1978: It Was a Very Good Bad Odd Year
Ah yes, 1978. The year I obtained my driver's license and truly began my driving odyssey. I would imagine most people have a certain amount of nostalgia for their 16th year: the music, the TV shows, the fashions, and of course the cars. Okay, I admit that there are probably better years for fond automotive recollections. 1969, for example. Or 1962. Heck, even 1991 was pretty good, comparatively speaking. But no, 1978 is not generally considered the apogee of American (or anyone else's, probably) car design and implementation.
OTOH, much like I argued in that 1991 post, 1978 was, to my mind at least, one of those interesting years where much in the culture at large was changing from that which defined one decade -- in this case, The '70s -- to the next. And, as usual, 1978 is kind of an arbitrary year to hang a post off of; 1977 or 1979 probably would have worked just as well. But as I say, 1978 has some personal connections and I've always been rather fond of that year. A lot of neat stuff was going on and the cars reflect that. One cultural transformation in particular, music, was also ending one era and starting another, and contemplating that one eventually led me to this post. So bear with me, gentle reader, as I indulge myself in a bit of nostalgia for a bygone era that was, well, a little bit weird. . . . .
Probably of more interest to us these days, in February of that year the world's first computer bulletin board system (CBBS) was created by a couple of guys snowed in by a blizzard -- the Great Bilzzard of 1978 in fact -- a simple yet far-reaching idea that allowed average computer users to *gasp!* communicate with one another by writing messages in a commonly accessible meta-space. Pretty simple by modern standards -- users could only log in one at a time, for instance -- but it planted the seeds of modern Internet fora (and blogs, for that matter). Another sign of technology to come, the Walkman was introduced by Sony. This was probably on par with the first car stereos in terms of transforming the way people could listen to and interact with music. No longer was the cassette player tethered to a wall socket or an automobile dashboard: it was now clipped to your belt. True, you could listen to transistor radios on foot before this, but as with the in-dash cassette deck now you could take your music collection with you and listen to what you want to at any given time. By 1980 when I started college, a lot of people would, as the name implied, walk around outside listening to their favorite tapes. Me, I never got the hang of walking around with headphones on (visions of getting run down by a bus while passersby screamed in vain to get my attention maybe), but it really led the way to our modern iPods and other MP3 players.
In yet another presage of our modern techno-world, AT&T began field trials of a "cellular mobile phone system" around Chicago. While some form of mobile telephone (primarily in cars) had been available since the 1940s, they were generally fairly expensive and/or unreliable. Richard Frankiel and Joel Engel at Bell Labs finally developed a system (based on an idea by, coincidentally, D. H. Ring) of overlapping hexagonal "cells" of lower-power transceivers that could "hand off" calls as people moved around town. While it took a while for phones and calls to become truly portable, the glue, one might say, was set to be applied to the ear of every teenager in the developed world in just a couple of short decades.
Oh, and Space Invaders was also introduced. Good Lord, how many quarters those damnable games took from me I would hazard to guess.
One of the more significant milestones in the automotive world had VW halting production of the Beetle in its native Germany, but on the other hand, they also opened up the second plant by a foreign manufacturer in the US (Rolls-Royce beat them out for first) to build the Rabbit, their US-based species of Golf. I have a bit of a connection to the Rabbit as it was the first car my brother bought out of college -- a yellow 4-door, I believe -- and the two of us drove it to Oklahoma for his first job. I actually hated that thing because the driving position made one of my knees ache. Some people loved 'em, some hated 'em, I just mostly ignored 'em.
Also of importance to the entire industry, in July of that year Lee Iacocca was fired from his post as president of Ford and ended up as president of Chrysler by November. This was also the year that the government's Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards took effect, both of which had far-reaching effects on the types of cars -- and, more significantly, trucks -- produced in the US and imported from abroad.
That was also the year that Porsche bequeathed unto the world the 928. It never went over all that well with the hardcore Porsche fans but, as we noted here, it really opened up the sport GT niche with its combination of really stellar performance and creature comforts. The design itself screams "1980s" to me, but I attribute that as much to its influence as to my own particular history. But it all started in 1978.
