Was 1980 a Good Year for Cars?

retroman
Jul 1, 2009 at 2:16 pm

I can think of one car in the 80s that had style, the Delorean. Maybe it didn’t have the grunt John Delorean hoped for it, but it certainly had the style. Also wanted to say that the 80s was a good time for Chrysler. We will never again see a Mopar so humble like the Omni given the Shelby touch and turned into something truly sinister. Hooyah for the Turbo Dodges!!!!

fordfast96
Jul 1, 2009 at 1:49 pm

oh i just had throw out the linchon mark 7 mecury cougar and i spelt crown vic wrong on my other post my bad.

fordfast96
Jul 1, 2009 at 1:44 pm

1980s where some great cars and trucks then 1980s mustangs camaros rangers S-10s F150s dodge rams chevy el caminos monte carlos crow vics. Bronco II chevy s-10 blazers k5 blazers ect great years of cars. taurus ect..

Rotpus_Eyeball
Jul 1, 2009 at 1:33 pm

80s cars I like…

Any RWD Celica/Supra, any Panther platform (Ford Crown Vics, Mercury Grand Marquis and Lincoln Town Cars) and Fox body from Ford(Mustang), Maximas and Cressidas….Caprices…

In my humble opinion, any decade and most makes have good cars; you just need to find them…

Mystang-gt
Jul 1, 2009 at 1:05 pm

hell yea i love my 86 mustang gt

08FocusC
Jul 1, 2009 at 12:03 pm

I can’t think of one car that had any kind of style in the 1980′s. The 80′s brought in the compact, fuel efficient, boxy types of cars…definitely not made to “catch the eye”. They just don’t make em like they did in the late 60′s and early 70′s. If you ask me, the best years of the Automobile’s life, were 1966 thru 1971. We have some nice looking cars rolling out of our factories today, don’t get me wrong…most of them from the last 4 years or so…but the cars that make up that group are probably only 2% of all cars on the road today. It’s sad to see all the bland, boring, style challenged, ugly ass cars that roam our streets in such GREAT numbers anymore. IMO

93chevyblazerho
Jul 1, 2009 at 11:41 am

hell yea the 80s where great for cars look at all the nice mustangs,comaros, trans ams only bad part was u seen had to see all the shitty imports around and that aint good

Bigfoot1313
Jul 1, 2009 at 8:30 am

The 80′s had alot of nice cars and alot of screwups. the late 80′s it seems like most of the nice cars came out of. my first car is a 1985 Chevy Citation X-11. i love the thing it gets 25 mpg and it has Juusstt enough power to get me around town. but thats not gonna stop me from boring the engine and doing headwork hahah. the part i dont like about the 80s is the brand new envoirnmental restrictions just threw the power of the engines out the window. ex. the 5.0 mustang with only 190 horsepower? my citation makes 135 with a 2.8 V-6 off the showroom floor. (smacks forehead) Though this era did help push off the movement to help sports cars have alot of power plus 30+MPG. ex. the new corvette.

it was a ish era, but nessisary era though.

WylieB
Jul 1, 2009 at 8:28 am

answers are dependable on the age of somebody. . .me, im 25 so would have to say no because i never had experience driving many 1980s cars. and i wouldn’t see them being very exciting. 90s cars are better and more durable then 80s cars or cars from 2000 to present. u cant beat em up like u used to and know that the vehicle can take it.

evandonald
Jul 1, 2009 at 6:25 am

The 80′s had a part but the real cars came out in the early 90s. The hondas and toyotas of the early to mid 90s were the best in my opinion

leojmcca
Jun 30, 2009 at 9:18 pm

Early 80s had the end of the classic trans am/Z-28 and corvette body styles. Although they looked pretty with 200 hp they really seemed faster than they were. The 80s closed out with the GNs, Monte Carlo SS and the hurst cutlass 442s. A great decade for cars

chevyguy14SDMF
Jun 30, 2009 at 7:48 pm

of course cars from the 80s are good, there the cheapest to buy and maintain!

