EA_Shepard Lol, those family wagons were something else. Makes me think of the movie "Vacation". Good ol' Wagon Queen Family Truckster. '77 was pretty tough lookin too, so that definitely would have been a sweet car to own. Any of them that had the extened front end were pretty tough lookin really. Idk when they switched over to that more European Vauxhall sytle look, but I definitely don't like the look as much. I really loved that classic muscle style look it had, particularly throughout the 70's versions.
I'm just going to come out and say manuals were not my thing. I tried to learn, but since it wasn't a necessity, I very quickly noped it. I know what you're saying though, and heaven forbid you stall out on that same hill, at that red light. When it comes to the experience, I do well judging the RPM's and the feel of when I need to shift, but some of those old manauls could be so stiff and hard to work, and that was the case with the truck I had to learn on; hated it! Many of the cars now have that built in electric manual, which is easy peasy and I'm perfectly fine working those now, but I usually just keep in auto anyway unless I get stuck in snow or something.
Community ManagerGVRH Those old wagons really were something else. Those massive back seats alone made them legendary when you were a kid, and half the time it felt like the whole car was basically a living room on wheels lol. My mom's buban had that 3rd seat you fought everyone for, and now everyone wants that shotgun lol. Kids just won't ever understand that backseat life.
The Family Truckster reference is dead on, too, and those older 70s bodies really did have a way tougher look before everything started shifting into that more rounded European style. And I’m with you on manuals. In theory, I always liked the idea of them more than actually dealing with one, especially when you got stuck on a hill or had one of those stiff old gearboxes that felt like you were arm wrestling the car every time you shifted.
EA_Shepard Lol, a living room on wheels is hilarious, but so true...and because seatbelt regulations weren't as strict then, you could easily have a wrestling match back there just fine, lol. Just in terms of seatbelt regulations, kids these days will never know the joy of riding in the back window like the family dog, lol! Of course they'll never know the feeling of having the breaks get slammed on ya back there either. Backseat life then was truly different! 😂
Community ManagerGVRH No, it really was a living room on wheels lol. Your seats werent bucket seats, they were couches, then you had 3 rows of them plus the trunk in which some cases had its own back seat. Plus you could ride in the back of a truck. Now you cannot.
EA_Shepard I literally Googled that to get a reminder of what that actually looked like in some of those wagons, and sure enough it really was a living room on wheels, lol! Literally like a wrap around couch in the back of many, and the passenger seat could flip around into pimp mode. Would have been fun to clean all that out a put a bunch of 12 or 15" woofers in the back of one of them things. Nothing like road trips at 150 dBs, lol
Community ManagerGVRH We had one where the back door swung open sideways and had a back seat with seatbelts. If you look, the '60s and '70s were all about the giant couch seats in vehicles and in houses. especially through the 70s. Your living room went down two steps, with a separate living room featuring a wraparound couch.
My favorite car growing up was a 89 Grand Marquis. I have two 15s in the trunk with a 10-disc changer and the CD player that took off the faceplate and looked like Windows Media Player. I drove a boat with subwoofers lol.
EA_Shepard Yeah man, when I looked that up and looked into more, you're absolutely right. Not that I'm surprised that some were made like that, but more surprised that those couch seats were far less exclusive than I thought, and were pretty much standard issue at that point. And you're right, that by design, the way those entertainment rooms and the vehicles were designed were intentionally similar. Pretty cool actually!
Those Grand Marquis were pretty cool acutally. They remind me a lot of the Olds Cutlass, which is another vehicle I liked a lot. My favorite car growing up was the 67 Impala. I had a model car of one and I loved the design of them growing up. Love to hear that you been ballin' out too lol! I used to have a Ford Focus packed with 4, 12" MTX MZS 1204's in the trunk of that thing, lol....different times then for sure. Can't remember the AMP I had very well, though I do know it was MTX as well. Had a pretty nice CD player with the removable faceplate and the customizable settings, but definitely wasn't 10 disc or anything. I couldn't win a competition with the setup I had, but they were definitely loud and got me some sound quality honors back in the days of comps. Loved putting some Heavy Metal on display when everyone else was doing Rap for deep bass. The precision those MZS's had in tune with double bass drums were fantastic! My friend had 15's in the back of his Ford Explorer though, and he regularly won comps. Then there was the Sounds & Motion company van that was literally lined with woofers...and that thing hit 150 dB's on the regular when they actually displayed it. I went in there once when they cranked it up a decent amount and that was enough for me, lol! The MI Tech guys that ran the business were pretty genius at rigging stuff up into pretty much anything on wheels. Fun times in those days...same days as LAN parties man. Would have been hard to have more fun in that time!
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