Toyota redesigned the Celica for 1978 as well, coyly undoing its Mustang-GT-inspired 1st gen bodice to reveal a much cleaner set of lines more suited to a mass audience. The Celica was actually the first car I seriously considered buying for myself, after poring over Consumer Reports listings in the sort of depth only a nerdy teenager could muster (I ended up with the family Hornet as my first car, btw). Also from Japan, Subaru started selling its BRAT (Bi-drive Recreational All-terrain Transporter), Japan's perky answer to the testosterone-dripping El Camino and Ranchero (the latter of which had it's final year in 1979). There weren't a lot of these running around Wisconsin when I was a kid, but there were a few and we were endlessly amused that a company would name a car after a sausage. Great little truck, though, and one of these days it's got to get its own post.
I guess I can't go without mentioning the Mustang II, which entered its last year of production before a complete remodel and the beginning of the Fox body generation in 1979. Though often derided as consisting of little more than a Pinto with paint-on performance, it probably rescued the Mustang from the evolutionary fate of many '60s-era muscle cars and put it firmly back in the bread-and-butter pony car category. Much like the 1977 Chevys, the '78 was the last of the 'humpy and bumpy' 1970s generation of Mustang, again foreshadowing the much simpler lines of the 1980s (see the Celica above as well). Truth be told, the '79 wasn't any sort of quantum leap from the II in terms of performance (in some ways it was much worse), but it started the Mustang on a much more sustainable path for years to come.
Ford also continued its line of behemoth 'personal luxury' coupes with its Diamond Jubilee Thunderbird and the equally drool-worthy 75th Anniversary Lincoln Continental Mark V Diamond Jubilee edition, a title almost as long as the car itself. The latter came in Diamond Blue or Jubilee Gold paint with the ever-popular Landau vinyl roof and beveled-glass opera windows. I don't care what you think, I'd snag one in a heartbeat.
Elsewhere on the domestic front, Chrysler started selling the Omni/Horizon, a Rabbit-inspired front-drive hatchback that even used a 1.7-liter VW engine at first. It was actually derived from Chrysler's European division as the Simca/Talbot Horizon but was still the first domestically-produced front-drive subcompact. This also wasn't a car that I thought very much of at the time (or since, to be honest, until recently) but in retrospect it really wasn't that bad of a car by the standards of the day, and at least showed American buyers that you could really get a lot of interior room in a subcompact car. Plus it spawned at least two notable Lust-worthy entries, the GLH-S and RAMPAGE!
GM had started downsizing their big sedans earlier in the decade, and continued that trend in 1978, but there were still some holdovers. Like the Biarritz Cadillac Eldorado, again with opera windows and a padded vinyl top. And the Fleetwood Brougham was still a big, beautiful gigantic land barge that floated along the highway like some sort of automotive homage to the Titanic. But the downsizing also made for one of my personal favorites, the Seville. In 1978 Cadillac added the Elegante to the Seville options, giving it a gorgeous two-tone paint scheme in platinum-and-black or "Western Saddle Firemist and Ruidoso Brown". Well, whatever; I loved that car. The slightly "humped" look with the downsloping trunk and hood and gigantic wire-wheels gives it a certain muscular look despite its typical floaty handling. And it had a diesel option! Not to mention a trip computer, yet another feature foreshadowing what was to become commonplace.
There's far more, which I'm sure will be brought up in the comments but, all in all, a very interesting year, automotively speaking, occupying that nether world between the Me Decade and the more understated '80s. It's funny, but the reason I got started on this post in particular was because I was contemplating the same period in popular music, which seemed to be going through something of a transition period of its own, but perhaps in the opposite direction from the car world. For me, a midwesterner weaned on album-oriented-rock (AOR) radio, notably the rather famous (in some circles) WAPL, 1978 was something of a high point for that genre: Styx released Pieces of Eight, REO Speedwagon gave us You Can Tune a Piano but You Can't Tuna Fish, Rush put out what many think of as their greatest effort, Hemispheres, Queen had Jazz, Dire Straits fell like a bomb with their self-titled debut album, and Van Halen dropped a similar nuke with their first album.
There are a lot more I could mention, but perhaps the crescendo of the age came in March of '78 at the California Jam II festival where over 300,000 people enjoyed such luminaries of hard rock as Foreigner, Ted Nugent, Aerosmith, Santana, and Heart. The distorted electric guitar was king and good old straightforward American hard rock was here to stay.
