The cars you had the chance of buying during the gas crunch....

[Cranky]

The first one caused some uncertain times and lots of people were unloading their gas hogs but for the ones that had a decent job, there were lots of opportunities to scarf up a muscle car. I hadn't been out of the military for very long and had just landed a good job and was in the save mode when a 66 Corvette coupe crossed paths with me. The body was nice but the small block was smoking a bit and the carpet showed some wear but the price was 2500 bucks! Offered 1500 but he declined. Oh well but that was all I could come up with. Came across a couple of big block Mopars too and they were even cheaper but were usually running on 7 cylinders (or worse) and needed lots of work as many were driven really hard and put up wet....and wasn't really looking for a project at that time.

 

[gooser]

I was looking for a second car so I would not have to drive my 69 charger rt in the winter any more I got a copy of trading times and found a 68 roadrunner that was not bad so I got it $550 383 auto power steering. I traced this car back I was the 5th owner and I still have it today along with my 69 charger rt

 

[steve from staten island]

Spring of 1974. I was at Briggs Chevrolet in Perth Amboy NJ thing to negotiate a deal on new Monte Carlo. The dealer had two 1973 left over 454 SS Chevelle's on the showroom floor, they could not give away due to the gas shortage. I could have had either of those cars for around three grand.

 

[68Moparmaniac]

If I knew then what I know now I would snatch up every 2nd gen Charger I could get, along with anything that was an R/T car...regardless of year. I'd be like Jerry

 

[Darter6]

Anything with a big engine was a dime a dozen back then. People panicked when gas was a buck a gallon.The biggest farce was rationing with odd and even ending license plate numbers.
The dealer ship where I worked actually turned down deals for Muscle Cars as trades.

 

[Bill Monk]

Went by a little used car lot outside of Beckley, WV and saw a 71 cuda on the lot. Stopped to check it out and it was a hemi car. Red with a white interior and billboards. If I remember right, the guy was asking $1800 but said it had been there a while and would take $1500 for it. I was still in high school and it might as well have been $15000 to me. Man, if I had only known!

 

[Ron H]

When the crunch hit I had my 70 Cuda vert and was working at a machine shop just a few miles from home. There was one gas station in my area like within a 20 mile radius back then and company owners had a biz contract to gas and service their leased cars and company pick up at this station. Most of the time the station was closed 'no gas' but he had gas for his premo customers. I used to drive the pickup to deliver and pickup parts around town (Dodge) and also take the boss's cars Chrysler Newports to get them gassed up for them. The station owner was a cheap sort even getting to know him, nope never had gas for me! My dad would take my car once a week to gas it up working in the city. It was a manufactured crisis, a conspiracy that scared the hell out of everybody and the thought was this could be a forever thing when we had closed gas stations and long lines hoping the joint wouldn't run out of gas before we got our turn at the pump. I remember all sorts who dumped their big wheels to drive pepper grinders..

 

[chargervert]

My brother in law bought a 70 Challenger R / T 440 Sixpack car for $1800.00 at the end of 1973. It has new Cragar S/S mags on it,the guy asked him if he wanted the 4 original 15 inch rallye wheels with polyglass tires on them for an extra 50 bucks,he declined the offer! My wife had a friend who's husband had three Cuda's, a red 70 Hemicuda automatic, a green 71 383 4 speed Cuda,and a basin street blue 340 4 speed Cuda. He was proud of himself that he was able to sell all three Cuda's and buy a new Toyota Corolla wagon in cash with the proceeds from the sales of the Cuda's! He probably puts a gun in his mouth while watching Barrett Jackson!

 

[Photon440]

Spring of 1974. I was at Briggs Chevrolet in Perth Amboy NJ thing to negotiate a deal on new Monte Carlo. The dealer had two 1973 left over 454 SS Chevelle's on the showroom floor, they could not give away due to the gas shortage. I could have had either of those cars for around three grand.

Are you sure the dealer couldn't get rid of those Chevelles simply because they were ugly?