RavenAegis45
Jun 30, 2009 at 7:23 pm

You have to give credit where credit is due, the 80′s were a developing period, cars (Among Other Things) Where barely starting to come into what they were today, many features were being developed during this period Like VTEC and other Variable Valve Mechanisms of the sort. Cars from the 80′s weren’t great by todays standards but there still something along the line of history of cars

robpurifoy
Jun 30, 2009 at 7:14 pm

The 80′s is when GM reeealy went bankrupt, we just didn’t know it yet. They let in the foreign cars and became complacent until it was too late. They tried in 85 with the Buick Turbo GN, but even the Corvette had what, 230 HP? And in ’89, whooa 245HP..Geez, anyone see any white smoke? anyone? anyone? Nope.

1984_Z28_Camaro
Jun 30, 2009 at 5:47 pm

The 1980s were awesome for the camaros but the mustangs didn’t look good

Biggunna
Jun 30, 2009 at 5:31 pm

Not all of them were pretty or fast but we owe allot to the 80′s tuners because without them willing to embrace new technologies that we take for granted the horsepower mark wouldn’t be where it is at at today.

albania_fier
Jun 30, 2009 at 2:11 pm

the 80′s had some very beautiful cars although they werent very powerful

Biggee72
Jun 30, 2009 at 10:38 am

I love the 80′s!! The 5.0 mustangs, Chrysler 2.2L Turbos, horrible GM anythings..and who doesn’t love the 308 Ferrari? And don’t forget Group B Rally..enough said. Cool thread.

GTwildfire
Jun 30, 2009 at 9:33 am

One of the greatest weaknesses of quite a few 1980 cars, that was revealed over time and some cases… not much time was plastic body or interior parts. The ’80s saw an increase in the amount of plastic used in cars, but the types of plastic, their forms and formulations (heat/cold tolerance, UV stabilization, etc) took years to generally improve.
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A great example is dashboards. It was very common to see cracked dashboards in cars only 3 or 4 years old. By the 1990′s cracked dashboards were a rarity.

troutster52
Jun 30, 2009 at 8:14 am

I am going to have to agree that the 80s weren’t anything fantastic for the automobile. For many brands, the 80s were like the awkward middle school years, where you aren’t what you were as a child but not an adult yet either, and not really much to look at. Even Ferraris and Lambos are awkward and wierd in the 80s. Of course there are exceptions, which many of you mentioned. Datsuns were cool. Mazda RX-7 appeared around that time and had some nice bodies through the 80s. Many have mentioned the Fiero which I agree with. Also, a lot of domestic trucks and off-roaders were pretty awesome. I’d like a 1980 Bronco or CJ.

Paseo15psi
Jun 30, 2009 at 8:11 am

My mom had one of those 1980 Mustang Ghias. A 4 cylinder in a Mustang? It was sad, but my mom loved that car. Probably because it was her first new car and not used. Oh Well.

mobious9
Jun 30, 2009 at 7:41 am

im only 19 but i believe a lot of the best looking cars came out in the 80′s. i drive and 82 280zx and it has got to be one of the coolest looking cars in my opinion.

Chevy_guy_258
Jun 30, 2009 at 7:23 am

I would love to own a Fiero GT but around here in PA, they are all either rust buckets or have 300,000 miles on them

StickShiftRick
Jun 30, 2009 at 6:23 am

Sorry doublec4, you do make a good point. I am fond of the Fiero and it is a purpose-built machine.

