In 1971, McDonald's introduced the Big Mac, which cost 53 cents. The first Starbucks opened in Seattle. Singer Don MacLean scored a No. 1 hit with "American Pie." And the Chrysler Corp. produced 766 Dodge Charger Super Bees, a muscle car with a 383-cubic-inch engine, a four-speed transmission and air-grabber hood.

Doug Gerlitzki of New Holland owns one of those limited edition Chargers, and on Sunday he joined more than 100 other owners of rare and classic cars during Lancaster's 10th annual Wheels, Wheels, Wheels event.

"It is 100 percent correct from the way it would have rolled out of the factory in 1971," said Gerlitzki of his fire-red Dodge.

The car, which cost about $3,500 in 1971 but is worth about $55,000 now, had been modified when he bought it, but "we took it right back to its original factory condition from bumper to bumper."

Restoring it took four years, and he has just begun to show it off.

"It's a rare car," he said. "There are not a lot of Super Bees left out there."

For the better part of Sunday, the four blocks of North Queen Street from Penn Square to Lemon Street, took one back to a world when car engines were not measured in liters, but in cubic inches, like 327-, 383-, 427-, 440- and 426-hemi.

It was a time when engines did not hum and purr, but seemed to roar "get outta my way" and no one understood the phrase "fuel economy" because gas was 36 cents a gallon.

Cars did not come equipped with seat belts, let alone air bags. The radio was AM, and the tape deck, if you had one, was probably an eight-track.

And the cars were just great, as Sunday's show proved. They carried older visitors back to the days of their youth, while wowing a whole new generation of people to whom these vehicles are historic rather than nostalgic.

"The cars are awesome," said 21-year-old Nelson Rosario of Lancaster "You get a chance to appreciate the cars from back then and see the difference between cars then and now."

Some of the cars on display were rare, like Gerlitzki's Super Bee and a 1970 Plymouth Road Runner Superbird, painted blue and enhanced by a tall spoiler on the rear end. Only 1,920 were made, and they sold for $4,638, according to the sticker price still on the window.

Muscle cars abounded Sunday, including one owned by John Ground of Holtwood, who drove his 1966 Ford Mustang fastback with the 289 cubic-inch engine, and Barry Harsh of Mountville, who drove a 1963 Chevrolet Impala convertible with a 427-cubic-inch engine under the hood.

Andy and Judy Andrews of Bird-in-Hand proved you don't have to be a kid to have fun with cars as they displayed their souped-up 1934 Chevrolet street rod, the Purple People Eater.

"We like it and we have a lot of fun," said Mrs. Andrews. "We're just a bunch of old people that get together and have a good time. It's all gray-haired or bald people."

Nick Nixdorf of Palmyra brought his 1968 Dodge Challenger with the 440-cubic-inch engine, which was displayed near a 1963 Chevy Corvair with the rear-mounted, air-cooled engine.

Mike Weidle of Bainbridge had a 1975 Triumph TR6, one of the very few foreign cars at the show.

"The Triumph has always had a good following," he said. "I like it. It's British, and it's a convertible."

While many baby boomers wish they had kept their dream car, Dale Murray of Mount Joy actually did — a 1966 Dodge Charger, which, he said, came out "the year I got my driver's license."

Murray bought a green 1966 Charger in 1971, while in college, and in 1975 he began to restore it but, he said, "got distracted with other things." But he kept it and has just gotten it back on the road.

"I finished it 32 years later," he said.

How does it feel to be back behind the wheel of his Charger for the first time since 1975?

"It brings back memories," he said.

Some cars at Sunday's show were rarer than rare. They were one-of-a-kind.

John Stauffer's car looked as if someone had mounted an old wooden speed boat on wheels, and reinforced it with sheet metal.

"It's a 1936 JKS Boat-Tailed Speedster, according to me," the Brownstown man said. "According to PennDOT, it has no year and no make, so I can call it what I want."

He devised the name because he was born in 1936 and the initials JKS are his own. Plus, the rear end looks like the prow of a boat.

In fact, the car is a hodgepodge of parts, the oldest being from 1922 and all assembled on a 1963 Studebaker chassis. Stauffer began building the car in 1998 and finished it in 2002, although it still wasn't drivable.

As of May, the car is road-ready, and on the way to Sunday's show, Stauffer decided his original two-seat speedster might be something of a chick magnet.

"Coming in on Route 272," he said, "I was stopped at the light by Landis Valley, and a woman in an SUV rolled down her window and said, 'I like your car, sir.' "

E-mail: lalexander@lnpnews.com