Readers know I consider myself a child of the ’80s, since I graduated from high school and college and started working in that decade. (Which makes me an old member of Generation X .)
But while the ’80s is probably superior to other decades in entertainment, particularly in music, that is not the case with motor vehicles. (I also got my driver’s license in the ’80s.)
Chances are that if you were in middle school or high school during the ’70s you had posters of either exotic cars, babes like Farrah Fawcett, or your favorite rock bands on the walls of your bedroom, if your mother permitted them. About the former, Motor Trend writes:
After the Lamborghini Miura made a splash in the 1960s and later became regarded as the first production “supercar” to capture the modern imagination, the following decade exploded with exotic machinery the world over intent on capturing some of the Miura’s magic. These ’70s supercars rose above the expectations of a standard sports car by way of their sultry looks, incredible performance for the era, and in some cases their sheer audacity—carving out an unforgettable chapter in the history of the automobile.
In no particular order, here’s a look at 10 of the most memorable supercars from the 1970s, exotics hailing from the likes of Germany, Japan, the U.K., and of course, Italy.
De Tomaso Pantera
Many formidable machines married Italian design with American muscle in the 1960s and 1970s, but few had the same level of impact as the De Tomaso Pantera. Although it boasted exceptional supercar styling, it also came with the most approachable price point of any similarly powered exotic of the era, thanks in large part to the affordability of its Detroit-sourced power plant.
The original Pantera was sold in partnership with Ford in the United States, which used the reach of its Lincoln-Mercury dealership network to introduce America to the mid-engine marvel. With a 5.8-liter Ford V-8 producing 330 horsepower in early models (which arrived in 1971), the Pantera was just as quick as its more complex rivals. It wasn’t long before the De Tomaso monster had sprouted many different models that dialed power up and down, and despite Ford ending its sales agreement with the company in 1975, the Pantera continued strong all the way until the early 1990s. …
Lancia Stratos
Not every memorable ’70s supercar made its bones on the street—or even a traditional racetrack. The Lancia Stratos gained fame for being the first purpose-built rally machine, a vehicle tuned to attack the tarmac, gravel, or sand with a Ferrari-built V-6 (borrowed from the Dino) screaming just ahead of the rear wheels.
Based on a Bertone-built concept called the Zero, the production Stratos looked like a flying saucer with its glassed-in cockpit and ultra-short wheelbase. Weighing in at under a ton, less than 500 examples of the Stratos were ever built, but that was enough for it to win 18 World Rally Championship events while taking home three overall championships in the process. …
Lotus Esprit
Lotus was already famed for its racing pedigree and its fantastic, lightweight sports cars when it elected to attack the supercar market in the 1970s. As with many models on this list, the Lotus Esprit’s journey to production began with Giorgetto Giugiaro, whose wedge shapes dominated much of the decade’s design ethos.
With the look of its fiberglass body nailed down, the next step was to design a chassis and drivetrain that could embody the “add lightness” guiding principle of Lotus founder Colin Chapman. Its 160-horsepower, four-cylinder engine might have seemed underwhelming, but with a sub-2,000-pound curb weight and the motor mounted just behind the cockpit, the Esprit provided sensational thrills through nearly every corner.
Later models would up the amperage through a series of larger and eventually turbocharged engines, and although it was never sold to customers, the prop-makers for 007 transformed the Esprit into a seagoing submarine for 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me . …
Aston Martin V8 Vantage
Although the Panther was a much-discussed novelty, a more lasting contribution to Britain’s 1970s supercar pantheon came from the seasoned pros at Aston Martin. The V8 Vantage may have looked more than a little like a Ford Mustang, but underneath the hood it boasted a 5.3-liter, dual-overhead-camshaft engine that was good for just under 400 horsepower—enough to scoot the coupe to a serious 170 mph.