StickShiftRick
Jun 30, 2009 at 6:22 am

You could barely make out a Mustang from an Escort and the numbers coming out of these things were laughable. 190hp from a 5.0, really? I don’t know how anyone could have turned into a gearhead if they lived in the 80′s while in their twenties. No style, no performance, no substance. Wasn’t GM pushing their vanilla, uber-shared, ho-hum midsize and fullsize front-drive passenger cars as performance vehicles with some silly bolt ons? LOL, this era was BS perhaps excluding some Porsches, Lotuses (Loti?) or other exotics I’m not familiar with.

doublec4
Jun 30, 2009 at 6:21 am

I drive an 86 Fiero and I love it. The fieros with the aero package were probably one of the better looking cars to come out of the 80s in my biased opinion.

Paseo15psi
Jun 30, 2009 at 5:21 am

The 80′s were very mixed. You had a few jewels out there like the mid 80′s Mustangs and Camaros, late 80′s brought some cool Hondas and Toyotas and you have a few classics like the Monte Carlos and other similar bodied cars. I liked the Escort EXP, it could have been so much if Ford allowed the European parts that fit it to trickle our ways, but they didn’t. I had a Citation. Big piece of garbage that was. Very mixed decade indeed. For Imports the 90′s were the best. For Domestic muscle, we all know the 60′s had that on lock. Cars now are very nice to look at, but they don’t bring the same passion.

65stangGuy
Jun 30, 2009 at 5:20 am

show me one car that looks good in 1980……i think the 80′s had some ugly cars. trucks are a different story though.

I_Luv_Dusty
Jun 30, 2009 at 5:10 am

The ’80s was the era of turbochargers. I love turbochargers.

KustomKiely
Jun 30, 2009 at 4:06 am

wether the cars were good or not 1980 was a good year because thats the year I was born.

Silvermane-35g
Jun 30, 2009 at 3:29 am

…what!!?! YOU MEAN WERE NOT IN THE 1980′S ANYMORE!!!! WHAT YEAR IS THIS WHERE AM I?!? WHAT THE HELL AM I TYPING ON…..AAAARRRRRGGGHHHHHHh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

74Furyous
Jun 29, 2009 at 8:43 pm

If you were raised on 60′s and early 70′s horsepower, 1980 was not a banner year. If you were just getting into cars at that time, you managed to find something that was cool. Anybody remember the car marketed as the first car of the 80′s? The Chevy Citation. ‘Nuff said.

sd33zy
Jun 29, 2009 at 8:35 pm

yea the 80′ was a good year gotta love the ole skools

kuruption109
Jun 29, 2009 at 7:42 pm

well for me i was born 1984 and i personally think the cars of the 80s were the best.. well atleast the gbodys.. el camino malibu cutlass regals monte carlo.. and have owned atleast one of each im hooked on them….. chk out my 1982 el camino

IBZINYA
Jun 29, 2009 at 7:08 pm

The 80′s produced the absolute best Porsche’s to date… uh well except the GT of course!

78arrowgt
Jun 29, 2009 at 7:05 pm

1980 Plymouth fire arrow it doesn’t get any better than that
1980 hell yea

chaztheoccultist
Jun 29, 2009 at 6:53 pm

BEST ERA OF CARS….THEY WERE BUILT HEAVY AND TOUGH. AND NOT MANY WERE PLASTIC PEICES OF CRAP. NOTHING BEATS THE 80S. THE STYLE AND TECHNOLOGY. THE CARS WERE EASY TO FIX, DRIVE, AND WERE AMAZING AND CONFERTABLE. NOTHING BEATS THE 1980S CADILLAC FLEETWOOD BROUGHM D ELEGANCE. THE BEST LUXURY CAR I EVER DROVE. THE SEATS WERE AMAZING. NEW CAR INTERIORS SUCK. THERE NOT SOFT AND KINDA CHEAP. NOTHING BEATS THE 80S.

pushtruck1
Jun 29, 2009 at 6:35 pm

There is one car that i would love to have from 1980. The LAMBORGHINI COUNTACH! Cannon Ball Run, anyone? BUT 1980 was a pretty tough year for cars in America.

