Needed info from people who can remember the early 70's

[Primered_69]

After sitting down and finally coming up with a plan for my truck I want to fashion it to look like a early to mid seventies hot rod.

My dad passed a 10 months ago and he gave me the truck and built it many times togeather in bs sessions across the kitchen table.

So I kinda want to do it up in the early seventies style due to the fact I was born in 1973 and grew up with these style hotrods of my dads. (My earliest memory is sitting in the back seat of a GTO and the thrush sticker on the small side window,)

What was popular during this time. Muffulers. Interior treatments. Paint jobs. Accessories. I am going for a classy rendition and not a chessy look with shag though. I already made a deal with Ernie on some turbines that I think would start out the look. It is a 1969 truck with the 67-68 cst trim. But I am Bozall friendly and do not mind shaving or deleting and adding anything.

What's your thoughts?

[bobs409]

Things that were common back then.... Air shocks (hijackers) filled to the brim, Cragar SS mags, extremely wide rear tires, thrush mufflers and chrome side pipes. Not necasarily just on trucks, everything had these!

Oh yeh, 8 track stereos and a chain hanging from the rear view mirror made from beer can pull tabs. lol

[9footfan]

metalic orange or purple paint-must be VERY metalic!

[Tx Firefighter]

I vaguely remember fat wheels in back with fat tires sticking out. White letter tires too.

Side pipes (!!!!!!!)

Underdash 8-track players.

Those triple gauge panels from the parts store.

[mikep684x4]

Crager rims or american mags,10's in the back with 6's in the front. One solid color,no pinstrips. Lower in the front, raised in the rear ,just a little. Cherry bomb exhaust with side pipes,scull head on the shifter with a small steering wheel. 8 track mounted under the dash next to the cb. Oh yea, crome everything that unbolts. Just remembering my dads 54.

[Tx Firefighter]

Crap, Bob out typed me on this one. We do remember similar though.

[Tx Firefighter]

I remember a ton of slot mags, turbine mags, Keystones and Cragar SS wheels around here myself.

Nostalgia is a warm feeling to me. Good times that are long gone and mostly forgotten....

[passthebuck]

for me, nothing says early 70ies like gold-centered cragars, jacked-up rear ends (shakles), vans with a little (whatever-heart or star) shaped rear window, a coloured interior light(s), . I remember two camaros that had them. the spoked section & the cap was gold-chrome & the rim part was chrome. You MUST MUST! have a little rubber or plastic skeleton from www.shrunkenheads.com . In fact, see that site for other suggestions such as a "76" antenna ball & a chrome big-foot gas pedal.

[Mudder]

Metal flake......... deep dish chrome rims with baby moons. Yea air shocks and wide tires with Thrush mufflers. I went to cassettes in 73 and was the first one around here to have such a thing.

[Primered_69]

Were air shocks like the prerunner to the airbag? So the heavily raked look was in?

What about interior? Was it still tuck and roll? The mexican blanket look was sixties right?

[cdowns]

if you want an authentic 70's style hotrod you need to get something from the 40's or 50's to build

[Fred T]

Have to agree with y'all. Cragars or Micky Thompsons on cars, white spokes on trucks. Metal flake paint, blue or green were popular. Raise the rear a couple of inches, lower the front so you were always driving uphill. Glass pack cherry bombs or straight pipes. And you couldn't go fast without a 4 speed and a Hurst shifter. And to go real fast you needed a three deuce carb setup on top of a high compression engine (11:1 or better).

[9footfan]

i remember my pops driving around in his 74 vette with a prism dangeling from the rear view mirror. shot little rainbows around the car as you drove and it spun-freakin wierd.

