A mystery solved. Saw an SUV shaped vehicle a few days ago, didn't recognize it or really get a good look at it. Must have seen the same one today. A Saab 9-4x.
--------------------------------------------------------------- The Colt is a Mitsubishi Galant underneath I think.
$3600 for a 1977 Dodge Colt with rust. I bet that one just flies out the door.
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This looks like a real deal 1977 Dodge. Reminds me of my dad's Monaco wagon. But this 2 door coupe has a 318 under the hood with no sign of "lean burn" engine controls which seemed to be on every Chrysler product when my dad was new car shopping in '79.
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing.
The '77 Monaco is amazingly well-preserved but it is a very plain-jane car, which makes the asking price more than a bit optimistic. I always sort of liked those back then, better than the Ford intermediates for sure, and some of the GM ones too. The front-end styling always looked a bit unfortunate to me but I always liked the rear end treatment. The interiors on these were nice on more upscale trims, especially with buckets/console. Or maybe something pure '70s like this:
This looks like a real deal 1977 Dodge. Reminds me of my dad's Monaco wagon. But this 2 door coupe has a 318 under the hood with no sign of "lean burn" engine controls which seemed to be on every Chrysler product when my dad was new car shopping in '79.
Good "little" engine, that 318. I have one in my '98 Dakota 4X4--amazingly strong for the weight it is pulling.
I kinda like that '77 Monaco. The color is nice...I've always been a sucker for a decent shade of green. My only beef is that I don't like the way the seat fabric clashes with the rest of the interior, though. Something else that caught my eye, for some reason...even though it's a pretty basic car, something about that vinyl insert on the upper part of the door trim seems pretty upscale...almost looks too nice for the rest of the car!
I kinda liked the dash layout of these cars. Nothing fancy, but functional. However, I guess they were a little too "corporate"...whether you got a stripper Fury/Monaco, or a fully decked-out Cordoba or Magnum XE, it was the same basic dash. I always liked the fact though, that they'd at least throw in a temperature gauge, and I believe an amp gauge, as standard equipment.
I didn't realize they were still using a 2.71:1 axle as late as '77. It's hardly a musclecar, but that might at least let it rev up some, and pleasantly surprise you on occasion. My '76 LeMans is stuck with a 2.41:1, and wnen you stomp on it, you can tell it WANTs to go faster, but that gearing just won't cooperate.
For the most part, I didn't like these cars when I was younger, because I tended to associate them with police cars, taxi cabs, and just cheap, basic cars. Ford and GM seemed like they did a beter job of making their competing cars seem upscale...even if it was mostly just marketing and styling. But, I think the '75-78 B-body coupe style is pretty attractive, and actually looks upscale. I guess they restyled it so that it could share more of its architecture with the Cordoba, and that's how it got that personal luxury coupe look.
In Saratoga this weekend. Some nest stuff driving around. Before even going to the car museum.
A 60s or 70s Citroen 4 Door. A 1970 vetted in a driveway. A cobra, almost positive a real one. And a red 1960 Porsche 365. Other than the vette, all just driving around.
"I don't know why they call it Hamburger Helper...it does just fine by itself! I like it better than Tuna Helper myself, what about you Clark?"
Oh, Ed Higgins from "The Family/Mama's Family" and Herb Tarlek from "WKRP in Cincinnati" also wore white shoes, so Clark was in good company, when he put those shoes on! Plus, Herb drove a 2nd-generation Cordoba, so you know he was a classy guy
I think cars aged faster then, and definitely went out of style faster, both in terms of design, and desirability after the gas crises. Heck, my mom's leviathan T-Bird only made it around 10 years, and I remember a lot of big 70s cars looked neglected in the 80s.
Driving around today, 2 more Citroen’s. Another 70s DS style. And a later 80s square block one. Freaky. And something else that I think was a panhard. Apparently people in Saratoga have an affinity for driving old French oddballs.
