Plan B Forum

Was behind one of these in Walnut Creek, CA this afternoon. Same color as the pic.

Well, the pic is taken in California, so it's probably the same car. '75 is emissions testing exempt in Cali so that's the newest you could register there. And since it's over 25 years old it wouldn't have been that difficult to import.

It looks quite similar to early '70s BMW 2002 sedans.

It's actually based on the Fiat 124- so closely, in fact that it's more or less a licensed copy (with some significant re-engineering to meet Soviet production methods, simplified systems, and ability to handle Soviet roads and climate). But a lot of economy cars from the late 60s early 70s look similar, particularly European and Japanese ones. America was still building massive tanks, with most "Compact" American cars outweighing any European "full size" cars. It wasn't until the first oil crisis that Americans truly embraced smaller cars, though that comes and goes, with our cars still being quite overweight, just like their owners.

datsunaholic wrote:America was still building massive tanks, with most "Compact" American cars outweighing any European "full size" cars. It wasn't until the first oil crisis that Americans truly embraced smaller cars, though that comes and goes, with our cars still being quite overweight, just like their owners.

I was waiting at a traffic light the other day and casually noticed that more than half the vehicles waiting with me were SUVs or minivans with "foreign" nameplates — Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Kia, Hyundai.  It appears that the Asians (and to a lesser degree the Europeans — Mercedes, Range Rover) have learned to "give the customer what he wants" and are perfectly happy to build SUVs, trucks, and crossovers to cater to our "need" for a big car to haul our carcasses around.

-"BB"-

I have a subaru forester and average around 28mpg. I see 32mpg on highway driving and about 25mpg in local driving. I had a 64 beetle that didn't get that kind of gas milage.

oldr_n_wsr wrote:I have a subaru forester and average around 28mpg. I see 32mpg on highway driving and about 25mpg in local driving. I had a 64 beetle that didn't get that kind of gas milage.

I don't doubt that the newer cars with the newer technology get better mileage than a Beetle from 50 years ago, even when said Beetle was new.  My point was that they are still large, wide, tall vehicles with lots of cockpit area, headroom, and passenger/cargo space.  It would be as if back in the day of the Beetle two out of every three vehicles were station wagons, IH Scouts (remember those?), panel/delivery vans, or pickup trucks.  In fact, when Chrysler came out with the first Dodge Caravans/Plymouth Voyagers back in the 1980s my initial assessment was that they were just station wagons on steroids, and I've seen little to make me change that viewpoint.
The other thing is that the majority of those vehicles were single-occupant vehicles — one driver hauling around a huge cargo of air — but that's a rant for another time.

-"BB"-

My point was that they are still large, wide, tall vehicles with lots of cockpit area, headroom, and passenger/cargo space.

Yes they are, and i see them everywhere too. I'm one of them

It would be as if back in the day of the Beetle two out of every three vehicles were station wagons,

In my corner of suburbia, maybe not 2 out 3 were station wagons but maybe 1 out of 2.
Everyone on my block had station wagons. When we all got our licenses, we all borrowed our parents station wagons. (except me, I borrowed dads VW bug).

I agree; I recall my Dad's Ford LTD wagon--the first car he had with ac. It held 10 people (4 kids in rear seats facing each other and 3 adults in each of the two bench seats), and got an amazing 8-10 mpg when the air was on.

We had a 67 belvedere wagon, 225 slant 6.
By buddy Seth's parents had the LTD wagon.
My friend Phil (now my shrink ) had the Vista Cruiser wagon and Eddy had some buick kinda wagon (century I think).
Only one without a family wagon was Rick who's father owned a GMC dealership (Rick now owns it) and he always had T-birds. At one time a '56 t-bird and then a '64 t-bird. His father loved them t-birds. The '64 was the first car I was in that had power windows.

My father then I drove the belvedere wagon to 350,000 miles. Had to do a valve job towards the end of it's life as the unleaded gas burned the exhaust valves. Slant 6 head was heavy. Good thing I was yngr_n_strngr

He owned a GM dealership and drove a Ford? I surprised they didn't revoke his franchise.

Big RR wrote:He owned a GM dealership and drove a Ford? I surprised they didn't revoke his franchise.

He drove loads of different cars but his (ricks dad) love was the t-birds.
And back then ('72-76 when we were in HS) it was mainly GMC trucks (he also did truck body build/install) with some jimmy's (full size like the blazer) and gmc vans.

Now it's GMC/Buick as pontiac and olds (he handled those too) have gone bye bye.
Here's a link to his dealership.
http://www.vanburenauto.com/HomePage