4 Classic '70s Muscle Cars You Can Find For Under $10K (For Now)

The 1964 Pontiac GTO might not be the first muscle car ever built, but it is often credited with jump-starting the era that followed. In fact, the first true muscle car (defined as a model with a lightweight body and powerful engine) was probably the Oldsmobile Rocket 88, which hit the road in 1949. These cars were immensely popular in the 1960s and 1970s, although the market for gas guzzlers cooled significantly around 1973. That was the year an oil embargo against the United States drove gas prices skyward, just before new federal fuel economy and emissions standards went into place.

There were plenty of models released before the oil crisis hit, and some automakers managed to produce some memorable ones under the new regulations as well. Some muscle cars like the 1970 and '71 Plymouth Hemi 'Cuda convertible are now worth millions because of their rarity, but others can be snapped up for a much more reasonable price. With electric vehicles set to take over the roads, the value of many 1970s muscle cars might be about to climb as they become more and more of a curiosity. Here are four cars from that decade you can still pick up for under $10,000, leaving you plenty of room in your maintenance and restoration budget.

[Featured image by MercurySable99 via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC-BY-SA 4.0]

The fourth-generation Dodge Charger might not be the most beautiful muscle car of its time, but it carried the model's proud tradition into the latter half of the 1970s. The first Chargers appeared in 1966, with four bucket seats and a fastback roof. The model was updated in 1968 and 1971, and the fourth generation appeared in 1975. By then, changes in buyers' tastes had prompted Dodge to redesign the Charger with some luxurious touches, but V8 engines putting out as much as 225 horsepower remained on the option sheet. The fourth-gen Charger lived on through 1978, after which the model took a brief hiatus, returning as a front-wheel drive model in 1981. The badge was dropped again in 1987 and brought back in 2006, although the modern Charger went out of production at the end of 2023 as Dodge began shifting its focus to electric vehicles.

If you have room to park a nearly 18-foot land yacht, you can grab a fourth-gen Charger for four figures, although many have since gone to the crusher. Classic.com shows only six current listings and five sales over the past five years, with a combined average price of $9,250. In the last year and a half, three 1975 Chargers in SE trim sold for $7,000 or less.

When Ford was selecting a name for the Mustang that debuted in 1964, Cougar was one of the last to be eliminated from consideration. Two years later, the rejected nameplate appeared on a Mercury that was meant to fill the empty lane between Ford's popular Mustang and Thunderbird models. More than 150,000 Cougars left dealership lots in 1966, and Motor Trend named it Car of the Year in 1967. The Cougar was made for luxury right from the start, but it was available with Ford's 428-inch Cobra jet engine from 1968 through 1970. It was updated in 1971, 1974, and 1977, and you'll have to seek out a third- or fourth-generation model if you want to spend less than $10,000. 

Mercury produced the Cougar through 2002 with a break in 1998, but the last version was far from a muscle car. Like the Charger, most '70s Cougars have been wrecked or scrapped by now, making them surprisingly hard to find on the secondhand market. For the third and fourth-generation versions that cover model years 1974 through 1979, Classic.com shows only nine current listings and 17 sales over the past five years. The good news is that 13 fourth-gen Cougars have gone for an average of a little over $9,000, and a 1976 XR-7 coupe sold in 2023 for just $6,750.

The Pontiac Grand Prix had a 47-year run over eight generations from 1962 through 2008 (Pontiac itself closed its doors for good in 2010, ending a long and meaningful history), and some early versions are worth upwards of $30,000. You can find some more affordable Grand Prix examples from among those left over from the third generation, which covers model years 1973 through 1977.

They're much more plentiful than Cougars or Chargers from the same time period, but you'll have to do a little more work to find one for under $10,000. Bargains are out there, though. While Classic.com lists 55 Grand Prix sales in the last five years at an average of just over $18,000, nine went for less than $10,000. If you're near Stanley, Wisconsin, Cody's Classic Cars has a clean 1973 Grand Prix on its lot tagged at $9,900.

American Motors Corporation, or AMC, produced some memorable but underrated muscle cars in its heyday. Those gems include the Matador, which made its first appearance in 1971. The Matador came to NASCAR the next year courtesy of Roger Penske, and Bobby Allison won four races behind its wheel in 1974 and 1975. In 2023, Allison told the Fayetteville Observer that the car was a hit off the track as well. 

"I remember everywhere we went, the fans wanted to see the car beat the Chevrolets, Dodges and Fords," he recalled. "The car represented them in a way against the big guys. I loved driving it." The Matador was in production through 1978, and you can still pick one up for a reasonable price. Although Classic.com only shows one current Matador listing at just under $14,000, seven others have changed hands for $10,000 or less in the past two years.