what kind of car did you drive in the 1970's?

**Spellbound** · December 28th, 2003, 06:49 PM

in my city they are having an autoshow showcasing the latest and newest cars.

from an appearance standpoint i have never really been a huge fan of any automobile released after 1985 1986 etc...

what kind of car/cars did you all drive in the 1970's and early 1980's

or

what was your favorite car from this time period?

how important was one's ride in relation to clubbing back in the 1970's and early 1980's?

**Forrrce** · December 28th, 2003, 07:16 PM

Matchbox, Dinky & Tonka...

**Spellbound** · December 28th, 2003, 07:35 PM

Matchbox, Dinky & Tonka...

no. that was me.

what kind of car did YOU drive?

**Spellbound** · December 28th, 2003, 08:12 PM

one more thing i forgot about...

how common were customed car stereos in excess of 600 watts?

for example..

one could not just drive up to the club blasting a weak factory issued stereo

especially back in the 1970's

one's entrance and exit would have been just as important as their appearance

of course if i were living in NYC or DC i would have simply taken the train

the el camino is one of my all time favorites

smaller than a truck

plenty of extra speakerbox/subwoofer space in the back

(and for the single young male)
plenty of space to fit a mattress

hell.

i would have had a blast back then!

**Forrrce** · December 29th, 2003, 03:16 AM

Originally Written by Spellbound

Matchbox, Dinky & Tonka...

no. that was me.
what kind of car did YOU drive?

No, really...the adverts for the cars I messed around with all said 'actual size'....

:lol:

Like the wheels, by the way. American cars just seem so big, boxy and unwieldly. They take up a lot of space on our little UK trails. I wouldn't mind your road sizes, though.

**NickNack** · December 29th, 2003, 08:37 PM

I drove the only car I can fit in: A Caddy! I was taught how to drive in a Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham so that was my car back in the 70's. I got it after I came home from overseas. Jet black. Looked like a hearse :lol: . But, since I did live in New York City at the time I didn't have to drive it too much. I would take the train to work during the week but on Fridays and Saturdays I would drive. That insured a fast getaway to 'do my thing' when the shift was over. (I worked nights.)

In the 80's I had a Cadillac Eldorado. Silver. My co-workers at AT&T called it 'The Yacht'. Still my favorite. Today I'm driving a '94 Sedan DeVille. Blue on blue. It's the last year before they destroyed the shape of the Cadillac. Not into the new look and my 'girl' only has 67,000 original miles on her so a lot of life still in there. :D

Oh yeah --- I know this thread has nothing to do with disco music but I decided to leave it alone. Reminded me of our 'older days' and the non-music forum. Hope none of you mind the small intrusion.

**efunk_adelic** · December 29th, 2003, 11:33 PM

Originally Written by Forrrce

Matchbox, Dinky & Tonka...

:lol:

**JussiK** · December 30th, 2003, 07:26 AM

An orange Volkswagen, probably the lamest car ever. Without a wunderbaum, mind you but with earthshaking speakers for the beats. BUT while in San Francisco I drove a Cadillac Car, and if I knew how to add those images - urls? imgs? what?! - I'd prove it too, and ahem, you'd get to see Shirley and Mary as well, two very very foxy mocha chocolata young ladies this boy went dancing with.

**BrunoRepublic** · December 30th, 2003, 07:47 AM

Originally Written by JussiK

An orange Volkswagen, probably the lamest car ever.

Probably the coolest car ever! Wish I could have one today...

**originalbigm** · December 30th, 2003, 07:58 AM

I had a 1971 Datsun 240Z the greatest car I ever owned.Cheap to operate easy to maintain and fix.Wish I still had it.The cars today are technological wonders but cost an arm and a leg to fix when something goes wrong with them.

s.

**Forrrce** · December 30th, 2003, 08:26 AM

This is what my father (bless 'im) drove throughout the disco period (though his was purple and bald...the car, I mean) and the dream-machine I thought I'd one day inherit. It suffered attempted/successful car-nappings almost daily, which wasn't surprising as these Ford Cortinas were known as 'getaway cars'. Forrrce, Sr. eventually had an immobilser fitted and would leave home most mornings to find the wretched jalopy halfway 'round the block, in the middle of the road, after another attempted theft. I even saw someone try to steal it once!

