(first posted 7/4/2014) It’s too bad that I just missed Bicentennial Fever in America: the cheesy cartoons, the shared sense of pride and purpose, the auto manufacturers’ ability to exploit a holiday for potential profits…it must have been a magical time. It might be that the ’69 SC-Rambler was the first salvo in patriotic paint jobs, but the ’72 Mustang Sprint and ’74 “Spirit of America” Impala were not far behind.
Actually, the Mustang Sprint was the Alpha Male in a trifecta of flag-waving Fords in 1972. The “Sprint” was basically an appearance package for the Pinto, Maverick, and Mustang, and would not be the last ploy Dearborn attempted using these three specific vehicles. 1976’s “Stallion” package comes to mind.
Ford introduced the Sprint in February of 1972, and separated the option into two packages, A and B. How creative! According to my Mustang Recognition Guide, Package A consisted of the special paint job, the Mach 1-style grille and driving lamps, dual sport mirrors, white sidewall tires, trim rings, and a special interior. Our featured Sprint would have been a Package B car, which also included Magnum 500 wheels and 15-inch tires.
Those seats are the absolute visual representation of the rockin’ cheesiness I alluded to in the first paragraph. Americans would never stand for this kind of seat cover today, and no automaker would ever offer it. In fact, consumers are lucky to buy a new car with an interior that isn’t 100% basic black. Walk into your local Ford dealership and ask for a new GT with the “Sprint” interior option and see how far you get.
This Sprint has the console mounted clock, the fondly remembered through the rose colored earbuds of time 8-track player, and, of course, the special interior. Standard equipment was the “looking out from a bunker” feel that is currently in vogue, but in 1972, it took some getting used to.
Of course, Ford was not the only one to cash in on “Bicentennial Fever.” Chevrolet offered the “Spirit of America” line in 1974, including the Vega! Buick offered the “Spirit of ’76” lineup. My wife and I were wondering what Wheaties boxes of the time must have looked like, but we speculated that they were probably red, white, and blue somehow.
General Motors still owns a “Spirit of America” Impala, and proudly displays it at its Heritage Center. It’s obvious that GM’s paint scheme was a little more subdued than Ford’s ’72 Sprints, so maybe good taste was beginning to win the day.
I don’t think that taste, however, is what consumers wanted at this heady time in American history. Subtle pinstriping? Body colored wheels? Where are the flags? Where’s the brass band here?
Even the interior is subdued, by the standards of the day. We have white. We have red. Where’s the blue, GM? Where’s the blue?
Actually, the blue was an optional color on “Spirit of America” cars, and in harmony with a white vinyl top, must have been the kind of spectacle America expected at this time.
If I’ve hit on an ironic tone, it’s not entirely intentional. The other day, my wife and I were discussing how interesting it would have been to live through the bicentennial, when everything had that extra spark of ’70s cheesy fun. It seems like consumerism is taken a lot more seriously today for whatever reason, although I have absolutely no facts or statistics to back up that assertion.
Therefore, on America’s (historically fairly arbitrary) 238th birthday, let us celebrate a time when America had the guts to market neat cars like the Sprint and the Spirit of America, and it wasn’t tongue-in-cheek.
For further reading, I’ll refer you to the following nugget by our own incomparable Dave Skinner.
Speaking of Mustang Sprint, here an article about the Canadian variant
http://www.mustangandfords.com/featured-vehicles/mump-0904-1972-canadian-sprint-mustang/
“A limited edition of Chevrolets in Amerca’s favorite colors.”
Wow. I realize that by the 70’s, quality control among the Big 3 was starting to falter among their vehicles, but I had no idea it spread to their promotional materials as well.
I just noticed that, too! That’s terrible!
Back before the days of spellcheck.
God Bless Amerca.
Amerca must have been a girl that worked in the steno pool….
How was it like to live thru the Bicentennial? After a decade of Vietnam, adding in Watergate, plus the (incredibly unfair, as it turned out) perception that Gerald Ford was a guy who shouldn’t have been president; the country was in the mood to celebrate something. Anything. And with the presidential election in full rush, we actually believed that we needed a political saint in the White House to kill the taste of the previous thirteen years.
So we elected a political saint. Four years later we realized that a saint was the last thing we needed to lead America . . . . . . . Competency was preferable, never mind anything else.
For a brief moment, however, people almost cared as much about history as the current trashy entertainments available. And Rev War, as a re-enactment period, got kick started into what you see today.
“I always thought a banjo was the one thing that could have saved Nixon…”
I’m an American who cares about history, and believes that the Kartrashian family can go to hell.
