Back in the 70's the kind of cars they had was?

Broadly similar to today's cars, but fewer things worked electrically, such as Windows. Most had just 4 gears. No Satnav, of course! Add to the above more metal, too. Today's cars seem to fold up like an accordian when they get into an accident. Of course, all that metal weighed a whole lot and decreased gas mileage, but driver and passenger safety is more important than gas mileage for lots of people.