'70S SENSATIONS - article from Hemmings Motor News.

This article originally appeared in the OCTOBER 1, 2007 issue of Hemmings Motor News.

ABBA songs are the star of a hit musical, motorists are griping about oil prices, Jimmy Hoffa is (still) missing... hey, what year is this anyway?

O.K. the 1970s haven't exactly made a complete comeback, but time has definitely softened modern pop culture's view of the disco decade.

Likewise for the cars and trucks people were driving to theaters to see Saturday Night Fever and Star Wars: Collectors and enthusiasts aren't paying Hemi 'Cuda or Duesenberg prices, but the popularity and, subsequently, the value of a handful of 1970s cars are on the upswing.


1979 Volkswagen Super Beetle convertible
Beginning in 1978, the only Beetle sold in the United States was the convertible, based on the big-windshield Super Beetle that itself dated to 1973. The final official U.S. model year was 1979, with a few more than 15,000 sold before the last 1979s trickled out of showrooms in early 1980. Jodie Foster, post-Taxi Driver, bought one for her 16th birthday. In 1979, VW and Rolls-Royce built the only four-place convertibles on the market. With simplified EFI (and a single tailpipe), the iconic Volkswagen flat-four was rated at a ripping 48hp. We actually saw one low-mileage example demanding $79,000, but this lovely example, out of Indiana, was much more representative of reality, at $8,500.
--Jim Donnelly

1977 Volkswagen Scirocco
Remember when these cars were everywhere? The Scirocco went into production before its water-cooled sibling, the Golf/Rabbit, and was intended as a Karmann Ghia for a new age--a sporty car built on a standard-issue drivetrain. But rust and careless owners sent most of them off to the scrapyard, leaving few good examples to enjoy today. This $3,800 example has the desirable fuel-injected engine, and its folded-paper styling, by Giorgetto Giugiaro, helps it stand out in a sea of rounded-off commutermobiles.
--David LaChance

This article originally appeared in the OCTOBER 1, 2007 issue of Hemmings Motor News.