What is your favorite year for American automobiles?

[caine440]

1970

[disabled modeler]

My favorite year..years..etc. is a tough one for me to narrow down.  I love the 60s through mid 70s body styles...2 door..4 door...wagons..vans...pickups..trailers/campers/motorhomes...big rigs/trailers...farm/construction...speed/pleasure boats...drag/funnys/gassers/etc.   Some on my wish/bucket list are these and or parts to them...

64,67,68,69 Bonnevilles

69-72 Grand Prixs

71/72 Pontiac Ventura/Sprint II

73,74 GTOs

75 Firebird or TA

73-75 Grand Am

76 Can Am

70 Lemans wagon with GTO nose and hood

67-73 Cadillac Coupe/sedan DeVille HTs,etc.

66 Hearses

66 Buick Skylark

61 Invicta 

64,68,70 Wildcats

72 Olds Toronado

61,62,65 Olds 88/98/Dynamic

68,69,71,72,73 Impala/Caprices

67-70 Chevy pickups

65-72 Plymouth Furys

64-68 Chrysler 300s

72,73 Chargers

71-76 Dodge vans

66-76 Dodge pickups

65,68,69 MPC Coronets

70-71 Mercury Cyclones

70/71 Ford LTD 4 door HT/sedans

60-76 Ford pickups

60s Ford van

66-69 Falcons

70/71 Mavericks

67-69 Lincolns

71-73 Montego

67-70 AMC Rebels/SSTs/Ambassadors

74 AMX

58-60 Desotos

WAGONS....

61,64 Galaxies

64,66,68,69,70 Bonneville/Safari

64,68,69 Chevelle/Malibu

63 Nova wagon

63 Tempest wagon

66,69,70 Impala wagons

65,66 Mercury Parklane wagons

70 GTO wagon

65,66,68 Fury/Satellite  wagons

65 Coronet wagon

70 Cutlass wagon

66 American wagon

And any camping trailers/motorhomes or related parts to make them from.

Dirt bikes...go carts..scale figures(people and skeletons )...etc.

I told you it would be hard to narrow it down..LOL...

 

 

 

 

 

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

1932  -RRR

[Miatatom]

1956.

[fordf-100]

I would have to go with 61, the year I was born, love the GM bubble tops, the Olds and Caddy are among my fovorite cars. 61 Ford Starliners and uni-body pickups are very cool. The mopars are very unique that year and I like them!

[Ace-Garageguy]

Sorry, I can't do one year. But the decades between 1949 and 1969 have more of my favorite vehicles than any other period.

[afx]

1965 was a pretty good year.  Here are some of the FoMoCos:

Edited May 20, 2019 by afx

[Scott8950]

On 5/20/2019 at 12:18 PM, Ace-Garageguy said:

Sorry, I can't do one year. But the decades between 1949 and 1969 have more of my favorite vehicles than any other period.

yep its hard to pin down a year. the 40s through early 70s produced so many great cars.

Edited May 21, 2019 by Scott8950

[Jantrix]

On 5/18/2019 at 1:41 PM, Ramfins59 said:

For me, I'm partial to cars from the 1950's.  Lots of chrome and style changes pretty much every year.

Gee Rich , we would never had guessed that! 

I wouldn't argue with any answer you guys have posted. There have been so many iconic cars over the decades. I could never pick a favorite year.

[highway]

On 5/17/2019 at 5:37 PM, DPNM said:

Check the last pic of the Pontiac Thunderbird! Awesome.
https://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au/car_spotters_guide_usa_1967

 

I'm guessing since I read through most of the comments here and didn't see any mention of this so I'm guessing either 

A. Nobody read the opening post this far

B. Nobody looked at the link

C. Nobody (including the creator of the webpage in the link) knows the difference between a Pontiac FIREBIRD and a FORD Thunderbird except me! 

[misterNNL]

Clearly the answers posted thus far are generational with most liking the cars they started driving with. My personal likes are all built in the same decade,the 1940's. That probably saw the least cars built due to world war two interruptions and most still had some Art deco influence in their styling with graceful styling cues in cars that the average citizen could afford. The big cars from the previous decades were indeed impressive and still beautiful to look at but way outside the realm of possibility for your average blue collar family.

[unclescott58]

1967. There was not an American car offered that year that I didn't like. And most foreign cars too. The ugliest American car for 1967 maybe the Rambler American. But... Thats a tough one. I even like those. Below is a list of the 1967 highlights for me: 

AMC Ambassador and Marlin

Buick Wildcat and Riviera

Chrysler 300 

Chevrolet Corvette and Corvair 

Dodge Dart and Coronet 

Ford Falcon, Mustang, XL, and Thunderbird 

Mercury Cougar, Cyclone GT, and S55

Oldsmobile 442 and Toronado 

Plymouth Sport Fury 

Pontiac 2+2 and Grand Prix 

Other years? I like both 1959 and '60. 1970 through '74 are favorite years too (heavy on '72). 1941, GM cars in general. 1965 GM B-body cars ('65 was a pretty good year in general). The 1937 and '38 Cord 810/812 is still in my opinion the prettiest car ever made. Pre-war Packards, anything from 1936 through '42, except the Clipper. Post-war Packard, 1956. Ford, pre-war, 1932 and '36. 1973 GM Collonade A-body cars. Studebaker Avanti 1963. Other Studebakers, 1964. 

