I think people just don't appreciate 70's up wagons....

You know, this happened to me, I was driving the 60 Bel-Air, and was sitting at a stop light, when this punk in a Civic, an older one, with a fart can on it comes up next to me and starts revving up his car. That angry Bee Noise, you know? Well, I look at him and just floor mine, while in neutral. And I had a 350, with headers and cherry bombs, and a Holley 950 Carb. He just slowly went from looking at me and grinning to looking sadly down at his steering wheel. I didn't even have to speed off.

And I love this mid-life crisis boys driving their little trendy cars, listening to P-Diddy or something trying to act like their kid. It's just dumb, it's time to grow up. I learned that when I was somewheres around 12 haha.

 

I get all different Reactions with my 78 Impala, Mostly thumbs UP!!!! But about 10% of the people that make comments think it is the Uglyest car that they have ever seen!!! They usually make this comment while filling the gas tank of the Aztec or Flex they are driving, so I take it for what it is worth.
I also get alot of comments on how I can afford to drive a gas guzzler like that, and I have to explain that it gets 19.1 MPG on the highway (it should improve a bit this spring when I put the 700R4 in), and about 15 MPG combined, My 97 Ram 1500 gets 16.2 MPG Highway, and 13.5 combined. And when I tell them with Haggerty Insurance I only pay $220 a year for full coverage, and don't have any car payments, the car starts to look alot better!!! And most people don't realise it has a 3rd seat, so yes the soccer Moms can haul all the kids & gear with it also!!!
My 78 Sunbird Wagon gets alot of "What the F*$# is that", I never knew Pontiac Made those, or my Freind in high school used to drive one!!! And my Wifes 71 Lemans Wagon just got thumbs up all the way, but it is in the 64-72 GM midsize so it falls into the 60 catagory in my way of thinking.

 

Aside from the pregnant roller skates they call hybrids, a lot of the new so-called high-efficiency cars weigh more than most of our wagons. 4,400 lbs for the latest Volvo wagons. They get 4 to 5 MPG more, but hey, they're new! And they come with that Extra option: Monthly Payments!

 

This has bin a good read....you have not even mentioned the purist and the customize r.....

 

My wagon is actually 60 bucks a year more to insure than my 2003 Ford Crown Vic Interceptor was, explain that one to me! I'm paying about 110 bucks a month right now for liability.

 

That is probebly because I insure my 78 as a Classic, per insurance rules, I just am not allowed to drive it to work, wink wink,. But you also have to show proof of a daily driver with regular insurance.

The deer was my 1st real claim with them in 10 plus years, They replaced a windshield in my 83 Olds wagon last spring for a rock hit. So far I am happy with Haggerty, but the 78 is not out of the shop yet.

 

Yeah, I used to pay 50 bucks a month for full coverage with my 60 Bel-Air, due to the fact that I'm a straight A student and since it was insured as a daily driver, the older the car, the cheaper the insurance, with General Casualty. But that all changed after the accident and will stay that way until 3 years after .

 

With my 84 i only pay $360 a year. and my wagons getting 16 MPG in the summer. soo to be highr once i change the rear gears. alot of people just need to learn to look at the big picture and not the newer one.

 

Only cost $32 a month for liability on the Estate. $55 a month for the monster Suburban. Barring an A-body FWD wagon, there just aren't many 8-passenger vehicles getting the mileage these 307/200R4 B-bodies get. 17/24 EPA ratings are conservative. When this Buick is all tuned up I expect to do better. I drive very conservatively when I know I can beat the EPA ratings.

 

my insurance is pricey because my wife is still considered a new driver.
she didnt get her liscence till the day before we got married ...(24 yrs old)

 

Yeah, my lucky dad, his is going to drop again this December (he turns 50.)

 

lol im still a "new driver" but im on a sepreat insurance policy with our pickup, so the wagon is under my parents and there fore cheaper. lol ive been racing since i was 10 (7 years ago) and yet they still see me as a new driver lol.

 

Thank your lucky stars you don't live in one of our big cities. I was a lot-boy for a Mopar dealer in 1966 when I was in highschool. Oshawa is our GM town, in southern Ontario. A couple of young guys (under 21) came from Montreal to Ontario to buy a Hemi-Charger. The insurance in Montreal was $2,500. The car sticker price was $6,500. He wanted to trade in his 1963 Vette (Insurance was $2,700). It seems there was a loophole in Quebec's Insurance laws, that a car from another Province could be insured in the other Province. His insurance was $900. 1968 rates!

 

A few thoughts on this thread...
As far as insurance goes, I don't have it too badly here in New Mexico. I pay $35 a month for liability on my '86 Eagle wagon, and when I had my '63 Caddy, the basic insurance ran $12 a month. We had all four cars under one policy, the Eagle and the Caddy with just basic, and the '98 F250 4X4, and the '05 Beetle Turbo convertible, with full coverage, and the entire bill for all four was only $200 a month.
And as far as the original theme of this thread about the lack of appreciation for the '70's and up wagons, well here's my theory. If you look at the collector car world in general, the '70's cars are only beginning to make a showing as collectibles. There are a number of reasons for this I suspect. One is that in '73 & '74 cars got the huge battering ram bumpers that spoiled the looks of many cars. I would love to have any clamshell wagon from '71 or '72, but the '73's and up, I'm not too sure about.
Also is the fact that cars through the late '70's became increasingly complicated due to the rudimentary emissions controls, which sapped a lot of power, and made them increasingly difficult to work on, and even when everything was perfect, they frequently ran like crap. Reliability went down the drain. As an added bonus they frequently got even worse gas mileage than the pre-emissions cars that were otherwise identical. The safety regs added a lot of weight to the cars as well. Build quality from this era was pretty bad as well for all the domestic manufacturers.It really wasn't until the advent of computer controls and fuel injection that cars were able to run reliably, cleanly, and economically. In other words, it's not neccessarily people don't like the '70's wagons in particular, but most '70s cars in general. They just weren't that good to begin with. Eventually people will start to pay them more respect, but for now....
I know a lot of people hate the new cars, but the reality is that the new cars, though boring to look at, are far more reliable than most of the old iron we all, (myself included). Not all that long ago, a car with 100k on the odometer was an amazing feat. Now the cheapest little P.O.S. from wherever will run an easy 200K with minimal maintenance. Personally there are very few new cars that excite me to the point that I would buy one. Our '05 Beetle Convertible was an impulse buy really, it is fun to drive, is quick, especially w/ the 5 speed, and gets 35 mpg. But still, when it comes down to it, I usually prefer to drive the Eagle.
So anyway, there is my two cents worth on the subject of lack of popularity of the '70's wagons. Considering though how little the dollar is worth these days, That two cents is really worth minus five cents, so I'll actually have to pay all of you for this. The check, as they say, is in the mail

CaptCarl

 

I still think that in general 70's cars do have a certain classy style to them, especially compared to these days. I mean, even my 87 has more style and class compared to the new ones rolling off the line.