LedZeppelin
Jun 29, 2009 at 6:29 pm

1980…..Hmmmmm. Well like Fireball pointed out, chances were strong you were playing some sort of Disco. Right there is the death knell. Anything made in 1980 was probably crap because of that itself.

This was however the second to last year for the Camaro/Trans am/Firebird configuration before the change to the Knight Rider car.
So in that rspect, sure. Power wasn’t all it could have been. We just left the doomed Gas Crises 70′s and all the power had been sapped through smog pumps and cat systems. The 80′s would see a return to horsepower, but that would take time. 1980 however was the dawn of a new era while we bid a not so fond farewell to the swingin 70′s. Cars were the least of our worries. Gearheads hunkered down in thier garages and worked on thier hot rods casting a wary eye towards the respawning of Chrysler…Ford meanwhile continued with the very square looking Fairmonts.

There are a lot of great rides out there built in 1980. However, straight off the lot, these cars originally were not all that they are today…

kpgarfield
Jun 29, 2009 at 6:26 pm

1980.
Not 80′s.

I like it. It was a new design for some models & new technological feats.
Mustang 79′ Was the 80′. New fox.
Turbos, injection, weight ratio. It all came out & has set a good start for todays bookmarks.

So, yes I like 1980.

burning_desire
Jun 29, 2009 at 6:09 pm

I dont know about cars but it was great for trucks. I love my 85 Custom Deluxe with all its boxy, square (hence the nickname square body) lines and its (well, long since died) underpowered engine. Simple to work on….eh who am I kidding, get rid of all that smog junk and get something with some ponies uner the hood and yeah! The 80′s were great!

PureBusiness
Jun 29, 2009 at 6:09 pm

Good Point there GT.
I loved my little 302 Zephyr(79)..

GTwildfire
Jun 29, 2009 at 6:07 pm

A lot of you’s who posted didn’t retain the title of this thread before you typed away:
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Was 1980 a Good Year for Cars?
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Not the 1980′s. A lot can and always does happen in a decade. the subject was 1980 specifically.

matty_17
Jun 29, 2009 at 5:59 pm

no man…the every day cars were the worst possible, the k-cars, and all the other American family cars were disgusting with very undependable v6′s or the fresh 4 cylinders that were also garbage. Honda and Toyota 4 doors were pretty sloppy too! and let’s not forget the pick ups, Dodge and Ford were probably the worst, personally the Chev Scottsdale of the 80′s was one of the best yet! Toyota made a nice truck in the 80′s but the body’s rotted off them terribly bad in my part of Canada.

On the other hand Chevy dealt out some nice muscle cars, the Camaro and Monte Carlo were very nice, with the Camaro’s brother the Trans Am/Firbird were nice cars, a bit under powered from factory though. Buick made probably it’s best car yet the Grand National. Ford’s Mustang had a unique body style, with lots of lovers and haters. Toyoya and Honda lacked in the sports car scene though, the Prelude (though a nice car) wasn’t much more then a 2 door Accord, the Supra was just starting too blossom too.

Over all in was a new generation..carburetors to throttle body to EFI, the manufacturers were still learning and though the body styles could have been prettier on the most part, it was just part of history we have lived through and learned from!

BANDIDO776
Jun 29, 2009 at 5:45 pm

My favorites 80′s cars list are…88 MONTE CARLO SS-87 MONTE CARLO AERO COUPE-88 FIERO GT,88 CAMARO IROC Z,81 CAMARO Z28,

phattacorider
Jun 29, 2009 at 5:42 pm

I can’t say much since I was born in 1983. but, I will say this…GNX and Supra.

crxkj
Jun 29, 2009 at 5:42 pm

as far as toyota goes with the rolla the 80′s was the end of one of the greatest drift cars to date so yes it was

skiman88
Jun 29, 2009 at 5:32 pm

ummm… no

aercastro82
Jun 29, 2009 at 5:25 pm

oh yeah by the way. 1980s cars were not a good year for cars.

