It's a shame American Motors didn't come out with the Hornet earlier than 1970-it was a remarkable muscle car in the last days of the performance era, especially the Hornet SC/360 with the Go Package-what contemporaneous Car Craft editor Steve Collison thought was one of the best sleeper muscle cars of the era. You don't want to be in the left lane." How much is a 1974 Pontiac LeMans in excellent shape worth? About $20K-but you better plan to get one now! You don't want to be a loner-you want to have cars in front of you and cars behind you. You gotta blend in with the traffic flow-that's the best thing. Says Tim: "The goal is to outsmart the police you don't want to outrun 'em. You don't need a big engine, on the contrary, the '74 LeMans' 350 V-8 gets the job done. I headed out to Tim's place near Tightsqueeze, Virginia, (yep, that's a real place, folks) 10 years ago to play some cornhole, drink homemade blackberry 'shine, and hang with Tim, JT, and Shelby before getting the lowdown on his 'shine-running '74 Lemans that you can read about here. So you think you just might recognize the man in the photo with this 1974 Pontiac Lemans? Well, you guessed right: it's Tim Smith of Discovery's Moonshiners TV show fame, and that's his real-life, rootin' tootin' moonshine-running 1974 Pontiac LeMans-the same one you saw on TV. We can see why '70s Thunderbirds are rising in value, as sliding behind the wheel of one suddenly transports you to a universe far away and long ago! A Diamond Jubilee Edition 1978 Ford Thunderbird identical to the one above is headed across the Mecum block at Harrisburg later this month, and you should know that similar ones have auctioned between $5K and $9K in recent years. And those giant 5-mph bumpers? Easily fixed as well with some artful sectioning and tucking-a common practice you'll often see out of today's custom builders. It was, however, fuel thirsty and wallowy, two attributes easily cured by today's aftermarket. Long, low, and as solid on the highway as a high-speed Amtrak, the 1970s Thunderbird was a lot of things, but it wasn't ugly. No, really! At HOT ROD, we get the sentiment that the 1970s T-bird isn't the tossable little Euro-style runabout that returning WWII GIs hoped for, but it was a symbol of American luxury and high style at its decadent peak. Here are our ten favorites for riding this wave to the top!Īccording to a MotorTrend story, what you're looking at above is one of the ugliest cars of the 1970s. If the 1970s hold a fond place in your heart, you might want to pay attention to what the '70s car market is doing. This is happening right now, and the more popular cars from the 1970s are skyrocketing in value, with all the other lesser-known models in tow right behind them. Nevertheless, the cars of our youth pull at our heartstrings, and with the aftermarket standing ready to rectify all shortcomings of 1970s powertrains and chassis, many of our favorite malaise-era cars can become competent performers at the drop of a hat. After all, virtually every new vehicle produced today-including the lowliest entry-level compact-can out-accelerate, out-handle, and out-brake the most agile of 1970s performers without breaking a sweat, all while pulling down fuel economy that would've tickled us to death a half-century ago. The decade of the 1970s is often the subject of ridicule by the enlightened automotive media, and we can see why.
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