1975 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible

The 1975 model year would feature Chevrolet's last convertible Corvette for over a decade. Only twelve percent of the 'Vettes sold that year were ordered as droptops.

This year saw the introduction of the new HEI ignition system and catalytic convertors, and the base 350 cubic inch V-8 only made 165 SAE net horsepower at 3,800 RPM, a new low for the C3 Corvette. 

The big blocks were gone and the only optional motor was the L82 350 small block. Even with different heads, bigger valves, a hotter cam, and forged crank, among other performance boosts, the L82 only put out 204 ponies.

The base motor could be paired with a four-speed manual or a Turbo Hydra-matic gearbox, and the L82 offered the option of a close-ratio four-speed.

The photo of the Classic White specimen above was taken with an iPhone 7 Plus in July of 2020.

1975 Chevrolet Monte Carlo Landau

By 1975 the Malaise Era was well under way in Detroit. The first Oil Crisis had come and gone, new cars all had lower-compression engines to accommodate low-octane unleaded fuel that would be compatible with catalytic converters. Chevy advertising touted the economy and environmental benefits of its new HEI high energy ignition system. Also new for '75 was an optional "Econominder" gauge package, which was just a vacuum gauge in the dash whose needle swung between the poles of Minimum and Maximum.

The Monte Carlo was on the third model year of its second generation. Gone were the earlier SS and S models, with only the base coupe and the Landau coupe with its quarter-vinyl roof, like the Orange Metallic example in the photo.

Base engine in 49-state cars was the 350 cubic inch small block V-8 with a two-barrel carb, rated at 145 SAE net horsepower, while California (and only California) got the 155 horsepower four-barrel 350.

Optional motors included a 400cid four-barrel small block, making 175 ponies, and as long as you didn't live in Cali, the 454 big block with a four-barrel was on the menu, still putting out 215 horsepower. The 350 cube motors could be had with three- or four-speed manual gearboxes, while the Turbo Hydra-matic was mandatory with the 400 and 454.

Period testing of a 350-powered car with the automatic returned a zero-to-sixty time of 10.1 seconds and a 17.1 quarter.

This one was photographed in October of 2024 utilizing an Olympus OM-D E-M1X and an M. Zuiko Digital 12-200mm f/3.5-6.3 zoom lens.

1975 Porsche 914 2.0

Developed in the late 1960s to replace both the range-topping Karmann Ghia for Volkswagen and the entry-level 912 at Porsche, the 914 faced big challenges right from the jump-off.

For starters, it was coming into being just as the US auto market, the largest in the world and increasingly important to both VW and Porsche, was mandating a slew of new vehicle regulations in the names of reduced emissions, lowered insurance costs, and increased safety.

Second, while the four-cylinder cars were intended to be sold as Volkswagen-Porsches in Europe, Porsche lobbied to label them as Porsches in the US, fearing that having identical-looking cars with VW badges would dilute Porsche's prestige in the stratified and brand-conscious American market. Volkswagen's new president refused to solely shoulder the development costs, so the cost of the car rose considerably, narrowing the price gap between the 914/6 and the cheapest 911T.

The rubber-covered bumpers with guards and the "2.0" badging on the tail mark this Forest Green 914 as a '75-'76 model.

The 914 2.0 was introduced in 1973 to replace the 914/6 after the latter suffered dismal sales, only moving 3,349 units in the two years it was on the market. Rather than the Porsche-sourced flat six, the 914 2.0 had a Bosch fuel injected two-liter VW flat four making 100 SAE net horsepower.

This gave a noticeable performance bump over the 79 horsepower 1.7L VW four in the regular 914, which struggled to crack the fourteen second mark in the sprint to sixty, despite weighing only 2,075 pounds.

Base price on this car in 1975 would have been $6,995, which comes to about $41,580 in current dollars.

The one in the photos was snapped with an Olympus E-510 and a Zuiko Digital 12-60mm f/2.8-4 zoom lens in April of 2025.

1975 Oldsmobile Toronado

The Toronado began life as something of an oddity in the General Motors lineup of the mid-Sixties. In price and plushness it was aimed at personal luxury coupes like Ford's Thunderbird. With a big block V-8 under the hood and swoopy styling, it was something of a high-performance grand tourer. The front-wheel drive setup and exotic instrument panel with a rotating drum speedometer marked it as something of a tech testbed.

Its first major restyling for the '71 model year moved it firmly into the "personal luxury coupe" camp, however, with the handwriting on the wall for hairy performance cars from Detroit.

By the '75 model year, like the Cameo White example in the photos, the Toronado now had all the latest NHTSA-mandated safety gear: front seat shoulder harnesses, 5-mph bumpers fore and aft, the works.

Under the hood was still a 455 cubic inch Olds Rocket V-8 driving the front wheels through a 3-speed Turbo-Hydramatic 425 automatic transmission, but compression had been reduced to 8.5:1 to keep it able to run on the regular unleaded fuel required by the catalytic converter now corking the exhaust. Even with a 4-barrel Rochester carburetor, output was down to 210 SAE net horsepower.