aercastro82
Jun 29, 2009 at 5:24 pm

1980s cars were good looking but the engines were notorious for various failures (especially American brands like the Cadillac’s HT4100, Buick’s Turbo 3.8L 231, Oldsmobile diesel 350, Ford’s 2.3L Turbo I4, & etc.). HP & TQ were lowered because of emissions policy (like California) so the engines were powerless. For the Japanese and German brands, their engine always been durable and good gas efficiency but were powerless. As for looks, cannot compare to the American brands. American brands are better looking and were still huge cars.

brewha05
Jun 29, 2009 at 4:47 pm

I would have to say the Grand National was the best car of the 80′s, the monte’s werent bad either, also i like the 300zx

4Wheelin_Forever
Jun 29, 2009 at 4:41 pm

Bring em on baby! Take me back to the 80′s when gas was under $1 and the cars looked freakin awesome!

90xjpunk
Jun 29, 2009 at 4:34 pm

as far as domestics definitely the gnx and omni glx. supras and mr2s, yota trucks and jeeps (when modded) 300zs. of course these are from the 80-S

andydarko31
Jun 29, 2009 at 4:33 pm

Kitt from Nightrider.

Buick Grand National!!! Best Buick car ever made!!!!!!!!

The 80′s where a good time for looks and style but lacked in the horsepower department.

bigboi313
Jun 29, 2009 at 4:05 pm

the only car that was good in the 80s were the camaros. peroid

retroman
Jun 29, 2009 at 4:04 pm

When it comes to cars, the Dark Ages of performance ended in 1982 with Ford’s backing of the 5.0. “The Boss is Back”. I don’t know a single car guy who hasn’t heard that slogan sometime or another. By the time 1986 came around, we actually had real muscle cars again. Always wanted an ’87 5.0 or even an ’87 Camaro. If you haven’t guessed yet, I came on the scene in 1987.

KingBoss06
Jun 29, 2009 at 3:58 pm

haha i would have to say not so much. my mustang is slightly nicer. either go old or go newer haha.

MODest26
Jun 29, 2009 at 3:45 pm

yes very good year, lots of badass cars.

GTwildfire
Jun 29, 2009 at 3:14 pm

I was raised on ’70s and ’80s music and cars. 1980 was not a particularly good year for cars, at least not for domestic rides.
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By 1980, engine output was pretty much neutered by smaller displacements and pollution controls, and generally engine designs didn’t compensate with overhead cams, turbos etc to make them more powerful while using less gas. I’m generalizing, not adressing specific models.
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1980 also saw a continuance of a slide in build quality. The manufacturers’ intent for at least some American cars was a three-year lifespan and it showed in many cars, whether that was the intent or not.
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Styling in 1980, aside from few models was awkward. Sharp body lines were popular but proportions and use of sharp lines was poorly executed or at best bland. Even the Corvette was reduced to being a V8 doorstop in that time period. The 2nd Gen Firebird and Camaro were succeeded shorly thereafter with the 3rd gen, having sharper straighter lines and surfaces, which looked fresh after a decade of the prior bodies, but the 3rd gen needed sprucing up soon thereafter.
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I remember 1980 like it was yesterday. Wouldn’t mind visiting but I wouldn’t want to live there.

fireball22
Jun 29, 2009 at 1:21 pm

Part of the fun of the 80s was to have a car like the Mustang pictured at the top… you know, the ones with the vinyl roof designed to look like a convertible. Sadly, the faux drop-top probably killed a lot of dates when you had to explain not only that the top wasn’t real, but that 3 of the 5 tuner presets on your radio were set to stations that played a Disco format.