For a mile or two this afternoon, I drove behind a white '71 Impala convertible, bone-stock from what I could see. Black top (down) and black interior. I like that it had the optional wheel opening moldings but didn't have the optional body side moldings. I like the clean-sided look of just the wheel opening trim with the standard wide rocker trim from front-to-back. Correct full wheel covers and whitewall width.
It took me back, for sure. For some reason, in that era big Chevy, it seems '72's are more-often-seen than '71's, which I think might be due to the big strike GM took in the '71 model run.
My 21-year-old daughter, who has seen a Studebaker in our family for more years than not, said, "That car looks ridiculous". I guess in width and length, it would, compared to anything she has been used to seeing on the road. But I was happy to see it.
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I do think the exteriors got more-expensive looking with the '71's, although I think the interiors of the big Chevys got cheaper-looking than the year before.
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I do think the exteriors got more-expensive looking with the '71's, although I think the interiors of the big Chevys got cheaper-looking than the year before.
The '71s were just gorgeous on the outside, especially the Caprice. The styling got a bit worse every year thereafter IMO. The interiors were cheapened up a bit with a black steering wheel and column regardless of interior color, and black plastic surrounding the instrument cluster on the Impala and BelAir. The interiors were cheapened even more on the Impala by '73 or '74.
When our '66 Chevelle wagon was at the dealer for repairs dad got a new '68 Impala 2 dr coupe for a loaner. Nice car good looking interior and IP. Later after my older brother got his license he bought a used '69 Impala custom coupe. Seemed like GM de-content policy at work but my brother's car had few options. 327, automatic, no a/c.
For '68 you could order special instrumentation for V8 models which included tach, ammeter, temp and oil gauges. But in 1969 you could only get either a tach or a clock for the right side of the IP. My brother's '69 Impala had a blank "clock face" on the right and fuel gauge on the left of the speedometer. But at least it had an "all transistor" radio.
I've read that there was something new for the '69 Impala/Caprice which I've never actually seen: headlight washers. Optional across the big car line but standard for cars with hidden headlamps.
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing.
Growing up nearly 100% Chevy, I can remember watching "Bewitched" which was sponsored by Chevy, and seeing a teaser ad for the new '69's which were coming out later in the week. They showed just a headlight being washed, LOL. I seem to also remember an option that year, of a can of liquid de-icer that upon pushing a button on the instrument panel, it would spray onto your rear tires.
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I remember both of those options though I've never seen either.
I thought the '69 body was a decent design but the track was too narrow for those bulging fenders, and the dash was a step backwards from '68 and especially the '67.
I thought the '68 dash was 'meh' too, except for the availability of the gauges omarman mentioned. I did especially like the '68 Impala SS seat and door panel trim though--better than '67 to my eyes.
I think the '67 instrument panel, though, was the best ever in a full-size Chevy.
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Personally, I think the '72 Impala is the best looking of that generation. I do think the '71 is handsome looking up front, and it pulls off that mock-Cadillac look pretty nicely. Lemko always said he liked it because it reminded him of a '69 Caddy. However, I never cared for the rear style, with the taillights in the body, rather than in the bumper. It looked incomplete to me, and the erratic build quality of the era could make it look sloppy, especially if the trunk, bumper, and the panel between the taillights didn't align properly. And, even if it DID align from the factory, after a couple of parking lot love taps, it wouldn't.
I might also be biased, because my grandparents had a '72, and I loved it as a kid. But, I liked the lower grille that made it seem sleek and sporty...kind of upscale but without going pretentious. And with the taillights in the larger bumper, there were fewer pieces to get misaligned. Plus, the gap between the bumper and the trunk lid was pretty big, so even if it WAS misaligned, it wasn't as noticeable...
I think the '73 was probably my least favorite. I didn't like the front-end, with the heavier bumper and full-width grille with the "floating" headlights in it. The rear treatment seemed more awkward as well, with the taillights now separated...and not always aligned evenly. It just seemed pimpy and not too tasteful, overall. I still think I'd take an Impala over a Galaxie or Fury that year, though.