 

[Bill Monk]

Are you sure the dealer couldn't get rid of those Chevelles simply because they were ugly?

I always wondered what the big 3 were thinking in those days. I mean you have the example above, Ford went from the mustang to the mustang II and look what Chrysler did to the roadrunner in 73. How did they think these were good ideas?

 

[kiwigtx]

I was a bit young to buy any cars in '74 - '76 when the gas crunch hit us....but my father sold his 1973 Ford Faimont Coupe - 302 + auto at the time. I think he regretted it afterwards....and that car would be worth a fortune now. It was seriously fast.

Like this one, but in green -

Only have one picture showing part of our actual car - film was expensive then also....

Mum was a crappy photographer

 

[slimt]

I was a bit young to buy any cars in '74 - '76 when the gas crunch hit us....but my father sold his 1973 Ford Faimont Coupe - 302 + auto at the time. I think he regretted it afterwards....and that car would be worth a fortune now. It was seriously fast.

Like this one, but in green -
View attachment 883185

Only have one picture showing part of our actual car - film was expensive then also....

View attachment 883184

Mum was a crappy photographer

Can those be imported ? Are there any left to be had?

 

[zyzzyx]

So, what we've learned is that the oil was there all the time. They just weren't
looking hard enough! Ha! I went out to Northridge Ca. in the early 80's to visit my
Brother, and bring back a car. He brought me a Tradin Times and I saw the original
Starsky and Hutch CLEAN Torino with 20th Century Black plates on it for sale for
$2600.00. I bought a 69 RR and drove it back. Felt good then, but the Torino is
worth lots of Moola now!

 

[Cranky]

So, what we've learned is that the oil was there all the time. They just weren't
looking hard enough! Ha! I went out to Northridge Ca. in the early 80's to visit my
Brother, and bring back a car. He brought me a Tradin Times and I saw the original
Starsky and Hutch CLEAN Torino with 20th Century Black plates on it for sale for
$2600.00. I bought a 69 RR and drove it back. Felt good then, but the Torino is
worth lots of Moola now!

Yup, the oil was there all the time.....it just wasn't being pumped and didn't have much to do with looking for it.

 

[WileE]

I didn't have a chance... I did. Cheap. Did some mechanical fixup, some body work & paint.. then sold 'em. I remember making $300 bucks on a car, thought I was RICH ! That's how I got into the auto business.

 

[kiwigtx]

Can those be imported ? Are there any left to be had?

I guess you could import one to the States....a decent one these days is around US$75k


My friend has a 351 4-speed version...worth more like US$100k ....and his wife is fine with him selling it



I had a ride in it 2 weeks ago, and it is absolutely awesome.

 

[65hemi]

I bought my 71 Cuda in 1977 when everyone seemed to be dumping big blocks. The guy wanted $2500 for his wife's car (liar). As a college student, I didn't have that kind of money, so I made an offer that he declined. 3 weeks later he calls me back and accepts my offer. I still have the car in my garage.
35 years later a guy is looking my car over and says he used to have a Cuda just like mine. Turned out to be the guy I bought it from in 1976. He couldn't afford to buy it back.

 

[Cranky]

I bought my 71 Cuda in 1976 when everyone seemed to be dumping big blocks. The guy wanted $2500 for his wife's car (liar). As a college student, I didn't have that kind of money, so I made an offer that he declined. 3 weeks later he calls me back and accepts my offer. I still have the car in my garage.
35 years later a guy is looking my car over and says he used to have a Cuda just like mine. Turned out to be the guy I bought it from in 1976. He couldn't afford to buy it back.

View attachment 883242

So what was your offer?? I did something similar in 86. Answered and ad in the Houston paper for a 71 340 Cuda in 85 with a rebuilt engine that ran pretty good but the car had shag carpet and an iffy transmission. The asking price was 2500 ironically but offered him 2000. He refused so I walked. For some reason I kept the ad and found it one day in my desk drawer a whole year later so I called the number figuring no way the number was good. Low and behold, he answered and still had the car but now it had a rebuilt trans and only 1000 more miles on it! It still ran great and still had the shag in it lol but I was happy to pay the 2500 for it. Kept that car for 16 years without so much as having to do one carb rebuild many years later. Still still regret selling it to this day! Where's the kicking one's *** symbol!?

