Continuing our drive down memory lane, here’s another collection of ads scanned from what is the last R&T issue for 1978. Yes, I know there were many issues in-between this one and the last, but sadly, I haven’t got them. Enjoy this one, though.
Well, lets start:
Remember how reliable these engines were? Oh well, at least they tried to do something about the soaring gas prices.
Who actually sold this poster? It’s not Chevrolet. Hmm, looks very shady to me.
I love this Ad. It fuses two of my interests (Motor Racing and Photography) seamlessly. Plus, you’ve got Bob Sharp and the Datsun, what else could you want?
Volvo working the loyalty angle.
In the previous post, some of you compared the old Civic to the current 2015 model. Now you can do the same with the Accord.
Lancia Beta Berlina, anyone?
There was a time when Peugeot made bulletproof cars.
I think this is probably one of the first Ads of the Mustang MK3.
I can’t explain it, but somehow I prefer the looks of this Capri to its Mustang sister.
Chrysler seems to have decided to address the Malaise era by simply replacing all their cars with Mitsubishi’s (note the Challenger above).
Actually, I take it back- “Hey, that’s my Dodge”.
Of course, the GTO springs into view, with a listing that’s long as your arm. But please note the Trans Am and especially the Superbird… $7500!
Some accessories for your pleasure.
Ok, that’s it. See ya next issue.
I’ll would still take the VW Scirocco. Best looking sports car for its time!!!
+1. Even with it’s “roomy” back seat.
+2 – I loved that generation of Scirocco (regardless of reliability) back then and still do. Those quad round headlights against the dark grille really work (I like the BMW E34 for the same reason).
Re: The Olds Diesel ad–As awful as the 4.3 gas V8 was, I can’t imagine how bad the diesel version must have been. “Phase 2 of the Destroy Diesel’s Reputation for a Couple of Generations Program”, is more like it.
Back in 1978 the Countach must have seemed like some vessel from outer space.
Not really. The Maserati Bora had been around for several years.
The Bora really doesn’t look that wild in context of it’s contemporaries, if anything it kind of looks like a cross between a watered down Miura and the preceding Ghibli, nothing too groundbreaking for 1971. That original Countach though, love it or hate it, really did look space aged, more along the lines of the crazy concepts and one offs put out in the late 60s/early 70s
I was in university in 1978 and I remember this issue of Road and Track quite well. The Countach was a cool and exciting car but it’s not like we hadn’t seen exotic cars before so it didn’t seem like it was from another planet.
I’ll take that 70 Plymouth Superbird 440 SixPak for $7500.
X2. I remember seeing these ads in faraway and (then) backward Israel and thinking that in, say, 10 years I would have a reasonable chance of netting one of these cars; at the time it was not a complete fantasy – people only discovered old cars as investments later… Heh.
My memory may be bad, but I think that’s the only ad I’ve ever seen anywhere for the Arrow pickup.
That Olds diesel ad makes that engine sound like a re-birth of the V8, and the birth of a whole new way of thinking for Olds (and GM). It’s a shame about the reality.
BMW thought “traditional” luxury cars were…..? back in the 70s and 80s. Then they started heading that direction, slowly but surely.
That Capri ad takes me back. To owning my first almost-new car (It was a leftover 1980 model purchased in 1981). Which, was a Capri RS turbo. Which was a POS.
But, I can’t look back on those cars and think how great they were, when they ran well. There was little in 1979 that was really new and the Fox bodies were it. We didn’t know it at the time, but those were truly the future for the Ford Motor Company in North America. Before long, a big chunk of the domestic lineup would be based on those cars.
Mmmmm 1978, one of my favorite years. The Scirocco got a 5-speed and new bumpers that were better looking than Europe’s, Accord got four doors, BMW and Saab engines started running better and we saw the Fox Mustang. Things were looking up in a big way.
I probably would have read the Jaguar XJL article first, then the 928 and Lambo pieces. Those cars were so unattainable ever in my lifetime and I figured on the Jag I could at least afford a used one some day.
My dad had a red 79 mustang fastback just like the one in the corner of that ad. That car was such a lemon that he and his friends still tell stories about how unreliable and poorly built it was. I’m sure it was especially hard for him since it replaced an Opel Manta that he has nothing but praise for. The Mustang was in turn replaced by a CRX and he has bought Japanese cars ever since.
1979 Dodge Challenger
Imported from Japan
Talk about a 180* in marketing! *imported from Detroit*
“Remember how reliable these engines were? Oh well, at least they tried to do something about the soaring gas prices.”
and LOL at the ad saying how “quiet” they were. maybe compared to an 18 wheeler, but they were much more clattery than- say- the Mercedes-Benz diesels of the day.
They gave the Dodge Magnumb a “distinctive Cord style grille”. They said it, I didn`t.
I remember admiring the look of the Dodge Magnum when they first came out. I liked the taillight setup and the grill. I still like the looks of the car!
“Magnumb” – love it!
I always preferred the look of the Capri front end to that of the Mustang. It was that glass hatchback that ruined the look for me.
