What it was like to buy a new car in 1970.

CobraBob

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I found this really need article and thought I'd share it since there have been some other neat articles touching on ordering cars back in the '60s and early '70s. Brings back a lot of memories. There are a few points made in the article that I don't really agree with, but overall it's good. A lot read, but worth it if you grew up in that time period or want to compare car buying today to what it was like back in 1970.

What it was Like to Buy a New Car in 1970​

March 23, 2020
Pete Dunton

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By the time the 1970 model year rolled in, the U.S. Automobile Industry had undergone many changes during the 20th Century. One of the biggest changes was many smaller automobile makers and brands had bit the dust during the 1950s and 1960s. However the buying choices and range of options available on cars in the U.S. market was at an all time high by 1970. Not to mention technology and safety had greatly improved over the years. For U.S. automakers 1970 was a pinnacle. GM, Ford, and Chrysler had a large majority of the U.S. car market share in 1970 with American Motors (or AMC for short) having a small market share in comparison. A few import brands mostly from Europe and Japan also had a very small share of the overall U.S. car market. Volkswagen and Toyota had the largest portion of this import share. Import cars would see astronomical growth in market share in the U.S. market during the 1970s decade.

The average cost of a new car back in 1970 was $3,543, for 2019 the average price of a new car is around $36,000. The median family income in 1970 was $9,870, for 2019 the median family income is $60,336. In other words a new car back in 1970 cost about 36% of the median family income, for 2019 a new car costs 59% of the median family income. This shows that cars were a lot less expensive on the average back in 1970 when compared to cars today.

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If you wanted to buy a new car back 1970 a buyer had to go to a new car dealership to view and test drive new cars. When trying to decide between different makes and models and options this required a lot of travel time between dealerships and a lot of foot work walking around dealership lots. As an example if a buyer was interested in a Ford LTD, Chevrolet Caprice, or Dodge Polara, this required going to at least one Ford dealership, one Chevrolet dealership, and one Dodge dealership. Sometimes if the inventory was insufficient at one dealership, a trip to another dealership was usually required. As an example if a buyer was leaning towards the Caprice and wanted to test drive one with the 454 cubic-inch V8 option and the first Chevrolet dealership didn’t have in stock a 454 Caprice to test drive, this required a trip to another Chevrolet dealership that had a 454 Caprice in its inventory. Today footwork like this can be minimized by checking out the car, SUV, and truck inventory along with pricing and other options on any car dealership’s website. Back in 1970, there was no Internet to view what inventory a car dealership had. The only way to get a faint idea of what a dealership had in terms of inventory was checking their ads in the local newspaper or TV ads which generally only listed a few cars.

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Today many dealerships have no haggle discount pricing and use very low pressure sales techniques. Back in 1970, you had to be prepared when going into a dealership to be a tough negotiator. The sales staff back then tended to be more high pressure and your starting point in the price negotiation was generally the MSRP window sticker price. However back then, many dealerships built relationships with their customers. As an example a particular buyer would buy a new Buick every two to three years, and usually deal with the same salesman. In this case the salesman and sales manager would then give this buyer a price break since they wanted to earn this buyer’s loyalty and didn’t focus on the profit of one sale but instead the long term goal of selling this buyer many new Buicks over the next 20 years. Today sales staff and sales managers move around to different dealerships never staying in the same place for too long. Back in 1970 a good number of car sales staff spent their careers at one car dealership. Today most dealerships are concerned with providing good customer service but have too narrow a focus on short term sales quotas rather than increasing long term sales by building relationships with their customers. Many car dealerships today are large facilities owned by companies that own multiple car dealerships. Back in 1970 most car dealerships were owned by an owner who only had one car dealership.

Unlike a good number of car buyers today, most car buyers back in 1970 bought within their means. It was extremely rare to find buyers back in 1970 buying an expensive Cadillac when they could only afford a Chevrolet. If a buyer didn’t have good credit or the income to buy a particular car, loan companies wouldn’t approve the car loan. Today loan companies are extremely lenient with their lending practices. For instance it’s easy for a buyer who makes $50,000 a year to get a loan to purchase a $100,000 car or SUV. Today loan agreements are for longer time periods. Back in 1970 a 3 year loan was the norm, today 6 year and 7 year loans are not out of the ordinary.

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In 1970, the big share of the consumer vehicle market was cars, SUVs and trucks were such a very small piece of the consumer market. Buyers bought station wagons when they needed more utility or three rows of passenger seats back in 1970. The only mini van in the U.S. market back in 1970 was the Volkswagen microbus. Same was true with pickup trucks, most were used for fleet or commercial use. The pickups that were purchased by consumers were mostly used for farm or other utilitarian uses. Unlike today, most families back in 1970 didn’t use pickups to commute to work, take kids to school, get groceries, or take family vacation trips.

