I grew up during this time graduated high school in 1966. I went to Tech school for Tool & Die and also worked in one of the racing shops in Asheville with Roger Ingram. His brother was 7 time NASCAR points champion in Sportsman class, Jack Ingram. I got to be around lots of the muscle cars. I have told this many times but here it is again. One day in 1974 during the gas crisis back then a guy pulled up at the shop and had a Boss 429 with an extra engine for $1,000 and nobody wanted it. A good friend of mine that was also a tool & die maker almost sold his 65 GTO 389 3-2 V 4 speed one owner for $650. He kept and still have and is perfect. I think the Ford dealership in Asheville got 8 Boss 9 cars new.
Our guy on the loading dock at my regular job at Cutler Hammer had a Hemi Superbird and a AAR Cuda. They cost hundreds of dollars back then. A bag boy at one of the grocery stores had an Hemi superbird and Dodge Daytona Hemi. Both cost hundreds of dollars. You could not get but 5 gallons of gas at a time if you could find it. I had to get a motorcycle to be able to get to work and park the Mach 1 and 6 cylinder Maverick. The factories had to go to 4 day work week with not enough fuel to power the electrical plants. Most people thought it was only going to get worse so who wants a car that got 10 - 12 miles to a gallon.
There would probably be a lot more of those cars around if it had not been for that panic over fuel. It was caused by the oil companies just holding back the oil to run up the prices. There were tankers lined up at the ports and they would not bring them in to unload at the refineries.
Back then even new the cars were not priced so crazy as they are today. I looked at the Pantera in 1973 before I ordered the Mustang. It was $9,000 for a brand new one the Mustang loaded was $4,800 out the door $5,200 sticker. I saw the Pantera in the list for stupid money also.
So many here went to the crusher because nobody wanted them. If I had the money I would have bought more but did not have it.
Now you have the old farts view from back in the day.
Interesting feedback there David. It's amazing how the times change in so many ways.
Thought i would throw this in for you and the Forum. Hope you find it interesting.