TOPlamborghini
Jun 29, 2009 at 11:49 am

hell yes!
the 80′s Camaro, Trans Am, Supra, GNX, and others

FuryPaul
Jun 29, 2009 at 10:47 am

Hmmm, 1980…the name “Turbo Trans Am” comes to mind. It was also the last year for the Plymouth Road Runner, reduced to a trim package on the Volare with slant-six or 318 power.

gfaules
Jun 29, 2009 at 9:31 am

PS: I forgot to mention… this is why the overall majority of John-Q-Public simply HATED all the cars of the 80′s and at the time rightfully so. Just imagine trading in the family V-8, 350 horspower car for a 4 banger Mustang or a Pinto.

gfaules
Jun 29, 2009 at 9:29 am

For many of us “old roosters” car lovers I am sure it’s difficult for many of you “spring chickens” to see this from our perspective. Cars built in the early 80′s were under strict guidelines strictly enforced by both the government and the insurance companies. Nothing like this had ever happened before and the simple truth was up until then American auto manufactures didn’t care let alone know how to build economic cars. The average selling car was big and roomy and big horsepower, not to mention it was the hey-day of the muscle car era. When the oil embargo began and fuel prices began climbing from 30 cents a gallon to a dollar a gallon it created the first gas shortages of the 70′s and long lines at the pumps. That’s when the government/politicians stepped in began telling (not asking) U.S. auto manufactures cars had to meet certain criteria (gas mileage and smog standards) by such and such a date or else they would be severely penalized. The end result was not only a lot of “stupid” little cars that had so little power they couldn’t pull a turd out of your butt but the quality went to hell in a hand basket. Coincidentally this was when the majority of cars began getting plastic interiors.

On the other hand there was a good side to this story… As soon a people began complaining about the loss of power, not being able to get up a hill at speed and so on, the manufactures began “learning” how to build something economical and efficient as well as having some form of performance. They began with turbos and later fuel injection and electronic ignition systems all of which were from the caveman era but none the less a beginning. As has always been the case, the majority of items used to create all of the above was taken from lessons learned by who else… racers, hot rodders and performance junkies. It’s those lessons learned from a combination of muscle cars and the strict demands placed on auto manufactures that have led to today’s technologies.

satty12
Jun 29, 2009 at 9:23 am

The 80s were a horrible decade for the car industry Chrysler was in bankruptcy (I see a pattern here) cars were starved for more power hell your most run of the mill V6s got as much if not less horse power than my cheap little four banger puts out what a travisty.

sarahsmile90
Jun 29, 2009 at 9:22 am

Very awkward year for cars….can we forget about it now?

oldscoob
Jun 29, 2009 at 9:13 am

1980…that was another auto industry turning point with a short heads up. the FWD buick skylark, the chevy citation..just when “old school” mechanics were getting over EGR and low compression forced into remnants of “classic” RWD and real steel…1980 sucked. It has sucked since then. in 1980, a 69 mustang convertible could seen on the road with its first rips in the top, all original, daily driven, nothing special…it snuck up on all the spoiled folks didn’t it…forcing us into today. The failure of the century.

SouthernGuy8503
Jun 29, 2009 at 8:16 am

well im not sure since i wasn’t born until 1985 lol , but for cars not trucks i think the best years were the muscle car era from the late 60s to early/mid 70s, just can’t beat an american V8 then and now

palefacetsw
Jun 29, 2009 at 6:55 am

I love those 1980 model year cars…..

Jim Brennan
Jun 29, 2009 at 5:46 am

I once owned a 1980 Ford Mustang. It didn’t look like the one pictured, mine was the 3 Door. It was a special Spring Edition, with a Gold and Brown two tone, with tri-colored stripes separating the colors. I ordered it with the German Built 2.8L V-6, but Ford switched 6 Cyl engines during the model year, so I got stuck with the 200 Cu In Fairmont Six. It was the new definition of a Dog. Dumped it 3 years later for a VW Jetta, which was no prize either.

boywithGT
Jun 29, 2009 at 4:41 am

Heck yes 1980 was a good year for cars!
The 80s rocked, man. That was when Toyota was actually cool. Ha. Sounds funny to say that Toyota was cool at one point.