[gonebad2]

Headers were painted white. Traction bars were big. The old style Thrush mufflers. They were round and long and had cool colorful graphics on them. Hood locks were also big but they ruined a perfectly good hood by drilling holes. Alot of people would actually use small padlocks (bad idea if you had an underhood fire) others used pins with cables attached to them. Cal-Custom items were big. They made the famous footprint gas pedal. They also made cool cast aluminum finned valve covers. Any of you guys remember the rear deck speakers that looked like organ pipes? U.S. Mags were some cool wheels. Cragar was making some cool cast aluminum slotted mags as well as others like eaton. Some guys were running below the door sidepipes. I thought they always looked cool on C-3 Vettes. A hot ignition setup was a Mallory dual point distributor with yellow Accel plug wires. Big wide steamrollers in the back with thin pizza cutters in the front. One summer, I worked my butt off for a set of Mickey Thompson steam rollers, Cragar slots and a set of Gabriel Hi-jackers. I had a 68 Cougar GT-390 and thought I was sh*ttin in tall cotton.

[gonebad2]

Almost forgot.....Any of you guys remember Rocket Racing Products? Edit.....Or the whole CB radio craze.

[HOTFUN]

I remember having two sets of wheels. My 9 month wheels were Keystone Klassics on my Chevelle SS and then you had to have your stock rally's with the studded snow tires. Nothing like watching the sparks fly at night when you lit them up with that 454! And talk about leaving grooves in the concrete!
Pinstriping was big, air brush murals on the deck lids was a fad and another groovy thing especially cause it was some doped up painter's best art work. 8 tracks were big up to about 77 or 78 when those new cassettes came out and didn't eat your tapes.

Just the simple chrome open element air cleaners, Hooker headers and Holly carbs were big. I ran L60 X 15 Goodyear polyglass on the rear of the SS and E70's on the front. Air shocks jacked the ass end all the way up. Always having problems with header leaks or the dang air shock lines leaking and leaving you draggin the rear tires. CHevies would throw the fan belts at 8 grand and maybe bend a push rod. Fords would literally self destruct but always 3 lengths behind me so not to damage my car! Oh and you had to have traction bars on the rear leafs to keep the wheel hop down. Cutting 66's on new pavement was easy with a big block and a turbo 400 automatic. Then you also had to have your high school tassle hanging from the rear view mirror too and stuffed animals in the dash corners and rear seat.
That will set you up for 1975. Oh ya gas was 59.9 in 1976 too.


Mark

[mocwon]

A big a$$ Sun tach mounted somewhere near the driver. A spinner knob for the steering wheel. Aftermarket shifter knob, many times a universal Hurst knob 'cause the whole shifter cost too much. Wide stripes. AVS & AFB Carter carburetors. Flipping the air cleaner lid over to hear the four-barrel moan. Baby moons. Painted differential to show off with the high jackers pumped up until you slid out of the driver's seat. Lacquer paint. A converter to play cassette tapes in the 8-track player. AM only radio. Stick on window tint strip for the windshield. Cruise control set up that only held the gas pedal at a desired level. Mud flaps. Ashtrays in the arm rests. Beat'n the crap out of the wheel openings just so the 50 series Mickey Thompsons would fit. Locking gas caps first became popular during the oil embargo in '73. 101 octane white gas from Amoco. Services station attendants.
Almost forgot... Mr. Natural (see avatar if you don't remember him) and Zig Zag decals and an occasional bong in the vehicle.

[68w/sbc406]

Originally Posted by mocwon

Services station attendants.

we still got those in oregon

[mocwon]

Originally Posted by 68w/sbc406

we still got those in oregon

State law, right.

[68w/sbc406]

think so. all i know is when i go up to washington i sit in my truck for a little while till i remember i got to do it my self. then i feel real smart

[dtlilly]

I had aluminum Keystone Classics on my car, that was jacked up in the rear end with shackels and adjustable air shocks while Cherry bomb exhaust carried away the fumes. I also had house speakers in the rear seat for the poundin tunes of Zep, Who, CCR, Joplin, etc... right on, man!

