The 7 Cheapest American Cars of 1972 (With AM and Auto)

Tom Appel

10 years ago

The 1972 Chevrolet Vega was only the third cheapest American car available in 1972. The hatchback model shown here listed for $100 more than the 2-door “sedan” shown below.

1972 Chevrolet Vega Hatchback — The 1972 Chevrolet Vega was only the third cheapest American car available in 1972. The hatchback model shown here listed for $100 more than the 2-door “sedan” shown below.

A buddy of mine and I used to play a game called “Full Retail Fun.” The game was simple enough, we grabbed a recent copy of Consumer Guide^® and tried to build to most expensive cars possible by tallying the prices of every available option.

All prices presented below are as reported in Consumer Guide *Auto Test ’72*

Given that we were young and given to being amused by things sensational, it never crossed our minds to build the cheapest car possible. I am making amends for that now.

Here please find the seven cheapest American cars you could buy in 1972. To keep things Spartan, the only options we looked at were an AM radio and automatic transmission.

All prices come from the 1972 Consumer Guide^® Auto Test ’72, which includes an awesome note before the pricing section regarding Richard Nixon relaxing his price controls.

Why 1972? Most because car prices were about to start rising at a pretty fast pace, leaving ’72 as a sort of “good old days” price reference point. Note: All of the images below depict the vehicles with optional equipment. Your sub-$2500 special would not have looked so spiffy.

Cost of a 2013 Pinto: $17,375

Ford Pinto

Base engine: 122-inch 4-cylinder (86 horsepower)