The '74 was a definite improvement, I though. The grille/headlight treatment is more attractive, to my eye, and while the taillights were back above the bumper, the rear seemed more finished-off, than the '71 did to me.
I do like the '75-76 as well, although I do lament the passing of the true hardtop coupe, which saw its last appearance as the '75 Impala. But, I like the front-end treatments, which were basically a carryover of the '74 and '75 Caprice, respectively, just with simpler grille designs. One thing that does seem a bit off to me though...with the more squared-off 4-door sedan and especially the 4-door hardtop roofline, the rear decks just seem stubbier than in '71-74. I think it's because the roofline might cut back a bit further in the later models, so the rear window meets the rear deck a bit further back.
Going back to the whole "upscale without being pretentious thing", that might be one reason why I like big Buicks so much from '71-76. I think the only year Buick I really don't care for in that timeframe is the '74. I just don't like the widely-spaced headlights. That would probably be the one year I'd pick a Delta 88 over a LeSabre, or a Ninety-Eight over an Electra.
And, even though I tend to lean towards Pontiacs, I think they're my least favorite, in general, of the '71-76 GM big cars. The styling was just too over-done, trying to evoke a little Grand Prix, maybe some late 30's style, still trying to be sporty but just coming off as over-styled and pimpy. And the Grand Ville always bugged me. I wonder how much effort they wasted trying to force-fit a C-body roof onto a B-body. It might have been easier to just let Pontiac use the C-body, although I guess the folks at Buick/Olds/Cadillac wouldn't have liked that. And, to be fair, the Grand Ville actually sold fairly well, in '71-73 at least. Anyway, with these beasts, it's the '75-76 style that I like the best, as I think the squared-off, more formal look worked better than the overly curvy '71-74 models. But, performance was way down by then, and they started trimming models. Catalina lost the 4-door hardtop after '74, while Bonneville got the Grand Ville treatment, and in the process lost the 4-door pillared sedan. Bonneville/Grand Ville also lost the hardtop coupe after '74.
Oh, and as for sales, they definitely made more '72 Impalas (and probably just about everything else) than '71. The convertible sold 4576 in '71, 6456 in '72, and, as the Caprice, 7339 for '73. The '73 increase was especially interesting, as the move to Caprice caused its price to jump around $365. In comparison, other models just went up around $50-60 for the most part. Also, as a Caprice, it still just pretty much had the Impala interior, rather than the ritzier interior that other Caprice models had. So, I don't know what actual content you really got, to justify the price. Did the Caprice come with a bigger standard engine back then? Maybe the Impala's base V-8 was a 350, while the Caprice may have been a 400?
The '71s were just gorgeous on the outside, especially the Caprice. The styling got a bit worse every year thereafter IMO. The interiors were cheapened up a bit with a black steering wheel and column regardless of interior color, and black plastic surrounding the instrument cluster on the Impala and BelAir. The interiors were cheapened even more on the Impala by '73 or '74.
That black steering wheel jogged a memory with me. When my Mom sold me Granddad's '85 Silverado back in late 2002, the first thing I asked was "when did the steering wheel get replaced?!" because it was black. She just looked at me confused, and said she didn't know what I was talking about.
In that truck, it looked really odd, because the interior was mostly red and burgundy, and about as upscale as a pickup got in those days. So that black steering wheel just looked out of place. But, that's how it had always been. It had just been awhile since I had been in the truck, and I had forgotten, I guess.
on the NYS thruway today. Passing looks since they were headed the other way. Camaro day. first a 67. Red with black stripes and spoilers. Could have been a Z28. Nice looking. And later an orange with white stripes 77ish one, also with spoilers. That one sadly was parked on the shoulder!
I went to an open house yesterday, and I saw what I think was a 1970 Mercury Cougar, under a tarp. It was definitely a first-gen Cougar, but had just enough of a "beak", for lack of a better word, to show through the cover. I have a feeling it's definitely a parts car, at best.
