Hey, Remember The 70s?

Remember when gas spiked in price and small cars became all the rage? Remember that they were still rear wheel drive for the most part? Yeah, me either, but it must have been a great time. And yet all I can find from the period are people complaining that the good days were over. No longer could they afford to sell, 500ci high-compression motors in gigantic muscular bodies that rolled, and generally handled like a Jersey with bad knees.

What were they thinking? Who in their right minds complains when there are cars like the Fiat 124 coupe and the Datsun 510/610 available? Who gripes about Mazda RX3s, Opel Mantas, Toyota Celicas, and Corollas, or Ford Capris? Sure, the Mustang and its ilk had gone the way of other dinosaurs, not to return until the mid eighties. Sure, emission controls were making their presence felt like never before. But the small car was king, and it went around corners in a way that the hot cars of the 60s could only dream of.

It's funny, today these malaise era cars are the only things left on the market cheap enough to buy for beer money, but interesting enough to be worth not buying beer. Thirty years on, in another gas crisis these cars make more sense than ever, and have in many cases, built legends to match the muscle cars they replaced. Will we soon see the days of 510s, Mantas, and Rx3s going for incredible money at auctions? Will old Mulholland racers and SCCA sedans be brought out of garages and over restored to be pushed across the block for millions?

The small cars of today go stop and turn better than any 510 ever has. They go faster, are quieter, and in most cases use less gas. They're safer, and less polluting, in short, they're far better cars. But in the same way that the new Mustang will never be the '68 Fastback GT 390, the Altima will never be the 510. It's too heavy, for one, and it's too big as well. Cars always evolve toward an ideal of least intrusion into the life of the average consumer, and viewed in that light the Altima is a good car.

But a classic isn't a car of least resistance; by it's nature, it's a car that gets in your face, so you'll remember it. The 510 is tiny, noisy and involving. The RX3 is pretty, and distinctively powered. By the standards of today, they're underpowered, cramped and under-optioned. They are however fun to drive, as fast as anyone needs to go, and imbued with a personality that modern cars cover over with tons of squish-feel dash plastics, and sat-nav screens. I miss cars like these, and if we're going to have a new fuel crisis, I think we at least owe it to ourselves to build more of them.