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Buying choices back in 1970 were very plentiful, however there are more car brands today with a greater selection of different types of new vehicles. Today most new cars, SUVs, and trucks have black, silver, or white exterior colors. Back in 1970 there were many more exterior color choices available, everything from conservative colors to bright wild colors. As an example the best selling car for 2019 is the Toyota Camry, most 2019 Camry models only have up to 5 exterior color choices. Back in 1970, the Ford Galaxie was the best selling new car, it had over 20 different colors available. Same is true with interior colors, most cars back in 1970 had at least 10 to 20 different interior colors available, everything from brown to moss green. Today it’s getting harder to find more than 2 to 3 different interior color choices on many new cars, SUVs, and trucks. If a customer couldn’t find an exterior or interior color that this customer liked in a car dealers inventory back in 1970, this customer could order from the factory the exterior and interior colors the customer wanted along with any of the available options this customer wanted. It was easy back then to create a one of a kind car by choosing a unique exterior color, unique interior color, and a combination of unique options. Today it’s much harder to do that since options today come in group packages so a customer is forced to order a package with many options even if this customer only wants one of the options in the package. Gone are the days when a buyer could pick and chose only the individual options wanted.

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Back in 1970 if a dealership didn’t have what a customer wanted in inventory, dealerships were eager to take special factory orders. The dealership would have a buyer fill out a factory order sheet and several weeks later the new car ordered would arrive at the dealership for the buyer to purchase. Today it’s much more difficult to get a dealership to place a special order for a customer, instead many dealership sales reps try to offer a customer a great deal on a similar car, SUV, or truck currently in that dealership’s inventory instead of processing a special order.

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Back in 1970, most new car buyers kept cars only for a few years, today new car buyers keep their cars for much longer periods of time. Cars were looked upon as being more disposable back then. Very few customers in 1970 worried if their new 1970 model year cars would make it to 100,000 miles since they knew they would sell or trade-in these cars for new cars long before these cars would ever reach anywhere close to 100,000 miles. This is why most 1970 model year cars only had 5 figure odometers. Back then automakers made exterior and interior changes to most cars every year (even if they were slight changes) to entice buyers to buy a new car every year. Today automakers wait longer periods of time before releasing exterior and interior updates on their cars in order to cut costs.

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Back in 1970 there were smaller cars but their numbers paled in comparison to the many full-size and mid-size cars on the road at the time. The best selling cars back in 1970 were full-size cars. The 1970 Ford Galaxie, as previously mentioned was the best selling, it was a full-size car. It is substantially larger than the cars today, the four door sedan version had a length of 213.7 inches, a width of 79.8 inches, and a wheelbase of 121 inches.

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Leather seats and the many luxury options that are available on today’s cars, SUVs, and trucks were only available in the most luxurious of luxury cars back in 1970. The Power windows option back then was considered a luxury option, today its a standard feature in many cars, SUVs, and trucks. And the power seat or power seats option back in 1970 was extremely rare.

When buying a new car back in 1970, there wasn’t as much stress in the purchase as there is today. If a buyer happened to pick the wrong car in 1970, worst case scenario the buyer was stuck with the car during the entire 3 year loan agreement and could buy another new car in 1973 at the latest. Today when cars are much more expensive, if a buyer has regrets concerning the purchase that buyer is stuck with the car, SUV, or truck for a lot longer period of time or that buyer faces monetary penalties to get out of a car loan earlier if there is still an outstanding loan balance. Definitely back in 1970, the times were simpler and so was buying a new car.

Written contents in this article – © 2019-2020 Pete Dunton – All Rights Reserved
 

Uncle Meat

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Great read! Thanks Bob!

Thought I'd throw in these classic photo's of my brother and his Mopars. He was born 10 or so years before I was so he had his drivers license before the Muscle Cars got neutered. He had some sweet rides too, wish I could find the picture of his '73 Cuda. Will have to ask him for a copy.

U.M.

'68 Roadrunner w/383
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'70 Cuda
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'71 Charger
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...and finally, my father in his '70 New Yorker. My Dad had no idea what he had bought back then. I think my brother had something to do with him purchasing the car. Some other dude had ordered the New Yorker with the 440 TNT package and then didn't want it when it came in. By now my brother was pretty well known at the dealership so...

I remember riding in this car from Michigan to San Antonio Texas to see my brother while he was in the USAF. It drank gas like there was no tomorrow and my old man got rid of it after just a year or so of owning it. Replaced it with a.... STATION WAGON!? Why Dad, WHY!?

'70 Chrysler New Yorker
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U.M.
 

CobraBob

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U.M, I owned a '70 Road Runner with a 383, same color as your brother's. Was his a manual or auto?

Is your dad smoking a pipe in that photo? Looks like a pipe in the photo, but hard to really tell. Pipes were not uncommon back in the '50s and '60s.
 

Fastback

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U.M, I owned a '70 Road Runner with a 383, same color as your brother's. Was his a manual or auto?