But maybe not. Among the other albums released that year were The Cars' debut effort, Devo's Q: Are We Not Men? We Are Devo!, Excitable Boy by Warren Zevon, The Police debuted with their Outlandos d'Amour, and This Year's Model by Elvis Costello. It was all part of the New Wave movement that was getting away from traditional blues-based rock and combining all sorts of other influences from punk to electronic to disco to reggae. And a lot of this was coming from across the pond in the UK and Europe.
I for one did not welcome this new trend for the most part ("Hey! Where the hell are all the long, screaming guitar solos?"). Within a couple of years most of my favorite bands had either broken up or drifted off the reservation into either pop fluff ("Mr. Roboto?? Hello?!") or distinctly un-rockish synth-keyboard weirdness (e.g., Rush and Power Windows). And by the next year Kiss had actually gone disco! Not that I hated all of it, but it took some getting used to. Say what you will about 1980s popular music, it went in all sorts of different directions from what it had been in the '70s. No longer would guitar, bass, drums, and maybe a little keyboard and a good backbeat suffice; now we had reggae and synth-pop all mixed up with more traditional rock and an explosion of European fashion bands and punk-metal bands all vying for attention, especially on that newfangled "MTV" thingie. I eventually became very enthusiastic about a lot of that early-mid-'80s stuff (Spandau Ballet -- formed in the late '70s -- anyone?), but I still long for the days of the 10-minute guitar solo; at least grunge came along and gave us guitar-heavy rawk again.
So it seems to me that the automotive and music worlds went in opposite directions starting around 1978. Cars, which were all humpy and bumpy and gaudy, started to slowly lose all their curves and fashionable doo-dads and moved towards smaller, straighter, cleaner lines -- and better build quality and performance to boot. Meanwhile, music went from a guitar or two, bass, drums, and a hot lead singer to, well, English Fashion bands wearing makeup and playing synthesizer and electronic drums. Not to mention Madonna.
So, I throw all that out there for your approval. Or argument. Either way, I think that it was a terribly interesting year in a lot of ways, foreshadowing what was to come while still reminding us what the '70s were all about. That was the year I came to be in modern form, after a fashion, so I have to at least pay some attention to it; I hope you do, too.
Credits: All car pics are from previous Car Lust posts (as is the Motorola brick), with the noted exceptions. The BattleStar Galactica pic is from Sci-Fi Universe and the Subarau Brat ad comes from Jalopnik, as is the Plymouth Arrows ad (from Playboy!). Meanwhile, the Omni is from CNN's Money.com site.
And to round out the post, here are a couple of ads from the year to enjoy:
That Car Guy on January 05, 2012 at 12:44 AM
I'll agree that 1978 was a very a very Good/Bad/Odd Year. I can't think of any really outstanding new American cars... except for the Fox Mustang and the (dare I say it) Fairmont/Zephyr.
One thing that was still alive then was the custom van craze. CB radios were also in full swing, recently catapulted by 1977's "Smokey And The Bandit." Which of course also prompted many screaming birds to be painted/stuck/glued onto black Pontiac (remember them?) hoods for years.
Maybe 1978 was more evolution than revolution. After all, the Decade of Conspicuous Consumption, the 1980s, was right around the corner.
Cookie the Dog's Owner on January 05, 2012 at 04:12 AM
That was the year GM built my Monza wagon (http://www.carlustblog.com/2008/07/car-disgust--19.html) ... making it a year that shall live in infamy!
Bll Thompson on January 05, 2012 at 05:40 AM
Certainly 1978 was revolutionary over at GM; that was the big "transition year" to their knife-edge styling motif that would persist for the next decade. Their big cars lost much of their visual weight and became much more aggressive and elegant, at least to my eyes. The '78 Coupe de Ville, Grand Prix, and Malibu were especially pretty...and I would posit that the 1978-1980 Monte Carlo may be one of the best automotive designs ever.
Dave on January 05, 2012 at 08:46 AM
Slightly OT for the year, but that Honda commercial reminded me. I had an '80 CVCC wagon...man, that was a great little car. To this day I'm sorry I got rid of it (rust). Reliable as hell, could tote anything you could stuff in the back and upwards of 50 MPG to boot. That's a nostalgic car lust for me, the day after getting one I'm sure I'd be cursing the lack of power and worrying about the nonexistent (by today's standards) safety features, but..back in the day...I even managed to squeeze girlfriend and I into the back (and squeeze into said girlfriend, ahh, youth) with the rear seats folded down once or twice...*sigh*. Good times.