In addition to being front wheel drive, this '75 Toronado hints at some other future trends, like auxiliary high-mounted tail lamps, and one of Detroit's first available airbag systems.

Another Malaise Era feature was a simple "fuel economy gauge"... actually just a vacuum gauge ...on the dash. It would have been necessary with a car that got 11mpg City and 16 Hwy, especially since gas averaged $0.57/gallon, which is $3.34 in today's dough.

This photo was taken in April of 2016 with an iPhone 6S.

1975 Pontiac Grand Safari

In the mid-Seventies, Pontiac's wagons were positively enormous cars. For 1975, you could get the Safari, based on the Catalina sedan, and the Grand Safari, which was derived from the plusher Grand Ville Brougham and distinguished by its woodgrain flanks and deluxe interior appointments.

Both rode on 127" wheelbases, and cast shadows over 19 feet long on pavement that groaned under their 5100-plus pound curb weights. This Pinemist Green Grand Safari has rectangular sealed-beam headlamps, first allowed in the US for '75, and the Grand Safari model was discontinued for '76, so that narrows down the date range pretty well.

With a station wagon of this length, unloading the 105.7 cubic foot cargo bay in a small garage or other confined space could be tricky, so GM engineered a clever two-piece power-operated clamshell tailgate arrangement. The upper glass half and the lower metal tailgate would slide into the roof and floor, respectively, at the touch of a switch.

Under the hood, the base motor was 185 horsepower 400 cubic inch small journal Pontiac V-8 with a four-barrel carburetor. Optionally, a buyer who needed more towing oomph could spring for a large journal 455 4-barrel, boasting 200 SAE net horsepower and 315 lb-ft of trailer-yanking torque.

After the '76 model year, Pontiac's big wagons got downsized, and a 1977 Pontiac Grand Safari rode on a 115.9"wheelbase, shared with the Chevy Impala/Caprice B-bodies. No longer needed, the complex, bulky, and heavy Glide-Away tailgate was axed, along with the 455 V-8*, fourteen inches of overall length, and half a ton of curb weight.

This one was photographed in June of 2023 using a Nikon D700 and 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6G zoom lens.

*Well, technically the 400 was axed, too. You could get a "6.6 Litre" V-8 in a '77 Grand Safari, but it was an Oldsmobile 403; GM engine consolidation was underway by the latter half of the '70s.

1975 Bricklin SV-1

The two big automotive buzzwords in '73 were "economy" and "safety". Since 1966 a host of mandatory improvements in automotive safety and security had been decreed in the United States. Seatbelts (lap belts in '66, supplemented by mandatory shoulder harnesses for front seat passengers in '68), padded dashes, collapsible steering columns, side marker lights, headrests, and other modern features all became the norm during this era. 

There were also rules introduced to reduce burgeoning insurance costs from crash damage and theft. Steering columns that locked when the car was turned off and the elimination of exterior hood releases cut down on theft, while bumpers that could withstand a 5mph impact cut down on collision claims from low-speed accidents. At the same time, clean air standards were imposed, and the disorienting effects of the '73 Oil Embargo made fuel economy a priority.

Into this environment Malcolm Bricklin introduced a new sports car: The SV-1. A nod to the times, the name stood for "Safety Vehicle", but that was an odd choice of moniker. While the massive bumpers... the front one made it look like a flounder getting its mouth washed out with soap ...were claimed to keep the vehicle from experiencing any structural damage at impacts up to 12mph, there weren't any notable improvements in protection for the occupants.

It wan't much in tune with the fuel economy vibe of the times, either. While the project had originally started with the intent to produce a simple, lightweight car powered by an Opel inline four, the final result was the 1974 SV-1, powered by an American Motors-sourced 360 cubic inch V-8.

The structure was of a laminate of color-impregnated acrylic resin over fiberglass for the body panels, all bolted to a steel rolling chassis, similar to the later Pontiac Fiero. Like the Fiero, it was not particularly svelte for its size, worsened by the lump of a V-8 and AMC-rebranded Torqueflite 727 automatic transmission or four-speed Borg-Warner T10.

For 1975, the engine and transmission were replaced with a Ford 351 Windsor V-8 and FMX 3-speed automatic transmission, with no manual option. (Bricklin defended this by saying that manual gearboxes didn't promote safety, which was also the claimed reason for the lack of a cigarette lighter or ashtrays.)

The 351 smog motor, with its 2-barrel carb and 8.0:1 compression ratio, wheezed out only 175 SAE net horsepower, so it had its work cut out for it hauling 3,560 pounds of plastic and steel. Car & Driver eked out an 8.6 second zero-to-sixty run with their test car and managed a 16.6 second quarter mile at 84 mph through the traps. Maximum recorded top speed was 118 mph. Observed fuel economy was 12-15 miles per gallon, which made one glad for the 21 gallon tank, no doubt.

Adding insult to injury, MSRP for 1975 had ballooned to $9,780 ($57,225 in 2024 money), almost fifteen hundred bucks more than a comparably-equipped Corvette.

"Ah," you say, "But the Corvette doesn't have those nifty gullwing doors!"