I really like most everything built from 1930 through 1980. There are a few cars before and after that I do like. But, in general, it was over after 1980. The combination of rubber bumpers and transverse front wheel drive ruined it in general for me. 

 

[The Junkman]

1969

It was the conjunction of getting my driver license beginning my interest in cars, the height of the horsepower wars, before the insurance rates went sky high and emission controls strangled performance for the next 15 years.

Mustang

Chevelle

Roadrunner

Torino

Coronet

 

[Classicgas]

7 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Sorry, I can't do one year. But the decades between 1949 and 1969 have more of my favorite vehicles than any other period.

X2, but include most of the 70s.

[Ace-Garageguy]

11 minutes ago, Classicgas said:

X2, but include most of the 70s.

Yes, there was some great stuff built in the '70s (well, before the gas thing pretty much emasculated all the engines), but in '69, I got interested in European cars and kinda lost interest in US iron. Now I find myself really noticing a lot of American cars I overlooked years ago.

Edited May 20, 2019 by Ace-Garageguy

[Rusty92]

Hard to pin down one year. I'm young and I like trucks mostly but there are some cars that I just drool over. 

1956 for the Bel Air

1959 for the Impala

1962 for the Bel Air

1965 for the Marlin

1978 for the full-size Ford trucks

1988 for the full-size GM trucks

1989 for the W250 with a 12v Cummins

2006 for the final incarnation of the GTO

2007 for the refreshed GMC trucks

2015 for the Mustang redesign

Edited May 20, 2019 by Rusty92

[Rusty92]

3 hours ago, highway said:

I'm guessing since I read through most of the comments here and didn't see any mention of this so I'm guessing either 

A. Nobody read the opening post this far

B. Nobody looked at the link

C. Nobody (including the creator of the webpage in the link) knows the difference between a Pontiac FIREBIRD and a FORD Thunderbird except me! 

I read it. Thunderbird lol, I used to do that as a kid and it drove my dad crazy.

[jaxenro]

It is impossible to pin down to a year but 1932 from Ford to Duesenberg was just magical

 

BTW, despite the $20,000 price on the Duesenberg the Ford sold new for a hair under $500

 

Edited May 21, 2019 by jaxenro

[Lizard Racing]

I always maintained that 1969 was about the last years we had decent cars. Most cars were simple and you could tune them with a screwdriver  and a timing light; sometimes you didn't need the timing light.

 After 1970, the conflicting regulations of emissions and economy took over. It took the industry around 30 years to recover. Cars today are pretty good.

[Bucky]

5 hours ago, highway said:

I'm guessing since I read through most of the comments here and didn't see any mention of this so I'm guessing either 

A. Nobody read the opening post this far

B. Nobody looked at the link

C. Nobody (including the creator of the webpage in the link) knows the difference between a Pontiac FIREBIRD and a FORD Thunderbird except me! 

It reminds of the time I went to the Plymouth dealer with my cousin in 1973. He had a new Duster 340, and the salesman was bragging about how much better it was than the Pontiac Fire Am!!

[highway]

17 minutes ago, Bucky said:

It reminds of the time I went to the Plymouth dealer with my cousin in 1973. He had a new Duster 340, and the salesman was bragging about how much better it was than the Pontiac Fire Am!!

But at least that is basically the same car since the Trans Am is basically a trim package to the Firebird. 

[Bucky]

39 minutes ago, highway said:

But at least that is basically the same car since the Trans Am is basically a trim package to the Firebird. 

Absolutely! I think they had a sub-model called the Transbird!! LOL

[disabled modeler]

8 hours ago, highway said:

But at least that is basically the same car since the Trans Am is basically a trim package to the Firebird. 

Your right... our family owned many of the Ponhco birds.   Firebird was the base model car they got all the rest of them from...Esprit...Formula...and then TA.  later years they had pretty much only the body treatment change to make one or the other...earlier years there was more differences than just the body trim package...HP rating engines...rear axle gear ratios...etc.  Someday I really want to have/build a replica of my old 75 TA...I loved that car.

[afx]

Some of GM's offering for 1965:

[wku88]

My favorite would be calendar year 1969, which included both '69 and '70 model years. However, there could be a strong case made for 1957: Fuel injected Chevies and Pontiacs, Cadillac Brougham and Eldorado Biarritz, Olds J-2, Supercharged Fords, Fairlane 500 retractables, Chrysler 300C.