[Hunter]

OK, graduated high school in '76, had a 67 GMC Handi-Van mid engine, long wheelbase. It started out as my grass cutting and landscaping business van, but soon got customized in the pursuit of females and good times! Had a power inverter (12VDC X 120VAC) and a mongo wattage amp home stereo in the back, Sanyo quadrophonic (HA!) 8 track up front. HUGE home speakers in back, put them on the roof at keggers and blasted Boston's first album at mega decibal. Bought several "Mr. Natural" items (cartoon by R. Crumb creator of Fritz the Cat), some actually legal to possess Remember the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers comic books? My big brother bought me all 7 issues for my birthday one year. Still got 'em! The lawn-mowing van had a 283/2bbl and 3 on the tree. I put headers on it and moved the shift to the floor with a Schlitz tap handle for the shifter. Oooooooo! Radial tires and baby moons and trim rings. I couldn't afford the cool star-trapezoid-rectangle-whatever back windows but I had a solar-scoop, like a hood scoop for the roof, fake leopard and knotty pine interior and a huge RED mirror over the bed! Buick grille and we called it Tiberon! I am NOT making this sh** up! You could cram 10 friends in the back and try not to get busted every single weekend. Now you're a freakin' felon if you get too high and try to drive home. I totalled a '70 3/4 ton 4X4 GMC after a kegger at 18 years old (1977)and the cop took me home with a busted nose. I took out a phone pole and went down the road and broke off the NEXT one! That's how fast I was travelling when I , uh..... left the highway. Explaining to my folks what happened was bad enough. Traded the van straight up for a '73 Triumph 750. But that's a whole nuther long boring 70's story! LOL! Ahhhh, the 70's when we could bone anything that would hold still! And to have a van in high school, well...... THOSE were the days!! LOL again! H.

[BtnkBndt]

Here is what I remember from the mid 70's:

70's up front 50's out back usually mounted on S/S Cragars (E-T, Keystone, Rocket ), slots, turbines, and later came the solid Centerlines if you really had money or a job. Also put some tall/wide tires on those back rims, I believe I ran M or L 50's myself, sort of hazy on that one.

Definitely shackles or air shocks for that major raked look. Gotta clear those damn tires out back and ride like a brick. Yellow Lakewood traction bars for leafs or ladder bars for coils. Of coarse a chrome rearend cover.

Holley carb and any aluminum manifold you could get your hands on. M/T valvecovers were the thing and the Cal Custom stuff. Moroso came along later in chrome and anodized gold. If you had chrome anywhere under the hood you were defintely cool. Velocity stacks, especially if they exited the hood. Combine that velocity stack with a 2" air cleaner on top, ooooooo. Or even no hood at all!!! Snorkel and Mopar hood scoops. Lots a scoops here .

Headers with CherryBombs, Thrush, and later the Hush Thrush all hanging right off the ends. Who needs pipes, you gotta take them things off on Friday night anyways. I used hand me down Hedmans and a big hammer to get that damn a/c box outta the way.

I don't remmember much getting done to interiors around here, mostly exterior and underhood. The Column mounted Sun Super Tach was a must have. Chrome and black or wood steering wheels. Oh yeah, some a them plastic Sonic animals stuck around.

Grey and Red primer was in where I was instead of black. Single color paint sometimes with black hood, no frills, and the ever popular black with flames.

For tunes the 8-track was the thing. I remember when I finally got to replace my AM radio/FM converter for a Jensen 8-track run to Pile-Driver speakers. The big thing was the Pioneer Super Tuner . Finally you could almost feel the bass!

[olddoc1024]

Not only is it a state law in Oregon, but as well in New Jersey..... Feels weird to have someone else pump your gas!!

[RON WOODGEARD]

Nobody has mentioned "Purple Hornies" ???? There were the Thing !!! They bolted straight to the headers and were 3 or 3-1/2" Diameter Glass Packs. And they turned down at the end.. They really shook the inside of your rig, They exited right behind the front seat..
We had three ways our cars set. A Power Rake, where the front end set higher then the rear, Better traction off the line.. The level look, and the High Jacker aired up raised rear.. Or Extended Shackles as already mentioned..

And Metal Flake was Big time....Along with radiusing your fenderwells...Cragers,or ET Slots, ( We even ran 8" Slicks on the Street) and tube grille inserts.And performance stickers, ( Decals ) in the rear side windows... (Whether it was in the car or not)
Then to shift that Super T-10 with, you grabbed one of these.. I've had this one since 1968....