I had actually seen this house two years ago, when it went on the market, and remembered seeing this car under a tarp back then. Well, the house got taken off the market, and I wasn't quite "there yet" financially, so it just wasn't meant to be.
Gotta admit, this time around, I'm mildly considering it. It's on 6.5 acres, and actually looks like the kind of place you could let a car sit, forget about it, and the county wouldn't get on you. I know most people probably don't consider that a selling point, but then I'm not most people
Dang, speak of the devil...I just mentioned my Granddad's '85 Silverado a couple hours ago...well, I was out on the side deck not too long ago, heard something starting to drive by, seemingly a bit too slow, and damn if it wasn't my Granddad's truck! Now, disclaimer...I sold it to someone who was living two doors down at the time, and he's since moved a couple miles away, so still local. So, it's not like it's come back to haunt me, or anything. Still, seemed kinda odd.
By my calculations for that acreage, you could comfortably park 136 cars on it, with ample room to walk around each one. and perhaps still allow some meager grass to eek out an existence.
andre, in those '71-76 big Chevys, I liked the '73 by far the least, too. I didn't like how they took the Impala 'antelope' emblems off the interior door panels, and I didn't like extending the side molding above the front wheel opening (also done in '74). I didn't like the clipped front corners of the '75 Caprice and all the '76 big cars.
I like the front and rear of the '72's probably the best, and I liked the Impala's seat trim that year better, but I hated how the Impala got a standard body side molding but had no rocker trim at all. I liked the '71 wide rocker trim--the car could even get away without the optional wheel opening trim then I think. Even the '72 Biscayne and Bel Air had smallish standard rocker panel moldings and could be optioned with more exterior trim than Impalas. WTH? LOL
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I never really paid that much attention to the side trim, but now in looking at them, I think I agree with your opinions on them. That side molding doesn't seem right on the '73, being just a bit too high. I also do like the thicker rocker trim on the '71.
I have to confess though, that I kinda like the clipped corners of the '75/76 models, although I remember seeing a '75 Impala hardtop coupe for sale at Carlisle a couple months ago, and it just struck me as a really handsome car. I thought it really stood out, and showed how even a "cheap" car in those days was still something that you could be proud of. Something about the proportioning of the front-end just seems "right" to me. The grille just seems like the proper height and width, and a decent texture, headlights seem properly placed, creases, fender blades, even the shape of the bumper, just all seems to come together right. In contrast, I don't find the front-end of a '75 LTD, or Gran Fury Brougham, to be nearly as pleasing to my eye. I do like the base Gran Fury, the one with the quad headlights and more full-width grille. I think it looks really attractive, but doesn't have the "upscale" look that the upright grilles of the other cars were going for.
Although very conservative in styling, I could enjoy a '75 Impala Sport Coupe (true hardtop) in a dark color, white painted top, herringbone cloth 50/50 front seat. By '75, the Impala had color-keyed wheel, column, and instrument cluster. I like the optional two-gauge package which put the 0-100 numerals closer together in the ribbon speedo. That seems like a nice, traditional, American full-size coupe.
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I like the '71 Impala best followed by the '75. While the herringbone "sport cloth" (maybe they meant "sport coat") upholstery was not something I liked even a little bit, they did offer a choice of a more conventional cloth those years and the 50/50 seat available in '75 was a must. I don't think you could get it in white vinyl though which would have been one of my top choices. The '75 has the advantage of not only color-keyed steering components inside but also woodgrain around the instruments. The '75 also had HEI and some other improvements mechanically. I found it interesting that there really wasn't much to choose between the 350 and 400 small-block engines in the mid-70s, the bigger job only being rated with 5 more HP. In fact the 4-bbl 350 in '74 had more power, but it was n/a except in California in '75. I wonder how much advantage you got with a 454 those years.
Everyone's tastes are different of course but I really did not like the '72 styling at all. Even the '73 looked better to me. The '74 and '75 Impala front ends were good. Didn't care for the slanted headlights in '76. I agree that the '74 sport coupe looked good to me, better than the custom coupe.