Me too, but the good news is the 79-82 used the same basic hatch the Mustang used, 83-86 got the bubble.
The 1974 SD Trans Am is probably worth $80k-$100k today – too bad in 1979 I was 12 and had $70 bucks saved in my piggy bank!
As Baby Boomers got larger in size, so did the Accord. 😉
all cars do. The Civic used to be a tiny car. but as the Accord expanded, so did the Civic. Now in place of the Civic we have the Fit, which is anything but.
and honestly I’m OK with that. you can walk away from a collision in a Fit which would have your family making funeral arrangements had you been driving an early ’80s Accord.
Never mind the GTO, Trans Am, or Superbird – even at $30k I’d go for the low-mileage Mercedes 300Sc which was being sold a few blocks away from my brother’s current house.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane….the ad for the 4.3 liter Olds diesel really is hilarious. If I remember correctly it produced all of 85 horsepower. I recall a road test
of a Cutlass with the 260 diesel and 5-speed manual in Car and Driver; I believe the
zero to sixty acceleration time was something like 24 seconds. It was certainly not my
idea of a fun car. Does anyone know how long the 4.3 diesel was in production?
it’s not really that out of the ordinary for the time. naturally aspirated diesel engines are dogs.
Depends who makes em my non turbo Toyota Corona diesel auto was achingly slow 0-100 kmh in about 15 seconds.
Thanks very much for posting these. I especially enjoyed Toyota and Mazda ads at the time, as they used nice technical illustrations, modern layouts, and dynamic typography.
Given this was long before desktop publishing, the ad quality is very impressive. Lots of sophisticated film work, and typesetting involved.
Even in an ad, the Brava looks tinny. I never found those styled steel wheels on the early base Mustangs very flattering. They looked especially econo. On the other hand, those TRX wheels looked fantastic.
Has anyone ever thought of any of the 2-door personal luxury coupes from the ’70s as a “family” car, aside from the “mom took the wagon to PTA tonight so the rest of the family can squeeze into the Magnum with Dad and go for pizza” car?
The Scirocco is of obvious interest, but I find the Arrow P/U, MGB and the Brava interesting as well. It’s fun to speculate, but if I actually had to sign on the dotted line for one of the latter two, would I regret it later?
Of the cars advertised I’d now be tempted by the Peugeot obviously perhaps the Saab or the BMW all in manual sans air and here sans any pollution equipment.
Love that Scirocco, and would kill to have a nicely preserved example in my garage today.
I did however own an example of the Challenger shown in the ad above. Mine was a more conservative looking all white one, and a 1982 model , fortunately without the crazy plaid interior. In all honesty it was a great car. The Mitsubishi “MCA Jet” 2.6 litre four and 5 speed moved the little car along nicely and it was a blast to drive as my first car. Unfortunately as happens to many first cars, mine was totaled at a young age in 1986 (by a friend i lost touch with years ago). I do recall that it was already showing signs of rust even at four years old though. I doubt many of them are still running the roads today.
That Peugeot ad is wrong. The 1908 Targa Florio (which also wasn’t the first one as they claim, the Targa was first run in 1906) was won by an Isotta-Fraschini. The only edition won by a Peugeot was the 1919th one.
Thanks for the post! As I reread it I was thrilled and interested to see Irv Gordon featured in the Volvo add, with a mere half-million miles on his 66 1800s. As many readers know, he has exceeded 3 MILLION miles on that same car (original engine, I believe) and has been featured in many publications.
https://www.media.volvocars.com/global/en-gb/media/pressreleases/132531/he-has-done-it-irv-gordon-reaches-3-million-miles-in-his-1966-volvo-1800s
What a trip down memory lane. The four-door Accord was a fairly big deal when it appeared. The Accord was “growing up.”
The Dodge Magnum was a handsome car for the time. It was what the post-1974 Dodge Charger should have been from day one, to better distinguish it from the Chrysler Cordoba. (Speaking of which, I doubt that Chrysler ran any Cordoba ads in Road & Track.)
It’s interesting that Ford ran ads for both the Mustang and the Capri in the same issue of the magazine.
The classified ads for the old cars are interesting. For comparison, here are the asking prices in inflation-adjusted, 2015 dollars:
$6,600 = $24,124 (1974 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am SD)
$7,500 = $27,413 (1970 Plymouth Superbird)
$17,500 = $63,965 (1971 Pontiac GTO Judge convertible)
$30,000 = $109,654 (1955 Mercedes 300Sc)
Those must have been some ambitious prices on those cars at the time, but even adjusted for inflation, they’d be bargains today.
Also note that the ad for the Pontiac GTO Judge convertible attempts to justify the asking price by comparing its production run to that of the 1976 Cadillac Eldorado convertible, which was supposedly the “last convertible.”
The ad asks why someone would pay up to $30,000 for a car with a 14,000 unit production run in one particular model year.
I vividly remember this issue, although I no longer have a copy of it. The Countach article is burned into my brain – to this day, I’d love to own one of the original ones, which hadn’t yet been fitted with the round-peg-in-a-square-hole fender flares, or that damned big wing. The original design was a thing of beauty.