I was 8 years old in ’76 – I remember a few key events. We buried a time capsule at my elementary school. It was supposed to be unearthed at some point in the future, but no one can seem to remember when.
Reagan cost Ford the election, so we not only missed out on Ford, but suffered thru RR later…
Cheap shot at Carter, Psyke.
Happy Independence Day! And boy would I love to find a sprint pinto! I wonder what the production numbers were like for the sprint optioned cars? There can’t be too many around. I know that reproduction sprint upholstery is available for the mustang, as well as decals.
Gotta love special editions, especially those that capitalize on holidays. I do kind of like the whole red, white, and blue themed models though. At least they make more sense than the “Olympic Editions” offered by Buick in the eighties and early nineties. Happy 4th everyone!
Come to think of it, it wasn’t at all unusual to see pale yellow on black Oldsmobile convertibles in use for the Daffodil Parade that afaik still wends its way from Tacoma all the way out to Orting every April. No special markings though.
The Buick Olympic editions from the 80’s were made because Buick was the official car of the 1984 LA Olympics, that’s not that hard to understand, Pontiac, GMC and Buick did it again in 1996, because of, ta-dah, again, sponsorship of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
Exactly. Holden sold Olympic edition cars in 2000 for the Sydney Olympics, thanks to their part in sponsorship.
I did live through bicentennial fever. One thing puzzles me: I recall the Sprint package Fords as quite popular, and have wondered how they failed to stay on this path when the whole country was slipping into a bicentennial frenzy. Ditto the Chevy package.
Chevy’s lack of follow through is explained by DeLorean’s 1973 exit as Division head. I think he would have ridden the Spirit of America bandwagon all through 76. But Ford under Iacocca never went that direction aftdr the 72 models. A mystery, since virtually every other consumer product being made picked up a bicentennial angle.
I like that Impala a lot.
On July 4, 1976, I was all of three years old, so I don’t exactly remember the Bicentennial. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a Sprint or Spirit of America edition.
Thinking of this mid- to late-70s time, I think of big Mercuries, macrame, and wild hair (Diana Ross seen here). My exposure was enough to create a weird fascination.
Well I was 22 at the time and remember seeing all three versions in San Diego back then. Just not this day as I was in Copenhagen walking around that Sunday after a visit to Carlsberg the day before and many 8% beers. Everybody was saying Happy Birthday to me and it took awhile to figure out why.
I love how Ford considered the ’72 Mustang “a small car”. Or popular, for that matter. I still have a soft spot for the 71-73 flatbacks. They occupied that odd, brief styling timeframe after the zenith of the 60s and before the nadir of the 70s malaise era. Just before the government mandated that 100LB park benches be affixed to each end of everything with wheels.
Other cars I’d put in that bucket are the ’70-’71 Torino and Thunderbird, the Javelin, the ’70-’74 Cuda/Challenger, the ’71-’74 Charger. Can anyone think of others that might make this list? Does this list make sense? I think it’s a great blog topic.
Stay tuned for a couple weeks, and I’ll have something somewhat pertinent…
Want to collaborate? I have thousands of my own car pictures, pretty decent quality. Check out http://www.wiredoncars.com
I finished up the article a few weeks ago…neat pics!
1970 F-bodies, the 1971 GM B,C and E-body cars, pretty much anything that was on the drawing boards in the 1967-1969 period.
*gasp* how could anyone forget the AMC Rebel Machine?
…or the SCRambler
…or the SCRambler’s alternate trim?
You are so right, Steverino! While I do remember the previous two, this one I do not recall.
Or the ’70 RWB Trans Am Javelin (100 copies minted!)
I gave a shout out to the SC/Rambler! 🙂
Dodge did bicentennial specials too. There was a stripe package and interior for the Dart Sport and for Dodge trucks. I remember an old fella in the neiborhood had one of the pickups- a D100, standard cab, 8′ bed, plain-jane other than the white paint with stars’n’stripes decals. Probably slant six powered.
I can hardly wait until 2026 when the U.S. of A celebrates its Sestercentenial. Maybe I will buy a car with the Sestercentenial Package.
I got to watch the bicentennial from Panama. Have no idea what it was like in the states but it was pretty boisterous at an overseas base. Missed these cars while they were new and didn’t feel inclined when I returned. Of the bunch I liked the SC rambler. Of course I thought the Rambler American was neat in any form. That probably goes down as the car that I never bought but wish I had. The AMC Concord was the closest I came.