No, no it does not. The Bricklin's doors were power operated, each with their own hydraulic ram originally designed to operate a convertible top. Raising them in the Piggly Wiggly parking lot no doubt would draw a crowd of gawkers.

Both door rams were driven by a single pump and, while both doors could be raised and lowered at the same time, there was no interlock to keep you and your passenger from trying to raise one door while lowering the other. If you did that, you'd brick the pump, and be trapped in the car until you pulled the pivot pin out of the ram where it connects to the door and then try and do an overhead press with the 90-pound door while slithering out of the car and not dropping the door on yourself while doing so. You'd also have to do that CrossFit exercise if the car lost battery power while you were in it.

The interior exhibited the not quite ready for prime time vibe that plagues extremely low production volume cars, especially from startups. Combine all the downchecks with slews of problems at the factory in Saint John, New Brunswick, and it's not a surprise that Bricklin production ceased with the 1976 model year.

This one was photographed in Enfield, New Hampshire in June of 2022 using a Canon EOS 5Ds and EF 24-105mm f/4L IS.

1975 Cadillac Sedan De Ville

Here's a 1975 or 1976 Cadillac Sedan De Ville, the year of peak size for the big GM C-bodies.

The 130 inch wheelbase is almost three feet longer than that on my little euro roadster. Stretching 230.7 inches from bumper to bumper, it casts a full six feet more shadow on the asphalt than the BMW Z3, too.

According to Wikipedia, "[t]he new GM full-size bodies, at 64.3 inches front shoulder room (62.1 inches on Cadillac) and 63.4 inches rear shoulder room (64.0 inches on Cadillac) set a record for interior width that would not be matched by any car until the full-size GM rear-wheel-drive models of the early to mid-1990s."

The standard... and only ...engine option was the 500 cubic inch V8. This had begun life as an Eldorado-only performance option. When it debuted in 1970 it had a 10.0:1 compression ratio and was rated at 400 SAE gross horsepower. In 1975 it became the standard engine in all the Caddies except the new "compact" Seville. By then the compression ratio had been dropped to 8.5:1 for the sake of emissions and fuel economy. Add in the more restrictive catalytic-converted exhaust and power in this '76 model had dropped to 190bhp SAE net, or 215bhp with the optional Bendix fuel injection.

Not a lot of motive force when asked to propel two-and-three-quarters tons of velour, vinyl, and Galloway Green Firemist paint down the boulevard. Road Test only managed a 10.6 second 0-60 from a '75 Coupe De Ville.

EDIT: Looking more closely at the grille and the interior, this is a '75, not a '76. That Jasper "Maharaja cloth with leather" interior wasn't available in '76. (Nor was fuel injection an option.)

This one was snapped in July of 2021 with a Nikon D7000 and a 16-80mm f/2.8-4E VR zoom lens.

1975 Triumph TR6

It was a glorious June Sunday in 2023, with temps in the mid seventies and low humidity, complimented by gentle breezes. It was perfect convertible weather, and this gentleman was out making the most of it in his Triumph TR6, painted the shade known as Mimosa.

It's a later one, '74-'77 as attested by the grotesque rubber bumper warts required to meet U.S. safety standards.

While the relatively few TR6's of this vintage sold back in Old Blighty featured Lucas mechanical fuel injection, American market cars (by far the majority of TR6's sold) relied on a pair of Stromberg carbs to feed fuel-air mixture to the slightly undersquare, cast iron, pushrod straight six. This, along with a lower compression ratio to satisfy EPA regs, resulted in 105 SAE net horsepower from 152 cubes of displacement, down from the original's 150hp.

Acceleration, consequently, was hardly eyeball-flattening. Most tests reported 0-60 times in the ten-to-eleven second range, as opposed to the 8-ish second runs posted by Autocar. Still, everything feels zippy when your ass is only inches from the pavement. Ask any MG driver.

These photos were snapped with a Nikon D700 and 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6G zoom lens.

1975 Pontiac Firebird Formula

It's a second-generation Pontiac Firebird! While the snout on the '74-'76 Firebirds was generally the same, they can be distinguished by the placement of their turn signals. A 1974 has them below the bumper, outboard, directly beneath the headlights. A 1976 has them in the intake grilles under the bumper. A '75, like this one, has them in the grille openings above the bumper.

Also, starting with the 1975 model year the rear window was enlarged, wrapping around further, clear to the top of the fenders. Front discs were now standard on all Firebird models for '75, but so were catalytic converters.

This Alpine Green example is a '75 Firebird Formula 400, at least according to the badge. By the mid-Seventies, the L78 400cid 4-barrel had a compression ratio something like 7.6:1 or so and was putting out only 185 SAE net horsepower, even in the Formula's performance-oriented installation. At some 3800ish pounds, it took everything they had to crack the 10-second 0-to-60 barrier and lay down quarters in the high seventeens. This thing would be hard pressed keeping up with an airport rental Kia these days and struggled to top 100mph...

But it sure is a good-looking car, and it didn't take much work to uncork a lot more power out of that big motor.

These photos were taken with a Nikon 1 J4 and the 1 Nikkor 30-110mm f/3.5-5.6 VR zoom lens in November of 2020.