Is your dad smoking a pipe in that photo? Looks like a pipe in the photo, but hard to really tell. Pipes were not uncommon back in the '50s and '60s.
My gramps always had a pipe and loose Tobacco in his front pocket of his overalls. Through the mid nineties! Good memories! Sweet tobacco smell from the bag.
 

Silverstrike

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Yeah my dad had a 68 Roadrunner except his had a blacked out hood and was bronze/copper color. In 1968 he said he was going to buy what ever Motor Trend said was car of the year (Which was the 68 Runner). Then he traded that off on a 1970 Duster (Vitamin C orange) that he special ordered with a dual 600 CFM Holley intake plane and Nascar speced internals he paid about $6500 while he could of gotten a Hemi Superbird for $4200.

That car the only things he didn't even try against was Hemi's, LS-6 and 427 Vettes as there was just a slight weight disadvantage not in his favor. Everything else he either out right ran away from or gave a tough fight against. What he couldn't afford was the fuel bill as traveling only 75 miles one way he had to stop fuel up then go back home and do it all over again on the return trip! So he traded that off and got a regular 340 single carb set up which basically made it just a slightly faster 340 powered Mopar. But at least he could do 3 tanks a week for his commute over the 6 times.
 

Uncle Meat

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Yeah, that was good. UM, does your brother still have any of those? @Uncle Meat
No unfortunately. Every one of those cars was traded in for the next one! Once he got married and had a couple kids his cars were more family orientated. ;)

U.M, I owned a '70 Road Runner with a 383, same color as your brother's. Was his a manual or auto?

Is your dad smoking a pipe in that photo? Looks like a pipe in the photo, but hard to really tell. Pipes were not uncommon back in the '50s and '60s.
His RR was a manual, but I think all the other Mopars he owned were A/T's. Yes that is in fact a pipe. My father smoked a pipe up until he turned about 50 or so. Just like Clinton, he didn't inhale. :ROFLMAO:

U.M.
 

kazman

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That could have been my neighborhood growing up, brings back memories.
 

BlckBox04

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One thing the article said that definitely still rings true today, salesmen in dealerships don’t try to get a sale from someone in the anticipation they’ll buy multiple vehicles from them down the road. And I see this mistake made a lot with commercial vehicles. I buy at least two new trucks a year for my company and very rarely do we ever get a deal from somewhere that will make us say these are the only guys we’ll deal with.

I bought seven brand new trucks last year and didn’t get a deal on any one of them which is why I just went to whatever dealer had something in stock rather than ordering with a certain dealership.
 

snakecharmer

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The part about dealing with the same dealer/sales person was definitely true. My Dad dealt with the same guy for yeaaaars. Besides the fact that sales staff rarely stays at the same place for a long period, the internet makes it easier to find a better deal and/or the exact car you want at another dealer. And since the turnover at dealers is so rapid, little advantage to staying with the same one. I go with who has the lowest price.

Life of them has also definitely approved. I have a 97 F150 with well over 200K on it. That was unheard of when I was growing up.
 

CobraBob

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My gramps always had a pipe and loose Tobacco in his front pocket of his overalls. Through the mid nineties! Good memories! Sweet tobacco smell from the bag.
I thought so. Back in the '60s, cherry blend pipe tobacco was popular with men who smoked pipes. Pipes were cool back then.
 

CobraBob

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Just for memories sake, I sheepishly post a photo of my first car. A 1960 Corvair 500 sedan. 3-speed manual. After driving it for about 5 years, my dad gave it to me when I was 16. Drove it my senior year in high school. Hey, it had four wheels and an engine, even though it was in the rear. I loved that thing. Two years later I was in the Navy and never saw it again.

This is not my actual car. Mine was the same color with the same wheels.
iu
 

Badaz01

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Funny how cars were cheaper then than they are now. I would like to see a car then have a 100 mph head on collision with the junk now a days and compare hunks of metal to see which one is more in tact.
 

Uncle Meat

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I thought so. Back in the '60s, cherry blend pipe tobacco was popular with men who smoked pipes. Pipes were cool back then.
If I remember correctly my father smoked Captain Black Pipe Tobacco.

As for my first car it was a '74 Opel Manta.

U.M.

Before someone asks... Yes that's my actual car, feathered roach clip and all, and the old HS GF. Been 42 years and change since this photo was taken. Where does the time go....
IMG1_0005.jpg
 

Uncle Meat

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Funny how cars were cheaper then than they are now. I would like to see a car then have a 100 mph head on collision with the junk now a days and compare hunks of metal to see which one is more in tact.
I think you'd be pretty surprised actually. While the old cars were made of primarily iron & steel, most weren't designed with crumple zones and impact protection.

U.M.

 

jshen

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My dad was rear ended while on a road trip and totaled out his Mercury Monterey..Mom said she was buying the next car (1969) and she came home with a 69 Dodge Charger.. attached..Her next buy was a 78 TransAm...I had one and she like how it ran... Oh my first experience with snow..
 

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