1970s things I'm glad don't exist anymore

Some things from the '70s need to stay there and I hope they never come back.

The bulk of my childhood was in the '80s but a lot of what was around me during that time was from the '70s. Whenever a new decade starts, that doesn't mean everybody throws out what they bought the previous decade.

These are some of the things I remember that were very-'70s and am happy they're not being sold new anymore.

Console television sets

See photo above.

This is a tube-type television in a large wooden box that's meant to also act as furniture. Very heavy things. This is not something invented in the '70s, but that is the decade when most people could afford one and when there was the most choice. Some of these were stereo but most were single-speaker mono sound only.

It was typical for people to put a VCR on top of this (almost like it was made for it), and maybe some kind of plant for decoration.

I question the ergonomics of a TV like this because you're always looking down at the screen from the couch.

Really slow small cars

While true there aren't that many small cars for sale in America these days (hopefully they'll make a comeback), the ones still around are light years better compared to what the '70s had to offer.

Small cars of the '70s weren't just slow but really slow. Slow enough to where you put the gas pedal to the floor routinely trying to get the thing to move along.

In the '70s where the national speed limit in the United States was 55 miles per hour for most of the decade, a small car of the time could barely keep up. In today's world where 65, 70 and 75mph speed limits are common, no way could one of these things work.

Personal luxury cars

This type of car was at its peak in the '70s. These things are long, low, ridiculously comfortable and easy to drive. They also look fantastic...

...but everything goes downhill after that because it's a "big for the sake of being big" car with two doors.

It's the two doors that make this car ridiculous more than anything else. Having something this long and this wide with two giant heavy doors is just plain dumb.

True, there are modern large SUVs that are the same length (if not longer) than the car seen above. However, they all have four doors, a rear hatch area that lifts and fold-down rear seats to make use of nearly all the space behind the driver's seat. Can't do that in a personal luxury car.

Bear in mind I hate large SUVs, but it is the better vehicle compared to the '70s personal luxury car simply because it's better for carrying passengers and hauling stuff.

Four-door barge size sedans and wagons of the '70s made more sense, but not the two-door. A two-door coupe is supposed to be small, nimble, quick and sporty. A personal luxury car is huge, has vague driving feel, isn't fast and has nothing sporty about it at all.

Overpriced digital watches as your only option

If you regularly read my articles, you know I like watches. I especially like Casio digitals...

...but the digitals of the '70s are terrible. They worked fine, but it was the price of them that was insane.

The tried-and-true cheap Casio F-91W didn't exist in the '70s, so if you wanted an LCD panel quartz digital, you had to pay full whack to get a Seiko.

Polyester-everything

Polyester is still made today, but a '70s thing for men's fashion (and women's) was to have your clothes made from polyester. Not just some of your clothes. ALL of them.

A man's suit made all from polyester results in looking shiny. If you're thinking, "Isn't a shiny suit good?" No, it's not. A classic black men's suit as far as I'm concerned is not supposed to shine, and that's probably the reason so many polyester suits are in brighter colors.

Published 2024 Jan 16