American Cars of the Seventies

The chances are that the 1 970s will turn out to be the most difficult 10 years in the history of the American automobile business.

The decade opened with General Motors suffering a 65-day strike that contributed to an 8-year low in domestic sales. It closed with America’s big 4 – General Motors, Ford, Chrysler and American Motors – reeling under the impact of drastically reduced volume and with the once mighty Chrysler requiring government assistance to remain in business.

Import sales in 1969 amounted to 1,061,617 cars. Ten years later import registrations, of which close to 90 percent were from Japan, accounted for 2,339,004 units or 23 percent of total 1979 US new car sales. Although the automotive industry is responsible for 18 percent of America’s Gross National Product and provides employment for one out of every five of the nation’s workforce, for much of the 1 970s it was obliged to work with an, apparently, hostile US Department of Transportation.

Cheap fuel, as much a part of the American scene as Mom and apple pie, vanished during the 1970s. Ironically, although Americans still pay considerably less for gasoline than Common Market motorists, US drivers are the eventual losers as the higher prices charged in Europe are almost entirely due to higher taxes which are used to benefit the public while helping to reduce the consumption of fuel. Without taxes, the difference in basic fuel costs between America and Europe is a matter of pence.

Although Detroit may have been guilty of wishful thinking or, depending on your viewpoint, poor judgement, it did receive confusing signals during the 1970s. Even after the gasoline shortages of 1973-74, both dealer feedback and market research continued to indicate the American motorist’s preference for larger cars. Detroit is reported to average $400 profit on smaller cars as against $1000 for larger models, and this may have contributed to its reluctance to embrace contemporary motorcars.

The decade that opened with soaring sales for garishly painted, giant tired, V8-powered vans, ended with the spotlight on front-wheel-drive, 4-cylinder engines, diesels and turbochargers.