I just looked in some sales brochures, and it looks like the 454 put out 235 hp in 1974, and 215 in 1975. So, it was still probably a pretty good performer. As for the 400, even though it didn't have much more hp than the 350, it was torquier. I just looked up some specs, and for 1974 at least, the 350-2 only had 250 ft-lb of torque. The 350-4 actually had a bit less, 245! The 400-2 had 295 ft-lb and the 400-4 had 290.
My great-uncle had a '74 Impala with the 400. I think it was the Custom Coupe, but can't remember for sure. He used it to tow a 30 foot Terry camping trailer. Around 1984, he gave it to his neighbor, who pulled the engine out and junked the body, which was pretty rusty by that time. He rebuilt and hopped up the engine, and threw it in a race car. I didn't know that the 400 was a good engine for that...I'd always heard it was a weak block because it was bored out so far, and was siamesed so cooling could be an issue.
The Impala gave way to an '84 Monte Carlo with a V-6 that couldn't tow anything, but by that time they were using an '80 Chevy 3/4 ton pickup to tow the trailer. It had a 350. I know the 350's were all 4-bbl in cars by that time, so I'd presume they were in trucks, as well?
I have to laugh; there's a page in the brochure making a big hubbub about the new glued-on side moldings. I plainly remember ones a year old with the moldings having fallen off, LOL.
Not a fan of the '75 Impala's full wheelcovers--resembles a moon with trim ring. Although I don't love them, I'd have had to buy the optional wire wheelcovers on an Impala that year--and I wouldn't have ordered the skirts as shown on the car in the brochure.
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Yes, you could get a white vinyl bench (our neighbors had a Custom Coupe with that interior) but not with the 50/50 seat according to that same brochure.
Comments
2009 BMW 335i, 2003 Corvette cnv. (RIP 2001 Jaguar XK8 cnv and 1985 MB 380SE [the best of the lot])
Saw a red 67 Camaro on a flatbed today, it was a convertible, and the top was down. It was raining. Oops!
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I kinda liked the dash layout of these cars. Nothing fancy, but functional. However, I guess they were a little too "corporate"...whether you got a stripper Fury/Monaco, or a fully decked-out Cordoba or Magnum XE, it was the same basic dash. I always liked the fact though, that they'd at least throw in a temperature gauge, and I believe an amp gauge, as standard equipment.
I didn't realize they were still using a 2.71:1 axle as late as '77. It's hardly a musclecar, but that might at least let it rev up some, and pleasantly surprise you on occasion. My '76 LeMans is stuck with a 2.41:1, and wnen you stomp on it, you can tell it WANTs to go faster, but that gearing just won't cooperate.
For the most part, I didn't like these cars when I was younger, because I tended to associate them with police cars, taxi cabs, and just cheap, basic cars. Ford and GM seemed like they did a beter job of making their competing cars seem upscale...even if it was mostly just marketing and styling. But, I think the '75-78 B-body coupe style is pretty attractive, and actually looks upscale. I guess they restyled it so that it could share more of its architecture with the Cordoba, and that's how it got that personal luxury coupe look.
A 60s or 70s Citroen 4 Door. A 1970 vetted in a driveway. A cobra, almost positive a real one. And a red 1960 Porsche 365. Other than the vette, all just driving around.
Going to the auto museum tomorrow.
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But I never pass judgement on wearing plaids or the white shoes/white belt look for guys trying to look like a model or a movie star.
They'd go with a 70s Caddy for sure.
That movie never gets old.
Oh, Ed Higgins from "The Family/Mama's Family" and Herb Tarlek from "WKRP in Cincinnati" also wore white shoes, so Clark was in good company, when he put those shoes on! Plus, Herb drove a 2nd-generation Cordoba, so you know he was a classy guy
I still use that one at mealtime at family gatherings.
One may remember at Cousin Eddie's house, there's a 67 Imperial Crown in the driveway, a rare car, but just an old dinosaur then.
