14th Jun 2012, 15:46

Cast iron V-8 engines, heavy duty transmissions, full frame construction - why wouldn't 70s cars do 200,000+ miles? They were essentially low-slung, soft-sprung trucks, and trucks do that kind of mileage all the time.

I had many that did so, either while I owned them or with (even more) financially challenged folks I sold them to in our town, who I often saw driving them for years after I passed them on. 300,000 is less common, but with the better made ones it wasn't rare - I know of one 1977 Grand Prix own by a friend that made it to that mark, and one 1973 Cadillac that I owned which did so as well.

I also worked as a taxi driver when I was a graduate student, and I can report that 300,000 was just ordinary for 1980s Chevy Caprices and Dodge Diplomats that we used for taxis.

14th Jun 2012, 16:48

Well I can't literally show them to you, but for starters you can check some of the reviews on this site, or even look on E-bay at some of the 70's vehicles for sale; most are low mileage gems, but I have seen my share of others with over 200,000 MI.

As far as experience goes; in the mid 80's, my cousin owned a towing and road service company, and the cars used for road service were (post fuel crises) full-size wagons from GM and Ford. All 6 of them went over 200,000 miles, including a Pontiac Safari that went to 300,000.

I also owned a 1977 Grand Prix that I toyed around with as a weekend car; it didn't have high mileage, but still in the 3 years I had it not an ounce of trouble.

I'm not going to go any further with the whole econo cars of today having more options than luxury cars of yesterday, because it is simply not true.