it was like folks.
This honestly makes me wish it were 1970 again. Simplicity.
In the 70's my dad bought Chevy, Buick and Olds and it was a big event to go to the dealer and test drive them, negotiate, bring it home and half the neighborhood would come by to check it out. Now it's pretty much shop online, point, click, pick it up and put it in the garage.
Great video. Having spent my career in dealer service departments, man you are spot on. One digression, buying in the seventies was exciting, the new model roll outs were extravaganzas. Search light shining, and the string of flags flying. I believe that contributed to a more frequent turn over in ownership. I do agree, some were based on concerns regarding longevity. I also believe that the average miles driven per year was substantially down, which goes right back to your discussion regarding the frequency that customers switched cars.
I love your cars America 👍 some of the most beautiful cars ever made 🏁🏁
The Chevrolet dealership at
All the cars today look so similar, back in the day you could pretty much tell what make and model a car was from the taillights in the darkness.