In 1977, with the muscle car landscape devastated by a global energy crisis, those numbers represented astronomical performance and a huge improvement over the Aston Martin V8 grand tourer from which it had evolved. Like one other auto on this list, the V8 Vantage would gain fame as a Bond car when it appeared onscreen in 1987’s The Living Daylights . …
Porsche 911 930 Turbo
From Panthers to Porsches, the 930’s reputation as a “widow maker” grew from the explosive power of the turbocharged flat-six engine stuffed into its rear quarters. A product of the early days of forced induction, for some drivers the on/off character of the Porsche 930’s power delivery was too much to handle, sending many owners spinning off the road as the back wheels were overwhelmed by a sudden burst of torque.
For those who could master its brute force character, the Porsche 930 promised a thrill ride from start to finish. Based on the standard 911 coupe, the 930 added extroverted aero in the form of a widebody treatment and a whale tail sitting just over its engine. Like the M1, the 930 was built to homologate Porsche’s racing program, and initial models produced just over 250 horsepower from a 3.0-liter engine. By 1978, that motor had been punched out to 3.3 liters to give it an even 300 horses, which combined with its lightweight design to make it one of the most formidable ’70s supercars to ever prowl the autobahn. …
BMW M1
BMW’s purpose-built sports car racing program found itself suddenly in peril toward the end of the 1970s, when a swirl of circumstances threatened its very existence. Corporate partner Lamborghini, which had planned to build 400 examples of what would become the M1 so it could be homologated for competition, was drowning in red ink that eventually bankrupted the company. Lamborghini’s issues forced BMW to split M1 production across three different companies (Marchese, Ital Design, and Bauer).
By the time everything was sorted out, sports car racing rules and regulations had moved on from the M1’s original concept, stranding the vehicle in the BMW-managed Procar series that ran in 1979 prior to internal shake-ups at the company that dramatically slashed its motorsports budget. The end result was a fleet of 430 customer cars built before the program was killed in 1980. The street-legal version of the M1 might have been detested by BMW bosses due to the stench of failure that surrounded it, but it remains an intriguing performer thanks to its 266-horsepower, 3.5-liter straight six-cylinder engine and its 161-mph top speed. …
Maserati Bora
The Maserati Bora was the first mid-engine car from the Italian concern, and unlike past efforts from the brand, it had the benefit of parent company Citroën’s industrial might helping it from drawing board to showroom. With bread-van-like styling from Giorgetto Giugiaro, the Bora’s glassed-in hatch concealed a 4.7-liter V-8 when it first went on sale in 1971, an engine whose 310 horsepower helped the car achieve a top speed of 170 mph.
Yes, the Bora was fast, but what Maserati truly pioneered was the idea of a driver-friendly supercar that didn’t require extreme contortions to enter the cockpit (or a periscope to back out of a parking space). Another astounding supercar innovation from the Bora? A trunk, and one that could actually accommodate human-size luggage. …
Lamborghini Countach
It’s hard to argue against the Lamborghini Countach as being the most memorable ’70s supercar. Everything about the coupe—from its wedge-shaped body to its scissor doors to its mammoth mid-mounted V-12 engine—screamed for attention from the moment it debuted at the Geneva auto show as a concept car in 1971.
By the time the Countach LP400 had reached production, it had added a “periscope” to make it possible for drivers to see behind the car when reversing—an unusual feature that only bolstered its legend. As if the lore surrounding the most extroverted Lamborghini needed any additional polish, its heart-stopper of an engine delivered 370 horsepower and 270 lb-ft of torque from 3.9 liters and 12 cylinders unrestricted by pollution controls, matched with a five-speed manual transaxle. Although those numbers would climb throughout its ’80s heyday, they were astounding for the mid-’70s and certainly enough to strike fear into whatever driver was delusional enough to line up alongside it.
Similar creativity could be found in music during the ’70s. Best Classic Bands did a six-part series on surprising radio hits from the ’70s that included …
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Cars were, to be truthful, not good in the ’80s because engine technology hadn’t caught up with government regulation of vehicle gas mileage and emissions. (See Cadillac V-8-6-4.) And, truth be told again, top 40 music wasn’t as creative in the ’80s as in the previous decade, though it was certainly better than now.
Steve Prestegard.com: The Presteblog 
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