My ship was in the shipyard in Boston through the winter of ’75-’76 and we came out just in time to be on post-overhaul refresher training in Guantanamo Bay in the heat of the summer followed by a few port calls in the Caribbean putting us in Puerto Rico on the 4th of July. it was a great party at Roosevelt Roads but it would have been so much better to have spent a couple of more months in Boston for the bicentennial
The “Sprint” was basically an appearance package for the Pinto, Maverick, and Mustang
So no goodies under the hood to help these Sprints actually… you know… sprint a little better? Especially since “sprinting” is not an activity commonly associated with Pintos, Mavericks, or even your average early-70s Mustang. These cars might “amble” or “stroll” or or “mosey” or perhaps even “limp” down the road; but — unless optioned up the wazoo or heavily modded — “sprint” they most certainly did not. The only thing these Early Malaise Era Fords did quickly was to rust into a big pile of reddish-brown dust right in your driveway.
And in case anyone thinks I’m just rehashing cliches about the Rusty Ford Years, in 1976-77 I had a ’71 Cougar convert that was ordered off the road by cops as unsafe due to massive body-rust and frame-rot. It went to the boneyard at age SIX, with maybe 80,000 miles on it. When the towtruck hitched it up to take it away, the front half of the car lifted while the rear half stayed pretty much level with the ground. As much as I hated to see my first car go, the way that frame sagged when suspended on that hook made me think maybe the cops had been right. (And, FTR, even with its gas-guzzling 351W, that Cougar never really “sprinted” either!)
Happy July 4th, everybody!
I’m 99 percent sure that, to the extent that there were performance packages for the Pinto or Maverick (short form: not so much) or for that matter the Mustang, you paid extra for them, which was characteristic of Detroit appearance groups.
Even the vaunted Rally Sport option on the original Camaro, remember, was a decor group that included hidden headlights and an assortment of Rally Sport badges and identification. That’s the sort of thing that I imagine makes automotive product planning people fall asleep with wistful smiles on their faces: an extra-cost option — and not a cheap one — that consists almost entirely of stuff to alert people that you’ve bought the option. That is kind of the merchandising equivalent of the 100-mpg carburetor.
In re: the Wheaties boxes, I don’t have the spiritual fortitude to look, but I’m quite confident that (a) there is probably someone who collects them (either old cereals in general or Wheaties specifically) and (b) if you are brave enough, that someone probably has a website about it.
…and (c) they were orange.
and (d) they were cardboard.
and (e) the box tasted like its contents!!!
Happy 4th!
It’s even worse than you think, AUWM. I got this information second-hand, but there is somebody with a blog about buying old unopened boxes of cereal off ebay, eating the contents, and reviewing them based on how they taste and how sick he gets from them.
As a young kid, I remember touring the Rouge assembly plant when the Sprints were in production. I remember the Mustangs and Mavericks, but can’t remember if Pintos were built on that line, or not.
The tour was cool as we walked behind a painted line that paralleled the assembly line. Workers on bikes pedaled by with driveshafts under their arms and the tour guide reminded us to stay behind the line so we didn’t get flattened. Not nearly as sterile as the current tour to watch F-150’s under construction. Needless to say, it occurred to Ford that the old-style tours were a bit of a liability issue.
Of course, the F-150 plant isn’t the Rouge of old. It was built from the ground up on the Rouge grounds. The original Rouge plant was demolished after the Mustang line moved to Flat Rock. Needless to say the new place was designed with safety in mind.
I just toured the Rouge earlier this year; my last plant tour was Buick City when I was a little kid. Back then, they’d let you down on the floor in spots…Rouge is pretty sterile by comparison. We still had a good time though.
To those that don’t remember the bicentennial, there were two really intrusive things I remember: the “bicentennial minutes” on TV, which were on every evening for a year or two leading up to July 4th of 76, highlighting something that happened on that day, 200 years earlier…there were a lot of days when nothing much happened.
The other thing I remember was the Michigan bicentennial license plates, garish things that I never liked. At least I was driving a white car at the time, so the plates didn’t clash
I have several of those plates…I think they’re cool in retrospect, but I’m not so sure I’d want them on my ’60s cars.
For a long time, all municipal vehicles used those plates in my town.
Aaron, your mentioning municipal vehicles reminded me…
In 1976, a neighbor was a trooper for the Illinois State Police. Even though I was three, I remember the car. Here’s a duplicate.
but I’m not so sure I’d want them on my ’60s cars
Here’s my 70 Cougar with the plate, 36 years ago. Like I said, at least it didn’t clash with a black and white car.
AMT’s model cars came with decals of those plates! No I don’t have a photo of them…..