Here's the Imperial (and Dinky) courtesy imcdb:
Happy Father's Day weekend to all.
And some cool 50s cars at the auto museum.
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We aren’t attending ... way too nice to stay off the beach.
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It took me back, for sure. For some reason, in that era big Chevy, it seems '72's are more-often-seen than '71's, which I think might be due to the big strike GM took in the '71 model run.
My 21-year-old daughter, who has seen a Studebaker in our family for more years than not, said, "That car looks ridiculous". I guess in width and length, it would, compared to anything she has been used to seeing on the road. But I was happy to see it.
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For '68 you could order special instrumentation for V8 models which included tach, ammeter, temp and oil gauges. But in 1969 you could only get either a tach or a clock for the right side of the IP. My brother's '69 Impala had a blank "clock face" on the right and fuel gauge on the left of the speedometer. But at least it had an "all transistor" radio.
I've read that there was something new for the '69 Impala/Caprice which I've never actually seen: headlight washers. Optional across the big car line but standard for cars with hidden headlamps.
I thought the '69 body was a decent design but the track was too narrow for those bulging fenders, and the dash was a step backwards from '68 and especially the '67.
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I think the '67 instrument panel, though, was the best ever in a full-size Chevy.
I might also be biased, because my grandparents had a '72, and I loved it as a kid. But, I liked the lower grille that made it seem sleek and sporty...kind of upscale but without going pretentious. And with the taillights in the larger bumper, there were fewer pieces to get misaligned. Plus, the gap between the bumper and the trunk lid was pretty big, so even if it WAS misaligned, it wasn't as noticeable...
I think the '73 was probably my least favorite. I didn't like the front-end, with the heavier bumper and full-width grille with the "floating" headlights in it. The rear treatment seemed more awkward as well, with the taillights now separated...and not always aligned evenly. It just seemed pimpy and not too tasteful, overall. I still think I'd take an Impala over a Galaxie or Fury that year, though.
The '74 was a definite improvement, I though. The grille/headlight treatment is more attractive, to my eye, and while the taillights were back above the bumper, the rear seemed more finished-off, than the '71 did to me.
I do like the '75-76 as well, although I do lament the passing of the true hardtop coupe, which saw its last appearance as the '75 Impala. But, I like the front-end treatments, which were basically a carryover of the '74 and '75 Caprice, respectively, just with simpler grille designs. One thing that does seem a bit off to me though...with the more squared-off 4-door sedan and especially the 4-door hardtop roofline, the rear decks just seem stubbier than in '71-74. I think it's because the roofline might cut back a bit further in the later models, so the rear window meets the rear deck a bit further back.
Going back to the whole "upscale without being pretentious thing", that might be one reason why I like big Buicks so much from '71-76. I think the only year Buick I really don't care for in that timeframe is the '74. I just don't like the widely-spaced headlights. That would probably be the one year I'd pick a Delta 88 over a LeSabre, or a Ninety-Eight over an Electra.
And, even though I tend to lean towards Pontiacs, I think they're my least favorite, in general, of the '71-76 GM big cars. The styling was just too over-done, trying to evoke a little Grand Prix, maybe some late 30's style, still trying to be sporty but just coming off as over-styled and pimpy. And the Grand Ville always bugged me. I wonder how much effort they wasted trying to force-fit a C-body roof onto a B-body. It might have been easier to just let Pontiac use the C-body, although I guess the folks at Buick/Olds/Cadillac wouldn't have liked that. And, to be fair, the Grand Ville actually sold fairly well, in '71-73 at least. Anyway, with these beasts, it's the '75-76 style that I like the best, as I think the squared-off, more formal look worked better than the overly curvy '71-74 models. But, performance was way down by then, and they started trimming models. Catalina lost the 4-door hardtop after '74, while Bonneville got the Grand Ville treatment, and in the process lost the 4-door pillared sedan. Bonneville/Grand Ville also lost the hardtop coupe after '74.
