I got out of high school in 74, I worked at the best auto repair service station in town back when new car dealers were for buying new cars, not for fixing them. Things I observed from working at that station from 72 through 78 were, cars with any ware near 100,000 miles was almost unheard of, most died around 80-90K. But, you could find more Mopars that survived 100K, next were Fords, then way off in the distance was GM.
Mopars had squeaks and rattles, fit and finish sucked, Mopar starters sucked. Mopar drum brakes weren't any worse then anyone elses drum brakes, but most GM had disc on front by 74 and they were way better. Mopar seemed to package their cars for performance better then the rest, if you bought a Mopar(new) with a high performance motor, brakes, suspension, transmission, and rear end were upgraded as well, I think that's why they seemed to live longer. Reguardless of what anyone said, Mopar performance was carried on the back of the 383 maginum. Only rich guys had 440s or Hemis and the Hemis were poor street motors, had to be rebuilt at 50k miles.
GM electronic ingnition had problems when it was new (74), timing chains on many GM went bad around 60-70K (Pontiac seemed the worst, then Chev). Chevy motor mounts were junk, any abuse almost guarenteed motor mount replacement. 396 was the GM preformance motor, followed by the 427 (for those that could afford one). The 389 Pontiac wasn't bad for the first 50K before the timing chain crapped out.
Ford had a horrable upper controle arm set up. There were grease fittings that were a real pain on the Mustangs and Torinos that if not taken care of would devolope a nasty squeak. Ford changed their electronic ignition every year for the first 3-4 years they had it. The biggest problem with Ford was inconsistantly. You could never count on getting two of the same line of cars, or parts, that were the same quality, one Mustang might be great, but the next 5 might be junk, then there might be 5 great ones in a row. The problem ran in all of Fords car lines. Add to that Ford stuffed some really big motore in really small cars that were a real PITA to work on. Motors were pretty much the same deal. The 390 carried most of the performance load, but like everything else Ford, some were strong and some were not so strong. Most of the 427s were great, if you could afford on when you found one. The 428 were so-so, and the 429s were a joke. BTW the 302 was too small to compete with all the monsters.
By mid 74 the gas chrises hit with times when no gas available (for a day or two) at any price for a peroid of about 6 months. When it became available again, the price had gone from $.36/gal up to $.60/gal. Most people pannacked and anything with a big motor could be had dirt cheap (just what any 18 YO dreams about) It was a fun time to be a teenager.
Gene
