From The Archives - Four Wheeler of the 1970's

FROM THE ARCHIVES: THE '70s

We came of age, like some of you, in the 1970s. At the beginning of the decade, we were still a small magazine on a shoestring budget, barely bigger than a newsletter, that showed up at the newsstand once a month---or maybe not. By decade's end, we were a big operation with pro camera gear, our own studio, and our readers numbering in the hundreds of thousands. Along the way, as was the case in the '70s, much silliness ensued. We thought we'd take a look back at some of our least-memorable "fashion statements" from the era that gave us streaking, Pet Rocks, and Disco Duck.

Somebody at the ad agency...        read full caption Somebody at the ad agency forgot to put down the bong when they composed this ad for the "SuperJeep" (a plain ol' CJ-5, in other words). This ad, from '73, marked the beginning of an ominous trend---stripes for 4x4s---which we would see again an again as the years passed.	Like we said, you just couldn't...        read full caption Like we said, you just couldn't lay enough stripes on your truck back then.	This beauty of a photo came...        read full caption This beauty of a photo came from a '77 buyer's guide for new seats. In our words (and I'm not making this up), "It's not only contemporary pimp---it's an orthopedic seat with a torsion-free frame design." C'mon, admit it, you'd love a set for your truck.
Half woman, half tire: Farah...        read full caption Half woman, half tire: Farah Fawcett meets Marlin Perkins. What's that giraffe gawkin' at, anyway?	Let's see here. There's no...        read full caption Let's see here. There's no snow on the FJ-40, the tires or the skiers. It's amazing what a good art director could do in the days before computers and Photoshop.	Tree huggers? Not for us,...        read full caption Tree huggers? Not for us, thanks. Hip huggers? Now you're cookin' with gas, homeboy.
Calling Monty Python: Formula...        read full caption Calling Monty Python: Formula Desert Dogs were tires for manly men, but unless this photo's a composite, given the size of the Jeep, Paul Bunyan over there's only three feet tall.	Shamelessly peddling cheesecake...        read full caption Shamelessly peddling cheesecake to pitch new products was a staple of the magazine in the '70s. Our idea of a buyers' guide back then was simply to lay a bunch of products on the floor, shoot them, and try to make sense of it later.
		Someone definitely didn't...        read full caption Someone definitely didn't put down the bong when this holiday buyers' guide from '78 was scripted. Nothing like putting the products so far away from the camera that you couldn't make out what they were, or shooting them in the shade so you could barely see them.