I always understood that the 1972 Sprint Fords were more of an 1972 Summer Olympics special edition than a Bicentennial, I don’t know what the 1974 Chevrolets were celebrating, Nixon resigning?
It wasn’t only car manufacturers that go into the Spirit of 76, other companies did too, even in the oddest forms, Case for example had this Bicentennial Special Edition tractor that looks like its ready for the Snake River Canyon jump.
Lawn-Boy had the Stars and Stripes (L) and later the Liberty Machine (R)…
Oh…my…gosh…I want one of them! Mowing lawn was never so fun!
Complete with a matching bag….
If your yard is too big for a self-propelled, electric start push mower, there’s the Spirit of ’76 Cub Cadet….
Dang, I just bought a new Cub Cadet riding mower this week. The mower looks different and it definitely didn’t have the gal anywhere near it.
Gotta say I could really go for one of those riding lawnmowers with the attractive female operator option. But, be my luck there would only be one left available, and she would now be close to retirement age!!!
I had a pic of the Lawn Boy, I forgot to post that, mow your way to independence!
Way cool. No kids, you can’t mow. I paid for that mower and I’m going to do it.
Nearly every squadron in Naval Aviation (USN and USMC) had one aircraft painted in a Bicentennial paint scheme. The most famous was almost certainly this F-4B belonging to AIr Test and Evaluation Squadron 4 (VX-4) out of Pt. Mugu, CA. I saw this bird fly at an airshow in Houston in 1978.
Apart from a modified version of the paint scheme the Thunderbirds had on their T-38s, relatively few USAF aircraft had any Bicentennial markings.
Nearly every squadron in Naval Aviation (USN and USMC) had one aircraft painted in a Bicentennial paint scheme.
The Navy loved wild paint schemes in the 60s and 70s. Here’s the C1 that was on the Lex. It’s now in the museum at NAS Pensacola….I’m sure this is the one that was on the Lex because of the “blue ghost” insignia…a nickname the Lex picked up during WWII: she was rushed into combat wearing only blue primer, and the Japanese reported her sunk so many times so…blue paint and returned from the dead equals “blue ghost”
+1. The ’72 Fords were Olympics themed, nothing to do with the Bicentennial. As for the Chevys, I’ve never been able to figure out why they didn’t hold this package until 1976.
Schwinn offered several bicycles in Bicentennial trim, including the beloved Stingray.
Yep! Here’s one…
How about a nice Bicentennial KW cab over….it was available for conventional cabs too.
It was a big thing to do up locomotives in 1776-1976 regalia too.
Lets not forget the Super Jeep! Yes, its gaudy, and tacky and ridiculous…but who WOULDNT want this!?!?! I remember as a kid seeing one right after we moved to TN in 1979….I wanted it in the WORST way, even at 4 years old.
Turns out there were two color combos on this: The classic R/W/B and a weird tritone beige.
http://www.jeep-cj.com/forums/f103/super-jeep-12259/
Happy Independence Day, CC’ers.
There was a Sprit of 76 International Scout, these are pretty rare, only like 384 were made.
SWEET. Who doesn’t love a 2 door 4×4 with a soft top? Never knew about these.
It was also a big thing during the Bicentennial to paint up fire hydrants in patriotic themes, there are a few of these still around in some places that have been repainted.
Love it!
Delta 1776’ed up its widget logo for its fleet for the Bicentennial .
Eastern had “What So Proudly We Hailed” decals on their birds, and then there was Braniff’s Alexander Calder 727…..
Though ,of course, no mention of the Bicentennial is complete without mentioning the 1976 “Last 200” convertible Eldorados, this is what I would choose to drive the July 4th regatta…
Happy 4th!!
Great pics, Carmine! That’s what I’m talking about…
I’m pretty sure I’ve personally seen at least 500 of those “Last 200.”
But only 200 are real….
I recall the white blue Mustangs roaming the plains, but I never connected them to the Bicentennial. Not my favorite at the time. A couple of the ’74 Spirit Impalas roamed my habitat, and I wondered what was up. Waaaaayyyy cool now.
Happy 4th!
Some larger transportation vehicles were decorated as well
Anyone remember the story of the guy that bought the Spirit of America Vega, and drove it home in reverse ?
I remember the Chevies but not the Fords. Perhaps because I was in my Vega lust period then (yes, there was such a thing) though I didn’t consummate that lust and get my own Vega, not red/white/blue, until a few years later. I think the Ramblers have aged best.
A “magical time”…I’m not so sure. I was there, the last summer before I got my license.