Anthony Cagle on January 05, 2012 at 04:21 PM
I spent most of a 2-hour drive yesterday contemplating what I would do differently if I could go back and start over at 1978 knowing what I know now (besides dumping some money in Microsoft stock). Fascinating exercise.
Rusty on January 05, 2012 at 06:49 PM
I must take issue with your placement of Warren Zevon in the New Wave category. He's a completely different and far more dignified sort than those fruits - he'd never wear a flower pot on his head, for instance. Definite blues influences, no electronic crap. I'd say he had far more in common with Johnny Cash than Styx.
Aaron B on January 05, 2012 at 08:22 PM
I was only 6 years old, but I recall Dad trading in the 1972 or 1973 Mustang, a "Bicentennial" version for the upcoming 1976 year, several years in advance. Basically a white Mustang with red and blue striping and was very much a rust bucket by that point. He traded it in on a new, very brown Ford Fairmont Futura. It spent ALOT of time at the dealer with electrical gremlins, largely the headlights and windshield wipers if memory serves correct. Growing up in rural southeast Ohio, there wasn't much for radio, as we only had 1 radio in the house and I wasn't allowed to tune it in, so music of that era I don't really know in the proper aspect. TV wise, we didn't have cable, and the few channels we did have were again dictated by Dad or Mom, and I was the remote control. I did however get a sweet black Huffy bike with yellow aluminum wheels, that took me a few years before I broke the frame in half. On a side note I am very much looking forward to the CarLust article on the Subaru Brat. My very first car was an 81 GL hatch, then later had an 84 BRAT. Loved that thing, but rust took it's toll. I still peruse Craiglist and Ebay looking for one to resurrect.
That Car Guy on January 05, 2012 at 09:39 PM
Aaron, you brought back a great memory. Does anybody else remember John "Records" Landdecker (sp?) from WLS, Chicago? AM 890 was a clear channel, so we would get it almost every night here in Nashville.
And Chicago could get WSM 650's Grand Ole Opry on Saturday nights as well, from here in Nashville.
Otis Criblecoblis on January 06, 2012 at 01:09 AM
A very enjoyable post, but it leaves me with one big question: how do you get from Rush to Spandau Ballet? A girl must have been involved somehow.
Al on January 06, 2012 at 05:18 AM
Can you just picture a "Mad Men" like setting (albeit a 70s theme) with ad men sitting around pondering that omni commercial. Suddenly, one stands up and says "Carrys plants and visits aunts!"
Its pretty cheesy, and it may be one of the reasons Iacocca axed Mopar's ad agencys when he got there. I still love the Omni.
Also Bill, I agree. That generation of Monte Carlo is gorgeous. Just look at the fenders.
Anthony Cagle on January 06, 2012 at 08:10 AM
"how do you get from Rush to Spandau Ballet? A girl must have been involved somehow."
Aye, they make us do some funny things. . . . .
tigerstrypes on January 06, 2012 at 04:16 PM
Meanwhile, in Japan, on November 22, 1978:
"... over 3000 of bosozoku motorcycles and cars swarmed the streets of Tokyo, cruising, parading, revving and generally causing a ruckus. They were out to celebrate the end of an era.
That’s because on the following day a new Japanese traffic law would require helmets for all motorcyclists. So a huge shukai (meet) was held the night before and from that day forth the 22nd of November of each year became a bosozoku Memorial Day of sorts. The Japanese call it doukoho, short for douro koutsu hou kaisei, or Road Traffic Law Change..."
for sweet vids and pics go here:
http://japanesenostalgiccar.com/2011/11/22/merry-doukoho-eve-to-all-the-bosozoku/
tigerstrypes on January 06, 2012 at 04:43 PM
Dude, how could you forget Ricardo Montalban's "Fantasy Island"?
Other honorable mentions:
-Three's Company
-Little House On The Prairie
-Charlie's Angels (!)
Some movies:
-Corvette Summer
-Stingray (the movie that stole the original title for what was to become 'Corvette Summer')
-Superman
-Animal House
-Hooper (As if Burt Reynolds and the Pontiac Firebird Trans Am needed any more screen time. Subaru BRAT anyone?)
