Friday Motorhead Fun Thread!

Let's see... We've done the good, the bad, and the ugly cars of the 1980s... The good cars of the 1990s... I think it's time to go a little further back this week. This week, we catalog...

The good American cars of the 1970s.

This is going to be a very difficult list to compile. I was a child of the 1970s, so these truly are the cars of my childhood, the first automobiles with which I have some real connection. The 1970s were a real Jekyll & Hyde period for the American automobile industry. It started strong, with the muscle car craze of the 1960s still fanning the displacement wars, but ended weak, with mandatory emissions and CAFE standards choking the very cubic inches out of them.

There was also a little matter of gas shortages and embargoes that brought about a laughable first attempt at "smaller" American cars - however, it also brought about a tidal wave of smaller, better-made foreign cars. For the first time, Americans started looking at smaller cars as gas lines grew and 8 MPG behemoths lost their luster. The first attempts were truly pathetic, cars so poorly-made that it can only be assumed that the American automotive industry was actively trying to dissuade people from buying them...

But there were some seriously awesome cars. This is that list.

1. 1970 Pontiac GTO - 455 CI engine. 360 BHP. A blistering 500 ft.lbs. of torque. Insert Tim Allen "Tim the Toolman Taylor"-esque grunt here. This is in the top three of my ultimate favorite cars EVAH. Of course, it doesn't hurt that it's only one of GM's mighty quartet of muscle cars: Pontiac GTO Judge, Chevrolet Chevelle SS, Buick GSX, and Oldsmobile 442. These cars weren't made of win, they were made of cubic inches...

2. 1970 Plymouth AAR Barracuda - All American Racing. 'Nuff said. The AAR 'Cuda was only manufactured in 1970 as a special edition racing edition. The fiberglass hood (weight reduction), side exhaust, and custom graphics truly set this apart from other Baracudas; the 340 cubic inch motor with "six pack" (triple two-barrel carbs) offered 290 HP and 14.5 second quarter mile times. It wasn't as fast as the Hemi 'Cuda (with 425 HP and 14.0 second ¼ mile time!), but the limited edition gets the slot on the list.

3. 1971 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray - last year of big block 454 power. Classic "Mako Shark" styling cues. The third generation Corvette body also happens to be my personal favorite... There's something about that body style that just screams fast, even when it's sitting still. Bonus points, too, for the side pipes - the 'Vette had side pipes well over a decade before the Viper...

4. 1976 Cadillac El Dorado - "the last American convertible". Not only that, but it had the cachet of being the car favored by Boss Hogg - nothing like cheesy '80s TV show nostalgia to get a car on the list... Not to mention it's hard not to like a car that's so large that helicopters routinely land on the trunk...

5. 1978 Dodge Lil Red Express Truck - The 1970s saw ever-increasing regulations on the automotive industry as the first ham-handed attempts to curb vehicular emissions and improve gas mileage were implemented. There was a loophole, though - light trucks were (originally) exempt from these new regulations*, and Dodge stuffed a high performance police package 360 CI motor into a short wheelbase D-150, slapped high-rise stack dual exhaust coming out of the (wood-floored) bed, gave it a bright red paint job, and the Lil Red Express Truck was born. The first "boutique" truck definitely makes the list.

6. 1971 Ford Mustang Mach I - With the 429 Cobra Jet engine powering the "Clydesdale" Mustang (given the car's bloated size compared to the "pony" Mustang of the 1960s...) and 370 horsepower at the beck and call of the driver, Ford had a muscle car that could match the 440 CI Trans Am.

7. International Scout II - (1979 pictured) Just weird enough to make the list; the International Harvester (yes, THAT International Harvester!) Scout II was built to compete with the Willy's Jeep for the off-road enthusiast community. That alone gets it a spot. That it was put out by a manufacturer of heavy-duty farm equipment is just the icing on the oddball cake... Oh, and I knew this girl in college who owned one... (memreeez...)

8. 1971 Ford Thunderbird - what a difference a decade makes. I listed the 1980 T-bird on my list of Ugliest Cars of the 1980s, yet the 1971 T-bird makes the "Best" list for the 1970s. Go figure. Well, that's what clean lines and a 429 cubic inch motor will do compared to a box shape and a tired 302 (Which was the BIGGEST option in 1980!)...

9. 1971 AMC Javelin AMX - (1974 shown) this is a quirky addition; something a little out of the mainstream, but I just had to give something to AMC for taking a moment away from making the world's ugliest cars to produce a somewhat decent looking muscle car with a respectable 401 cubic inch V8 engine...

10. Custom vans. I had an uncle who had a custom Dodge van in the 1970s. I thought it was the single coolest thing I'd ever seen. Guess that's why I have a soft spot to this day for wild and crazy custom vehicles. Plus I must have seen "The Van" about 500 times on late-night TV... So here's a relevant clip:

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So there's my list of my favorite top ten cars of the 1970s. Please feel free to debate/critique/add your own personal favorites in comments.

That is all.

*side note: This is one of the reasons I get so pissed off when people try to slam the auto industry for "pushing" SUVs on the American people as some sort way "around the rules". Folks, light trucks have had different regulations for DECADES. Deal with it.