1979 Oldsmobile Cutlass Cruiser

This one is close to my heart because it's the exact car we had when I was kid. Imagine 2 adults and 4 kids driving from Iowa to San Diego and back, with camping gear. And yes, usually one us was stretched out all the way in the back. I guess they don't let kids do that any more.

These cars, and their Chevy, Pontiac and Buick equivalents used to be everywhere but virtually none survived. See the odd vent windows on the second set of doors? Well, those were there because the windows on those doors didn't go down. On a sweltering Iowa day, that was less fun.

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1979 Lincoln Continental Town Car

Well if we're gonna have inflation like it's 1979, let's have a car from 1979. People, the 1970s were very brown. Does anybody still sell a car this color?
* This was the largest car made in the world at that time.
* Engines getting smaller - This car had the 400 c.i. V8, as compared to the 460 in the previous generation. By 1981, it would be the 302 and in 1991 the 281 engine that would carry the Town Car all the way to its final edition in 2011.

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Cars For Boat Owners: 1989 Buick Reatta, 1979 MGB

No surprise that these two cars are parked in South Lake Union where the yachts are docked. The kind of person who digs quirky two-seater cars is also the kind of person who enjoys a leisurely life on the water.

Remember Buick? In the US Buick sold 180K cars last year, mostly to grandmothers who grew up with the brand. But in China, Buick is huge - selling upwards of one million cars per year. The Reatta was Buick's plan to actually have something interesting in its showrooms. But it never really caught on, selling only a few thousands copies per year. As for the MG, it's the same story as any British sports car: it's a lot of fun as long as you can afford to give it tender loving care and as long as the gods of inexplicable electrical systems continue to favor you.

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Auf Wiedersehen: 1979 Volkswagen Beetle Convertible

1977 was the last year for the Beetle coupe in the US. Why? From a New York Times article from August of that year: "In the United States, It has become a victim of international economics, American safety and emissions requirements and just plain changing times.

When the dollar decreased in value relative to the mark, the beetle became more expensive to United States consumers and therefore less competitive. At the same time, according to spokesman for Volkswagen of America, the cost of meeting American emissions and safety standards helped to make the bug uneconomical.

Finally, Japanese auto makers put severe competitive pressure on VW by bringing out more stylish, up‐to‐date small cars for the American market. For this and other reasons, VW changed its product."

The convertible received a reprieve of two years before it disappeared as well. With no convertibles built in the US after 1976, and the demise of the Beetle as well as the MG and the Triumph, by 1981 American convertible buyers were limited to a handful of German and Italian cars.

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Time is an illusion. 1979 Cadillac Fleetwood, 1955 Ford Fairlane, 1965 Plymouth Barracuda

There are some neighborhoods in Seattle where you can street store the cars you're (slowly) restoring.

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1967 MGB coupe and 1979 MGB convertible

These cars are on the same block and I've no doubt they have the same owner. The coupe is clearly not running. One advantage of living on the posh west side of Queen Anne: you can get away with street-storing your restoration project.

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1979 Peugeot 504

A very popular car in many parts of the world, the 504 offered an efficient fuel-injected engine as early as 1968. At that time of course Americans couldn't have cared less about fuel-efficiency, but by the late '70s this kind of car had more appeal on this side of the Atlantic. And the 504 cost only $7,500 (about $28,000 in 2018) compared to the similar Mercedes 240 which cost $19,000 (about $70,000 in 2018).

    

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1979 AMC Concord DL

Perhaps you've seen the Simpsons episode Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield, in which Marge repeatedly alters her Chanel suit because she can't afford a new one. Apply that same idea to a car, and you've got the AMC Hornet-Concord-Eagle.

In the fall of 1969, AMC introduced its new Hornet model as a compact car for the budget-minded. Now flash forward a decade. Compact cars are becoming more popular, and AMC is trying to stay in the game but they don't have the money needed to engineer new models. So AMC adds plush seats, a vinyl top and... um... color-coordinated wheel covers to the Hornet. Now it's a unique "luxury compact". Sounds crazy, right? Incredibly enough, this gambit actually worked - this car sold 100,000 copies in 1979 alone. Who can explain anything from the 70s?

And if that isn't unlikely enough, AMC pulled the same trick again a couple of years later when they put the same old bodies atop their new Jeep-derived chassis, thus creating the Eagle - the first four-wheel drive "crossover". Even the old Gremlin got turned into a 4x4. Good times!

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