-Grease (overhyped IMO. What a wonderful message: Want somebody to like you? Change and be somebody else)
Here. Visit the link. I'm not gonna list all of the 2,867 releases of 1978:
http://www.imdb.com/search/title?year=1978,1978&title_type=feature&sort=moviemeter,asc
kenny on January 06, 2012 at 10:41 PM
Music was getting "good". We were getting passed the ego of said guitar solos. A form of punk was forming. Sure, keyboards were used... but since when are keyboards not an instrument?
The Cure, Depeche Mode, Gary Numan, Fad Gadget, OMD, Joy Division, Siouxsie and The Banshees. Duran Duran were actually quite under rated. I would say the same for Thomson Twins. There was some very intelligent quality, with excellent vocals, deep lyrics, music that only got better in the 80's ala The Smiths, New Order, Erasure, Bauhaus. A revolution of uncommercial music.
Creative times. Very innovative and real.
If anything, Nirvana might have been great... but following their success, some pretty mediocre music took the forefront of Alternative radio. Much of the deep creative artists were still making music, but because it was not grunge, they received no attention. Grunge was about the time of Clear Channel... they through the baby out with the bath water.
Did you know Pet Shop Boys still make great records?
John Boyle on January 07, 2012 at 10:19 AM
Was 1978 the last year or the 1970s or the first year os the 1980s...car wise?
1978 was the first year of the 80s Ford backbone, the Fairmont.
Likewise, it was the first year of the down-sized Chevelles and Monte Carlos.
As mentioned, it was the last year of the Mustang II, The New full-size Ford platform was due out the next year.
tigerstrypes on January 07, 2012 at 11:15 AM
-AMC Pacer officially gets V-8 and ungainly grill.
-Hornet -> Concord.
-Enter the Dodge Magnum XE (how could that be forgotten?!).
-Plymouth Volare got the very rare (145 built) Street Kit Car option.
-The Dodge Challenger returns!... as a captive import from Mitsubishi.
-Auf Wiedersehen, German-built Mercury (Ford) Capri.
-F-Series Ford Bronco introduced (read: solid front axle).
-"Aeroback" Olds appear. Sadly, so did a 442 option for 'em.
-4-door Chevettes, anyone?
-Camaro gets body-colored bumpers among other revisions.
-Corvettes gets glass rear hatch. The famous Pace Car paces the Indy 500 with completely stock drivetrain.
-While it's the Trans Am that gets all the press (and record sales), you could get the Esprit Red Bird (with the Blue Bird returning) for something different. Last year for the "bird beak"/"cat-eyes" nose.
-RIP Ventura. Enter the Phoenix (apply X-Men/mythical bird joke here).
-Porsche's 911 SC gets 3.0, while Turbo Carrera gets 3.2 with 259HP!
-Enter Audi 5000 and BMW 733i, Saab 99 Turbo(!), Volvo 242GT and 262C.
-The BMW M1 reaches reality, becoming the company's first and only exotic supercar.
-Datsun 510 gets dull-looking. Last year for the what was left of the original Datsun Z profile.
tigerstrypes on January 07, 2012 at 11:56 AM
Last one, let's hope.
Kawasaki releases the Kz1000 Z1-R w/ Café Styling.
If that wasn't enough, Kawasaki teamed up with American Turbo-Pak Company to produce the very rare and very expensive Kz1000 Z1-RTC, the only 'production' turbo-bike of its time. No warranty available.
Due to the times, Suzuki lets go many of its 2-stroke darlings. New were the GS750EC, GS1000C and GS1000EC.
Yamaha wins the big-bore power wars this year with the intro of the XS-Eleven, which overshadowed the rest of the new bikes (XS400E, SR500E, XS650SE, XS650E II and XS750SE). It was the SECOND fastest bike, with the turbocharged Kawasaki Kz1000 Z1-RTC the #1 (12sec vs high-10s/low-11s, respectively).
Aside from expanding their line of slushbox bikes, nothing major went over at Honda.
Big Chris on January 07, 2012 at 01:38 PM
I think the big one left off the list isn't the very lust-worthy Kz1000 but rather the Honda CBX - http://www.carlustblog.com/2008/10/1978-honda-cbx.html which I wrote up a few years ago here on the blog. KZ is on my to-do list eventually, but I'd still take the CBX as my #1 no question.
