1973: It Was A Very Good Year... For A While

▲ Please look up at our masthead. That yellow Chevy Vega GT (Or rather, what's left of it) is a 1973 model.

Of course, that's just a coincidence to the fact that the 1973 Vega may have been the best looking one of all... possibly because they got it right just before that hideous 1974 design came out.

The '73's front bumper was pushed a couple of inches forward from the '71 and '72 position, with a body-colored panel just behind it (For a 2.5 mph crash standard). And if you can get a good looking Vega, then dog-gone-it, you've done something right!

1973 was the last year that automakers had virtually all control over what their vehicles looked like. That's because the next year, in 1974, 5 MPH bumpers became the law of the land.

And though they were usually semi battering rams or guard rails attached to the ends of all cars (Trucks have always been exempt from this law for some reason), they caused a styling stir which lasts today. Oh sure, the modern designs are much better. They now flow seamlessly into the body panels, since the designers now have had decades to make them work.

The 1973 Corvette was unique. Since all '73 models had to have a front bumper that would hold up to that same 2.5 mph crash without damage to safety systems, the front urethane bumper was fitted, but the chrome rear bumper from '72 and earlier was held over.

For the '74 models, introduced in 1973, both front and rear bumpers were now body colored. And for the '75 model year they got reinforced with built-in overriders, but I'm getting ahead of myself now.

What made 1973 such a great year for me was that's the year I turned 16, and became old enough to drive. It was a year of great awakenings ... some good, some not so good, which we will get to in a bit. And my first car was...

Maybe the BIG automotive news for 1973 was the new GMC Motorhome. That futuristic RV was and still is ahead of almost every other motor home/RV ever made.

Brother Car Lust contributor Anthony Cagle and I agree on at least one thing... we like the "Second Generation" Mustang, also known as the Mustang II. Which came along in the Fall of 1973.

Its slogan was "The Right Car At The Right Time," which it was, and though many Mustang purists don't give the little car the respect it deserves, we might not have the Mustang today had Lee Iacocca not pushed for the car.

There were just a couple of car movies in '73, but they really stand out. The first was "The Seven-Ups," a good story, but the chase scene is still so good that fellow Car Lust writer Cookie The Dog's Owner did a great post on it. And if you have about 10 minutes to spare, here's that scene.

The second film is a bit more remembered... "American Graffiti," asking, "Where Were You In '62?"

Directed by George Lucas and starring, among others, Ron Howard, Suzanne Somers, Paul LeMat, Cindy Williams, Richard Dreyfuss, Wolfman Jack, Mackenzie Phillips, and some unknown guy named Harrison Ford. One of the best car films ever, it also spawned a post here as a Carspotters' Challenge.

If I may suggest "The Breakout Car Of 1973," it would be the introduction of the Honda Civic (A '78 Model is pictured here.) The Civic was the third Honda car sold here; in 1970, the N600 swam ashore, followed about a year later by the Z600.

Sure, that first generation is awkward and tiny today, but could its timing have been any better? Just part of its charm was an engine that could run on either leaded or unleaded gas.

It only weighed about 1,500 lbs. and, at first, had only about 50 horsepower pulling it along. But people bought them up as fast as the dealers could get them, and many keep snapping them up. And many of my friends who bought early Hondas have kept buying them all of these years... many won't even look at another brand!

Now in its Tenth Generation, the Civic is the success story of Honda. After all, it just got named the North American Car Of The Year at the 2016 Detroit Auto Show.

And of course, being a motorcycle fan, I can't leave out a two-wheeled submission.

The folks over at Bayerische Motoren Werke decided they needed something a bit more sporting in their lineup, so the '73 BMW R90S was born. It was probably more evolution than revolution, but was still a heck of a bike.

The engineers bored out the R75/5 engine, upping the displacement from 750cc to 898cc. A cafe racer-style front fairing was added that held the gauges, and a watertight rear cowl appeared. Adjustable steering damping and rear shock load were new.

Three years later, the R90S would go on to win First and Second Place at the first-ever AMA Superbike race at Daytona. BMW's R90S was definitely one of the first superbikes.

So, 1973 was a very good year until... 

From October, 1973, until at least March, 1974, plentiful and affordable gasoline in America became a luxury.

The Arab Oil Embargo of 1973 changed the way we think of, build, and drive cars to this day. We went from a nation of "Happy Motoring" to one of "Your Mileage May Vary." Muscle cars became extinct overnight. Large family cars were shunned, even burned for the insurance money since their values had dropped to nothing.

In some places, you could only buy gas every other day, depending on the odd or even number on your license plate. Many filling stations ran out of gas completely.

The Europeans had learned a similar lesson when the 1956 Suez Crisis happened, and have built small, fuel-stingy cars ever since.

And if I may ask, where were thee in Seventy-Three?

--That Car Guy (Chuck)

Image Credits: Our orange Vega GT image was found at NoCookie.net. Corvette Montage:  The '72 Corvette is from CorvetteBlogger.com; the '73 Corvette is by CollectorCarsForSale.com. The '74 Corvette photo is from MyClassicGarage.com. That GMC Motorhome image was found at PinImg.com. The American Graffiti drawing came from OnionStatic.com. The '78 Honda Civic photo came from BringATrailer.com. Our BMW R90S picture is from Wikipedia.org; the Arab Oil Embargo image was found at CFact.org.

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