Cars in the 80s

[OldiesButGoodies]

I had forgotten that Volvo - a bit of an exotic production model for them with a body by Bertone.  The BMW 635 csi was my dream car back in those days.  The M6 version was hardly ever seen in PR.  Some European cars from that time were pretty good I guess,  but I would not go universal on that.  The Ferrari Mondial was and is a black mark in Ferrari's history - ditto for the early 308s. And Maserati with the biturbo? What a piece of shit car. The Aston Martin Lagonda?  You need a team of Anders to keep the electronics running in the Lagonda, specially the CRT-based instrument pod. And need I mention the Yugo was born in this timeframe? 

So you point out some decent exceptions,  but bad times overall.

Pepe

[Jim Pittsburgh]

Had a 240 volvo, an RX7, and a Taurus SHO

IMHO some of the best of the lot during that very
sorry decade! Lol

[Mongojustpawn]

Almost bought a Monte Carlo SS, got a 4wd PU instead.

[SunnyDaze]

I owned an 88 Mustang GT from the time I was 16 until I was 22. Of course, that was the late 90's and early 00's. It didn't stay stock for very long. By the time I parted the car out, it was caged and backhalved with a big block build. This explains my love of the Fox Body Mustang.

One of the coolest cars that I've owned was an '87 Isuzu I-Mark turbo. The suspension was designed by Lotus. Picking it up for $50 didn't hurt, either. It handled extremely well. I abused and punished that car for almost a year. It just would not die. I sold it to a friend who removed the windows and used it as a go-kart on the Madison slate dumps. 

[Reverend]

I had a 1989 Merkur XR4Ti.  Loved that car.

[Jim Pittsburgh]

Had a '78? Monte Carlo ( the first year of the smaller size)... the first new car I ever bought and it was by far the worst car I've ever owned.... stupid thing was built crooked and just ate up tires and the paint just kept peeling off of the trunk.... Chevy and the dealer were useless and refused to admit the problems....at the same time wife had a 76 Camaro, the year they used the recycled steel and it rusted out from under the paint...  sold them both and bought the RX7....which  tied for the most perfect car I've ever owned ( 98 Toyota Landcruiser was the other) 

[RuralTom]

There's an auto shop in Uniontown that I see a BMW 635 cs parked by all the time, presumably one of the owners, but that is a sweet looking ride!

I had an '84(?) RX7 and it was a wonderful car, loved it to death, I still kinda wish I'd hung onto it...  Charcoal grey exterior, red leather interior, removable 'moon roof', the rotary engine was awesome.

[SunnyDaze]

We always kept an XR4Ti around at our garage.

The engine and drivetrain was identical to the Mustang SVT. SVT parts were expensive. Rotted or wrecked XR4Ti's were cheap. 

[Detroit_Muscle]

Can't argue that most were junk, but they still make nice raw material for hot rodders....

My '87 Monte Carlo LS at the dragstrip on it's way to an 11 second pass:

[Reverend]

The Merkur engine was a 4 cylinder- turbo charged.  Same as the Ford Thunderbird turbo coupe.  I thought the Mustangs used 5.0 V8's?

Just looked this up.  The Ford Thunderbird turbo coupe came in 3 different engine styles.  The 2.3L which the Merkur had and a 3.8 and 5.0.

[SunnyDaze]

The Mustang SVO was a 2.3L turbo, the same as the XR4Ti.

My bad earlier. I meant SVO, not SVT.

[OldiesButGoodies]

The RX7 of that time was a great high revving maniac of a car.   I forgot about it.  The Buick Grand National was also born in that time - I think there was also a pickup truck called the Tornado or something like that that shared that drivetrain and was crazy fast.  Interesting cars all now that I think about it.  Not so bad a decade after all.

[SunnyDaze]

91 GMC Syclone (GMC Sonoma P/U) / 92-93 GMC Typhoon (S-10 Blazer) with a 4.3 turbo AWD package.

My friend Jason had a Syclone. It ran 13.2 out of the box. With a mild tune and a few mods it went high 12's. It had serious issues with handling and traction doing anything other than running 1/4 mile. The transmission and transfer case were constantly out of the thing for repairs as well.

[Sir Thrift-a-Lot]

91, 92 and 93 aren't in the 80s.   Just thought you'd like to know.   

[OldiesButGoodies]

Mark - you are getting too technical with the time frames.  The 90s and 80s are a blur to me now. 

In 1990 I traded in my Audi 5000S station wagon (which I bought at a junkyard with a salvage title) for a basic (no options, bare,  cheap as can be) Pathfinder SUV with a 5 speed stick.  I look back at that Audi 5000 wagon as capturing all that was evil about the 80s.  The Pathfinder symbolized Japanese reliability. 

Ironically,  the thing that drove me to sell the Audi was not unintended acceleration, but unintended lack of braking.  The exhaust pipe developed a leak near the rear axle where the hot fumes exited directly onto a brake line.  As  soon as the brake fluid boiled, the brakes became semi-inoperative.  Took me several weeks to figure out what was going on.  I hated Audi after that - I thought it exemplified 80s car engineering (it and the K car from Chrysler).  But like you all affirmed - some decent cars came out of the 80s.

Pepe