--Big Chris
Anthony Cagle on January 07, 2012 at 03:21 PM
Gah, I could have spent half the post just on TV shows from 1978, which I put a nod to with the Battlestar pic. Heck, Saturday (or Friday?) nights were our Fantasy Island + Love Boat night. And 'Dallas' started in '78!
tigerstrypes on January 09, 2012 at 09:31 AM
The book I have states the CBX came in '79. I would dismiss this, but IT'S THE CBX! *Shame...*
Also:
-AMC Pacer officially gets V8 and an ungainly grille.
-Hornet -> Concord
-Enter the F-series base Ford Bronco (read: solid front axle).
-Auf wiederhesen, German-built Mercury Capri.
-Enter Dodge Magnum XE (How could we forget that?!).
-Dodge Challenger returns!... as a captive import from Mitsubishi, also sold as Plymouth Sapporo.
-You could get the Street Kit Car package for your Dodge Aspen.
-Camaro gets revised
-Corvettes get glassback'd. Indy 500 Pace Car said to run fully stock drivetrain. Replicas sold.
-Enter the "aerobacks" from Olsmobile. Sadly, so did a 442 vesion.
-RIP, Ventura, enter the Phoenix (insert X-Men/mythical bird joke here).
-While the Trans Am got all the media attention (and record sales), you could get the Red Bird or the returning Blue Bird for your Firebird Esprit.
-Datsun 510 goes dull, last year for (what was left of) the original Datsun Z silhouette.
-Enter Audi 5000.
-BMW's first (and only) exotic supercar becomes reality, the M1. Enter the 733i.
-Aside from the Celica, Toyota introduces the 6cyl Cressida)
-Porsche Turbo Carrera gets 259HP 3.2L! SC gets 3.0L.
Yankee on January 10, 2012 at 09:12 AM
Excellent writeup! Being that I was only 11 in 1978, it is still one of my most fondest years - events of the world be damned.
A few comments: While the 74-78 Mustang II was indeed an awful car, I think it's overall gotten a bad rap from too many auto enthusiasts. I agree it was an awful car, but it was also NECESSARY for the time, and Ford sold what, how many of those things? About a million or so (seems like it, anyway), so they were what they needed at the time. Consider the Mustang II as the ultimate act of "taking one for the team" so subsequent models could live on. And boy have they ever!
And the CB radios... let me ask you all this: How many TV shows did you watch back in those days where someone was talking on a CB and the other person was on (are you ready for this?) a landline telephone! (Charlie's Angels was a huge offender on this one). Even back then I was always asking "how did they do that?"
The only personal automotive news of '78 I remember was when my aunt traded in her 65 Chevelle SS (that she bought brand new) for a 78 Monza - with the boat-anchor 3.2 V6. A classic case of "seemed like a good idea at the time", wouldn't you say?
Cookie the Dog's Owner on January 10, 2012 at 10:40 AM
@Yankee: calling GM's 3.2 V-6 a "boat-anchor" is a grievous insult to boat anchors everywhere. Boat anchors actually serve a worthwhile purpose--anchoring boats--but all that V-6 ever did was consume gasoline and generate repair bills.
tomm on January 12, 2012 at 07:39 PM
1978 was the peak of Trans Am mania, the last of the 400 ci 220 hp V8's were built ans stockpiled for the 1979 model year.
It was also the party before storm. Shah of Iran was booted at end of the year. Then Oil Crisis II, which was worse then the first. Unthinkable $1 a gallon gas was coming fast.
tomm on January 12, 2012 at 07:45 PM
Regarding 1978 music, it is common on 'Classic Rock' stations all over. The FM rock playlist of that year is still endlessly played.
Me, I long ago moved on from that era of music!
Aaron on January 14, 2012 at 06:12 PM
Regarding the CB radio and the telephone hookup, there was a time when "cell phones" were synchronous and not asynchronous. My buddy worked for an oil company, and they had onein his truck. We got stuck out mudding one night, and thanks to that "phone", we not only got a buddy out to help us, we got a song played over the radio. It worked alot like a CB. You pressed a button on the microphone to talk, then let off to hear the response. It didn't work like a regular phone, where you could just converse normally. The whole unit highly resembled a CB unit.