I've had two Fords myself and will never get caught out a third time, though my Granada Scorpio was a vertiable 'living room on wheels'.

May even get another VW Golf one day, but in the meantime, it's Saab 900SX all the way. Now, there's a car!

Current Forrrcemobile (actual size)

**QUINNY** · December 30th, 2003, 05:15 PM

I owned a van (for my mobile disco)in the early '70s , but never legally drove it. The one time I did try to drive it, in the car park of the club I was then working, well, let's just say I totally freaked myself out, so that I never learnt to drive until 1985.
Otherwise, apart from my previously mentioned first drunken road drive of a 3 month old Mercedes at a stupid speed, I used to have the use of a Monkey Bike in Mallorca. That was great fun, if a little slow. No tax, no insurance, no worries (to be honest, strangely the local police never batted an eyelid) and ideal transport to the beach during the day or at times apres Djing back to my apartment (all of 200 metres or less) at whatever time in the morning. The lights barely worked, so it did get a little hairy at times, especially when my bungalow/maisonette was right next to a canal.
These days I drive an incey wincey Seat Arosa (just like a VW Lupo). Give me small cars, they go where I want them to.

**Ivana Tinkle** · December 30th, 2003, 05:38 PM

Luckily ?! for our Posse in the ealy 80's my mate Mario worked in the Rag Trade and had use of a leather smelling van that would run us between "Electrics" "The Palace" "Wag" and out of town parties. We'd all pile in the back for our ride home.... however he could never resist jammin on the brakes ( to send us flying ) and takin in a Car Wash just to stone scare the s@*t out of us!
Me old man had an Austin Princess (maroon!) so no chance of that goin missing!

**paul** · December 30th, 2003, 07:06 PM

Well, I had 3 during the peak years of Disco. Yeah, I was a little rough on 'em and they were for the most part pieces of ****. My first was a '70 Plymouth Fury police special. That thing sucked gas and I could literally see the gas gauge move the faster I drove it. I had my mom sell it and I eventually took ownership of my favorite, the Opel 1900. I hooked it up with a Sony cassette and Sparkomatic speakers. That along with sheepskin seat covers and I knew I was stylin' :lol: A lot babes got at least one ride in that little puppy

Well, being young and reckless, I totalled it around '80, '81. I then took a oil drinking, smoke generating '75 Chevy Vega off my mom's hands. At least the smoke masked my own :) In retrospect, I had a lot of balls driving that car between Boston and NYC. I remember keeping several cans of oil in the trunk because of that aluminum engine. Interestingly it burned up in '82, around the time of the end of classic disco, because I ran out oil and the engine overheated.
Now I drive the last one of the last of the muscle cars, a 2002 Pontiac Trans Am. What can I say, I am a part of that generation that believes nothing beats cubic inches like more cubic inches!

**02tranzam** · December 30th, 2003, 07:06 PM

i was too young to drive in the 70s, but the cars that i think of that represent the 70s to me have to be the 77/78 pontiac grand prix, man what an awesome car!!
78 buick electra, my friend still has his.
of course the firebird of the 70s could go either way, rock or disco. my brother had a 74 firebird formula he got brand new when he graduated high school. my father had a 78 oldsmobile delta 88, what a huge car that was.
ah the good ol times :P

**paul** · December 30th, 2003, 07:12 PM

Originally Written by JussiK

An orange Volkswagen, probably the lamest car ever. Without a wunderbaum, mind you but with earthshaking speakers for the beats. BUT while in San Francisco I drove a Cadillac Car, and if I knew how to add those images - urls? imgs? what?! - I'd prove it too, and ahem, you'd get to see Shirley and Mary as well, two very very foxy mocha chocolata young ladies this boy went dancing with.