 

[Darter6]

In 1975 my friend bought a 64 Savoy Aluminum Front End car less engine and tranny for $2500. He was 17. His Old Man wanted to kick his ***,paying that much for a 11 year old car without a drivetrain. Bet he wishes he had it today.He did tell me he has looked for it over the years but no luck.

 

[Budnicks]

which gas crisis ?
the one I remember most was the deal in 1973
I had a mini-bike go-cart & motorcycles back them
1 was only 14 in July of 73, when gas was in a "shortage"
IIRC it went from like $0.29 to like $0.59 a gallon

I bough a few, between 1974 & 1984
I got my 1st 68 Charger R/T for $350, in 1974
I bought Charger's, RR's, Chevelle's, 442's, GS's,
GTO's, 67-76 Firebirds, Trans Am's, 67-76 Camaro's & Z28's,
a few Fairlane's, Gallaxie's too
they all were cheap, especially the bigger cars
& many big PU's & 4x4's Fords, GM & Dodges

especially during HS years 1974-77-ish
for between $250 to $1500 usually
because people wanted Pinto's, Monza's or Vega's,
or the Jap Crap boxes,
Honda's Toyota's Datsun's, little compacts & the mileage stuff

I didn't make that much $$$ either...
I didn't care, I worked my *** of to get everything...
My 1st paying job was $1.65 an hr, at a Shell station
I also made side $$ doing tire changes & service stuff
later I got $3.50 an hr out of the owner
& $5 an hr from my dad's construction co.
as slave labor on weekends
but;
he only usually paid me for about 1/3 of my hrs

right after HS
I went to work for $6.15 an hr, in the local PG&E power plant
a year before going off to school, while going to JC
I thought I struck it rich

I had 5 gen 2 Charger R/T's at the same time
2 - 68's (1 was my DD), 2 - 69's, 1 - 70 R/T SE
I also had several 68-70 RR's, 2 really nice 68's & a nice 69
a nice 70 440-6 & a nice low miles 68 GTX
over about a 5-6 year period, I couldn't pass them up

It got so bad, some people would get referred to me
call me, ask me If I wanted to buy theirs

then I started dabbling in Jeeps too

& in 1979-ish I got my parents 68 Sport Satellite
(my moms 1st ever new car, they ordered)
383 4bbl 4 speed console GG1 forest green poly, with white guts & top
I traded one of my drivers, a 71 Demon /-6, 3 on the tree
to my stepdad & gave him $$$ too, I wanted that car bad,
he was trying to sell it & buy a economy car,
the Demon fit the bill
he had it for another decade at least
I had the Sat. for about a decade too, hot-rodded/built it

I'd usually always buy them cheap,
fix them, clean/detail them up or get them running etc.
so they'd bring more $$$ & sell them,
to fund my Racecars or personal cars/trucks/Jeep builds

Then move onto the next project,
my ultimate goal was driving me, all to get my 1st house
I saved $33,000.00, it was a lot of $$$ back then, especially for an 18 y/o
even for a fixer upper in East Bay suburbs Concord & Antioch, Ca.

until the late 80's they were really abundant,
really easy to find, especially out here in Calif.
& generally relatively cheap
When a 10 to 20 year old car, was just another 'old used car',
old gas guzzler, a kids cars, or worn out cars, (was the mentality)
they weren't really collector cars "yet"

unless it was a Hemi car

Many/most car people with $$$ were into
30's & 40's Hot Rods/Customs, Willys, Coupes, High & Lowboys
Roadsters, T-buckets, all with billet & chrome everything
they were usually 10-20+ years older than I was too

sorry for the