Oh, and as for sales, they definitely made more '72 Impalas (and probably just about everything else) than '71. The convertible sold 4576 in '71, 6456 in '72, and, as the Caprice, 7339 for '73. The '73 increase was especially interesting, as the move to Caprice caused its price to jump around $365. In comparison, other models just went up around $50-60 for the most part. Also, as a Caprice, it still just pretty much had the Impala interior, rather than the ritzier interior that other Caprice models had. So, I don't know what actual content you really got, to justify the price. Did the Caprice come with a bigger standard engine back then? Maybe the Impala's base V-8 was a 350, while the Caprice may have been a 400?
In that truck, it looked really odd, because the interior was mostly red and burgundy, and about as upscale as a pickup got in those days. So that black steering wheel just looked out of place. But, that's how it had always been. It had just been awhile since I had been in the truck, and I had forgotten, I guess.
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I had actually seen this house two years ago, when it went on the market, and remembered seeing this car under a tarp back then. Well, the house got taken off the market, and I wasn't quite "there yet" financially, so it just wasn't meant to be.
Gotta admit, this time around, I'm mildly considering it. It's on 6.5 acres, and actually looks like the kind of place you could let a car sit, forget about it, and the county wouldn't get on you. I know most people probably don't consider that a selling point, but then I'm not most people
I like the front and rear of the '72's probably the best, and I liked the Impala's seat trim that year better, but I hated how the Impala got a standard body side molding but had no rocker trim at all. I liked the '71 wide rocker trim--the car could even get away without the optional wheel opening trim then I think. Even the '72 Biscayne and Bel Air had smallish standard rocker panel moldings and could be optioned with more exterior trim than Impalas. WTH? LOL
I have to confess though, that I kinda like the clipped corners of the '75/76 models, although I remember seeing a '75 Impala hardtop coupe for sale at Carlisle a couple months ago, and it just struck me as a really handsome car. I thought it really stood out, and showed how even a "cheap" car in those days was still something that you could be proud of. Something about the proportioning of the front-end just seems "right" to me. The grille just seems like the proper height and width, and a decent texture, headlights seem properly placed, creases, fender blades, even the shape of the bumper, just all seems to come together right. In contrast, I don't find the front-end of a '75 LTD, or Gran Fury Brougham, to be nearly as pleasing to my eye. I do like the base Gran Fury, the one with the quad headlights and more full-width grille. I think it looks really attractive, but doesn't have the "upscale" look that the upright grilles of the other cars were going for.
Everyone's tastes are different of course but I really did not like the '72 styling at all. Even the '73 looked better to me. The '74 and '75 Impala front ends were good. Didn't care for the slanted headlights in '76. I agree that the '74 sport coupe looked good to me, better than the custom coupe.
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My great-uncle had a '74 Impala with the 400. I think it was the Custom Coupe, but can't remember for sure. He used it to tow a 30 foot Terry camping trailer. Around 1984, he gave it to his neighbor, who pulled the engine out and junked the body, which was pretty rusty by that time. He rebuilt and hopped up the engine, and threw it in a race car. I didn't know that the 400 was a good engine for that...I'd always heard it was a weak block because it was bored out so far, and was siamesed so cooling could be an issue.
The Impala gave way to an '84 Monte Carlo with a V-6 that couldn't tow anything, but by that time they were using an '80 Chevy 3/4 ton pickup to tow the trailer. It had a 350. I know the 350's were all 4-bbl in cars by that time, so I'd presume they were in trucks, as well?
http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/static/NA/Chevrolet/1975_Chevrolet/1975_Chevrolet_Brochure/1975 Chevrolet Full Size-06.html
I have to laugh; there's a page in the brochure making a big hubbub about the new glued-on side moldings. I plainly remember ones a year old with the moldings having fallen off, LOL.
Not a fan of the '75 Impala's full wheelcovers--resembles a moon with trim ring. Although I don't love them, I'd have had to buy the optional wire wheelcovers on an Impala that year--and I wouldn't have ordered the skirts as shown on the car in the brochure.
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