Hey Jussi. I had a girlfriend who drove that car, orange and all. Ahhh, what memories. If I had the pictures I'd show it to you too. My girlfriend at the time was foxy french vanilla :D

**paul** · December 30th, 2003, 07:15 PM

Hey Nicky.
You sound like my brother in-law. He just loved his Devilles from the '70s.

**AmandaHug&Kiss** · December 30th, 2003, 08:42 PM

Of course your car is a valid topic of discussion on this site!
Music, clothes and all things stylish go hand-in-hand don't they? Disco memories are primarily about the music but the total experience is about a whole lot more.

In the 70's I was a very proud passenger in my Mum's Maroon Maxi! The indicator always sounded like 'Bum-Tit-Bum-Tit' to me (maybe that's just a Brit thang) and her tunes ranged from Diana Ross to Holst:The Planets.

It's a heady combination but it produced a Disco loving Gal so it's got to be a good thing!

**Studio74** · December 30th, 2003, 09:13 PM

My mom used to drive a Austin Mini in the 70s...

**JussiK** · December 31st, 2003, 12:58 AM

Originally Written by AmandaHug&Kiss

The indicator always sounded like 'Bum-Tit-Bum-Tit' to me (maybe that's just a Brit thang) and her tunes ranged from Diana Ross to Holst:The Planets.

It's a heady combination but it produced a Disco loving Gal so it's got to be a good thing!

Amazing someone brings up HOLST of all things here. I've been blasting MARS in clubs before the beats - could be the most hysterically overblown piece of music since Dschinghis Khan's ROMA. There has got to be a disco version of Mars somewhere. Any quilty Holst freak should seek out Ken Russell's lurid tv special of "Planets" , he set the music to bizarro clips from documentary footage, creating another of his typical visual deliriums. Back to cars.

**QUINNY** · January 1st, 2004, 02:08 PM

The guy (and later a good good friend, RIP) who I worked for in my first club had a customised VW Beetle. I wasn't into cars, so I couldn't tell you all the details, but what I can tell you is that it had the back end chopped off, probably a bigger engine (either re-bored or borrowed from something else) and had twin exhausts that went upright (something like the things you see on US trucks). It was painted light metallic blue (quite exotic for those days in the UK) and went like **** off of a shovel.
My most vivid memories of the car are twofold. On one occasion he was being flash and jumped some amber lights going round a right hand bend. He had gunned it to beat the lights and we almost ended up in a brick wall. We were probably less than a foot from being buried.
On another occasion, a whole bunch of us decided to go to a nearby beach (after the club and after our favourite Chinese restaurant) at some unearthly hour. To cut a long story short, it was just before dawn, the tide was out and so he decided, in his demi drunken state, to go for a drive on the beach. What he didn't realise, was that there were lots of guys fishing from the shore. It was hilarious (at the time) to see all these guys literally running for their lives and/or looking like rabbits frozen in headlights, as he proceeded to mash up the beach.
Another vivid recollection of that night, was this same guy doing a flame throwing act using petrol. We egged him on of course, and he must have done quite a few successful flamethrowing feats. However, neither he or we realised, that the rag he was using to dry his mouth was getting soaked with petrol, so that on his last attempt, he blew the flame out of his mouth and whoosh! the flame came all the way back, 'cos his mouth was on fire. Oh what a night!!!

**Giovanni** · January 1st, 2004, 06:12 PM

I was driving the legendary FIAT 500 !!!

**Blaxman** · January 2nd, 2004, 05:40 AM

I used to drive the same car I drive currently.......The Blaxmobile!! :lol:

**disco1999** · January 2nd, 2004, 11:01 AM

When I was 16, this was my 1st "motorcycle", a '78 Yamaha YB100, very reliable bike I bought brand new in 1978 for CAN$744 that I kept until I got my 1st car in 1981:

(see http://www.geocities.com/michelcastonguay/Lemans.jpg )

Pontiac Lemans 1976

**efunk_adelic** · January 2nd, 2004, 11:13 AM

inherited the family's '66 mustang 3 speed ..... in 1978 :D unfortunately i don't have a picture :(

in 1981 I changed it to a 4 speed with a 289 engine and had nothing but problems... :lol: