0-60 Challenge: The Sporty Compacts of 1973

Tom Appel

8 years ago

Ford Mustang Grandé, The Sporty Compacts of 1973 — 1973 Ford Mustang Grandé

This quote from Consumer Guide’s ’73 Auto Test magazine says almost everything you need to know about the performance potential of the vehicles discussed below:

“A COMBINATION of three factors nearly spelled the doom of the cars in this class: Insurance companies hiked the premiums on muscle cars, the government imposed power-stealing emission controls, and the buyers themselves displayed a radical change in automotive tastes.”

The text went on to suggest that Detroit was adapting to these changes, and that “Sporty Compact” car sales would flourish again. Of course, all of this was written either late in 1972 or very early in 1973–just months before the 1973 OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) oil embargo and the oil crisis it caused would change the American automotive landscape forever.

Quite suddenly, Dodge Challengers and Pontiac Firebirds were passed over by young car shoppers in favor of imported vehicles and domestic economy cars such as the Chevrolet Vega and Ford Pinto.

All 0-60 mph times quoted below come from the aforementioned issue of Consumer Guide, as do all the specs. If you’re puzzled by how slow these vehicles seem to be—so are we. We blame the emissions equipment, and an evaluation team that handled the test cars with kid gloves.

The 10 Fastest Cars of 1973*