[camarojoe]

I don't know "exactly" why, but its pretty much the same way til this day... Central/Western PA was always a rural type area, with steel mills/coal mining/railroads as the main source of employment for most folks in the 50s, 60s, and 70's. People worked hard for their money, and usually were pretty frugal with purchases as well. Not many "highly optioned" cars of any sort came out of the area, although there were a few exceptions.

Another reason I'd guess is simply because it's also COLD here 75% of the year, so frills like AC were rarely ordered, even by dealers for lot inventory. AC was useful for about a month, and needed servicing/recharging annually. Power windows would tend to freeze up in the winter, and they were generally viewed as an expensive hassle to many, therefore that option also seems rare on older stuff around here. In fact, until cars started coming standard with them, they were fairly "rare" way up into the 90's in most cars around here.

As far as the AM radio thing, I think FM was pretty oddball anywhere in the US back then, as most of the best stations were still AM. Heck, FM radio still sucks around here in 2010! So to answer your question, I'd guess cars lacking in options existed as a combination of both frugality and practicality.