I recall being somewhat upset that President Ford got to deliver the penultimate Bicentennial Minute on TV (vs. President Nixon). Not that I was a Nixon fan, but somehow it didn’t seem right that a president that no one had voted for (ever..recall that he as appointed VP) got to do the thing that we’d been psyched for all of those months.
I also recall going into DC for the fireworks (I grew up in the DC metro area) that year…as we were wont to do each year…in my dad’s ’74 Fiat 128 (which I would learn to drive on the following summer) and being disappointed that the fireworks that year were some sort of “special” extravaganza and actually turned out to be closer to the ground than usual. That made for somewhat lousy viewing from the side of the GW parkway near the Pentagon…which was as close as we dared to get – for fear of being stuck in traffic all night getting home – that Bicentennial Weekend.
All things considered, 1977 was a much better year.
Also the last summer before I got my license. Every last thing had been made into bicentennial red/white/blue and stars/stripes for a couple of years. Exhausting, by the end. After July 4th, it seemed like things got wrapped up very quickly, the figurative tents all folded and the circus left town in the dead of night. Sort of anticlimactic. We all went on to other things, very quickly.
Can’t recall where I heard this, but it was a long time ago. Anyway, a guy buys a Spirit of America Vega and drives it home in reverse. He’s stopped by the police, and he explains why he’s driving backwards. He doesn’t want to put any miles on the car. Amazingly, the officer lets him continue. So he gets home, and puts the Vega in a special room – where it stays…until who knows ? Now ? Anyone else heard this story ?
Being an amateur audiophile I especially like your “Rose Colored Earbuds” reference. I shall appropriate it’s usage in the blogosphere effective immediately.
Be my guest… 🙂
I was in Copenhagen on that day in 1976 while on my 100 day trip around Europe. Being away from the U.S. meant I was also away from all news at the time. Never watched a TV nor read anything, other than train schedules, on the entire trip. Pretty much lost track of time as to specifics.Forgot about the Fourth of July. On that morning when walking out of the B&B the people at the desk said Happy Birthday and I looked at the other two guys I was with and said your birthday. They said no???
At lunch the waitress said Happy Birthday after serving us. Huh? Go to Tivoli Gardens that night and there is this huge fireworks show and people asking if we are American. We say yes and they say Happy Birthday. Ah, now we get it. The Danes are super nice.
Almost forgot. Back in the day, I went to high school with a girl who had one of those Pintos with the Sprint decor option. Which she got brand new.
I was 12, living in Southern Louisiana, and it was a great time for me. I was too young to be into politics (back then you didn’t force your kids to be political), but not too young to remember the way politicians at least pretended to be friendly to one another and respect each other. Everything was red white and blue and history programs were everywhere (I LOVED the Bicentennial Minutes). Flag/eagle t-shirts, Evel Kneivel, tacky belt buckles, and I got a Bicentennial Remington .22 for my birthday. I felt lucky to be an American, and it felt like there was hope for the future (even I could sense the change from the gloom and stress of Vietnam and Watergate). It started a lifelong fascination with reading about the Revolution and the Founders. That country is long gone.
Looking back, that was a great time. I had just finished my first year of college and was working my ass off to gather spending money for the next year. We still had a great time watching the fireworks at the shore and celebrating.
Meanwhile, eyeballing that Mustang…. I REALLY dislike the ‘71-‘73s…Ford ventured far away from the plot IMO…even the ‘70 was still pretty clean. I know it’s not a popular opinion, but the ‘74 Mustang II was almost a relief from the overgrown hunchback the Mustang had turned into. Of course the ‘79 Fox was better yet, but the II started a course correction at least.
There was even a Bicentennial dam mural, this is the Prado dam spanning the Santa Ana River in Corona, CA. It survives today, in pretty sad shape. I must have passed this a thousand times through the years, traveling between Orange County and Riverside, and slowly witnessing its slow deterioration, as the 91 freeway parallels the river.
I was in the Air Force in 1976, stationed in California. The one thing I remember the most is a bunch of us helped a buddy and his wife move into their new home on the 4th of July (a day off for us). As a way of saying thanks Mrs. Buddy and some friends fixed a spaghetti dinner for us, including the two dollars per gallon wine to wash it down. After dinner we watched the tall ships from New York until one of us (it was not me) threw up his wine and spaghetti all over the brand new bathroom. That sort of put a damper on the evening and we all left posthaste.
Dare I say the comments on this post have been more interesting and enlightening than the cars? Although I lived through 1976 and thought I knew what was going on in the world (Americaincluded), I had no idea such a wide range of ‘consumer goods’ (hate the term) copped the Bicentennial treatment.