1973 oil crisis and bike prices

[Drago]

The Honda was an integrated motor assist set up, and not a true hybrid - the electric motor only aided the engine, a bit like a modern ebike, and did not swtich in and out to privide power on its own like the Pious does.

 

[gbb]

I cant offer any specifics but remember the crisis. Cars like Ford Zephers, Jags and the like became pariah like, no one wanted them, too costly to run. You could scarcely give them away.
But at the same time, cycle use was popular (or neccessary) anyway. Newark had the RHP bearing factory on its outskirts with probably thousands of workers...at knock off time, you couldnt move for bikes, it was like a tsunami of cyclists headed home. I suspect you could replicate that in any town in the UK.
Essentially, bike use was popular back then anyway.

 

[Juan Kog]

I cant offer any specifics but remember the crisis. Cars like Ford Zephers, Jags and the like became pariah like, no one wanted them, too costly to run. You could scarcely give them away.

Along with big Humber’s and Austin Westminster’s they were the banger racing favourites

 

[Brandane]

Sometimes the queueing became quite unpleasant and bad tempered. We take a lot for granted, but this sort of thing could happen again at any time.

Bet you didn't realise at the time of your post in March that your prediction would happen within a few months .

 

[DRM]

Along with big Humber’s and Austin Westminster’s they were the banger racing favourites

I remember my grandad having an Austin Westminster, a 3 litre 6 cylinder automatic gearbox iirc, was a really luxurious thing with leather seats and walnut dash and trim, I also recall my dad saying it could pass anything except a petrol station!

 

[freiston]

I cant offer any specifics but remember the crisis. Cars like Ford Zephers, Jags and the like became pariah like, no one wanted them, too costly to run. You could scarcely give them away.
But at the same time, cycle use was popular (or neccessary) anyway. Newark had the RHP bearing factory on its outskirts with probably thousands of workers...at knock off time, you couldnt move for bikes, it was like a tsunami of cyclists headed home. I suspect you could replicate that in any town in the UK.
Essentially, bike use was popular back then anyway.

I was only 9 in 1973. We had no car, no phone and our TV was a black and white rented set. My mum and dad used to cycle to work. It was a year or two later when we got a phone and a car (a second hand Ford Anglia) when my dad, struggling to find employment, went self-employed as a painter and decorator (he was a time-served painter & decorator). As I remember it, most of our neighbours didn't have cars (possibly 1 in 5 households down our road had a car) and the streets were full of bicycles with people to going to and from work or school.

 

[Gravity Aided]

Along with big Humber’s and Austin Westminster’s they were the banger racing favourites

Rover P-5 was quite a vehicle as well. Didn't see too many in The States, but I always loved the look.

 

[Hover Fly]

Does anyone remember what things were like in the 1970s during the oil crisis? Bike sales in USA shot up from 6mn to 15.3mn and whereas most of the pre-crisis bike sales were for kids' bikes, during the crisis, 60% or more were for adult bikes.

But I cannot find info about what happened to bike prices back then. Does anyone remember or have information about that? These days, during the bike boom, bike prices have, and continue to, shoot up. The price of materials, manufacturing and shipping has gone up, but with the popularity of cycling, the profit motives of bike companies has also gone up.

Was there a similar correlation in the 1970s?

My brother’s Sun cost £33 in 1971, in 1974 a similar specced Raleigh was £42. (Both birthday presents and just under a skilled tradesman’s weekly wage at Vickers)

Keep those receipts folks!

 

[GuyBoden]

The Israel-Egypt war1973, the USA backed Israel, which upset the Arab oil producing countries, so they pulled the plug on supplying the world with oil.

 

[gavroche]

In 1973 I had a Vauxhall Victor with a 3 gear column change gearbox which I bought from my BiL. That car took us on honeymoon through France, Spain and Portugal without missing a beat. Apart from being a rust bucket, it was very reliable.
I can't say the same thing about the Vauxhall 101 which replaced it. That was a total nightmare and very unreliable.
The oil crisis never affected me workwise as my boss just bought a big generator and the factory carried on working 7 days a week.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

In 1973 I had a Vauxhall Victor with a 3 gear column change gearbox which I bought from my BiL. That car took us on honeymoon through France, Spain and Portugal without missing a beat. Apart from being a rust bucket, it was very reliable.

The early F-types were rather rust-prone and very few of them survive today. Most of them had one wheel in the scrapyard by their tenth birthday if not before. Most of the first generation of monocoque cars were similarly afflicted; it needed a diligent owner with the habit of spraying the underbody with their old engine oil if they were to have much chance of not disintegrating after a decade's exposure to our climate.

 

[Drago]

The Israel-Egypt war1973, the USA backed Israel, which upset the Arab oil producing countries, so they pulled the plug on supplying the world with oil.

Jordan and Syria joined in too, and the IDF gave them all a good kicking. They pulled the tigers tail in '67 and quickly got to see its teeth, but they didn't learn from that.

Interesting at the time, as the USSR had supplied Egypt with what they thought were state of the air air defences and radars, and they proved totally ineffective against western equipment and doctrine.

You are quite right, the arab OPEC countries got sniffy over it and tightened supply. However, in the longer run this served only to give stimulus to the West to secure and exploit their own supplies and ultimately reduced the Wests reliance on middle eastern oil somewhat. This hurt OPEC financially a bit over time, but also served to equip the west to the point where OPEC couldn't again hold the west to ransom over supplies to any meaningful degree. It was a hand that OPEC could only play and make work the once, and history shows they ultimately played it far too early.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

You are quite right, the arab OPEC countries got sniffy over it and tightened supply. However, in the longer run this served only to give stimulus to the West to secure and exploit their own supplies and ultimately reduced the Wests reliance on middle eastern oil somewhat. This hurt OPEC financially a bit over time, but also served to equip the west to the point where OPEC couldn't again hold the west to ransom over supplies to any meaningful degree. It was a hand that OPEC could only play and make work the once, and history shows they ultimately played it far too early.

Energy security is why Trump was keen on US fracking, to be self-sufficient in meeting oil demand. When a country has energy self-sufficiency and a strong military, it doesn't have to dance to anyone else's tune. Just look at how countries like Germany are reliant on piped-in gas supplies and this gives Putin a stick to beat western Europe with.

 

[BoldonLad]

Drago, you're getting a bit mixed up- cheaper rust bucket Fords, Vauxhalls and BL cars were everywhere in the 70s!

The oil crisis of 73 was quite exciting as a 13 year old... regular electricity cuts, candles everywhere, long queues at every petrol station when they got a delivery in. Remember walking to school in the dark and getting fluorescent armbands when they tried not putting the clocks back - but that might be a different winter!

My mum was retraining from during to be a community midwife so my dad took her into hospital and then went to work at 7am in our old Ford Escort.

I think it is you who is getting mixed up.

Car ownership was much lower in the 1970's than now.

My eldest son was born 1972, at which time, I was 25. We did have a car (a second hand Mk1 Escort). We did not become a two car family until the 1980's. In a street of 12 houses, there were 10 cars. Today, in our street of 11 houses, there are 20 cars.

 

[Drago]

Indeed, Brother Lad. Per capita cars were about half as common then as they are now. It still wasnt uncommon for men to cycle tomwork, and motorcycle ownership for utility was still a thing, albeit slowly dying out.