Hoovey689

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Happy 40th Anniversary to the Malaise Era

2013 marks the 50th anniversary of icons like the Corvette Sting Ray and the Porsche 911. If Corvettes and Porsches aren't your thing, it's also the 50th of the Aston Martin DB5 and the 60th of the last great Packard, the Caribbean. Lost in the hoopla, however has been any mention of the fact that it's also the 40th anniversary of the Ford Mustang II, the de facto standard bearer for the automotive dark age that came to be known as "The Malaise Era."

Pollution regulations, safety standards and a fuel crisis that saw pump prices skyrocket created the perfect mediocrity storm that forced Americans – and most of the rest of the world – into cars that were as bland and gutless as the Carter administration. The start of the malaise era is roughly marked by the Arab oil embargo of 1973 and the resulting great muscle car extinction, and it lasted until the introduction of the 200 hp + Buick Regal Grand National and the Ford Mustang GT 5.0 in 1985. Here are some of the malaziest from the era.

1974 Ford Mustang II


The Pinto-based Mustang II nearly killed the Mustang franchise. Its sole claim to fame being a bit of product placement on the original Charlie's Angels series. Plain chick Sabrina drove the notchback Ghia model, smoking hot Kelly (played by Farrah Fawcett) naturally got the Cobra. But the joke was on her – its smogged-choked V8 put out about 140 horsepower. In a rare moment of understatement, Road & Track simply called it "neither fast, nor particularly good-handling."

1977 Ferrari 308 GTB


Even Ferraris weren't immune to the emasculation that was the norm in the Malaise Era. The '77 308 may have looked great, but drive one today, and you'll live in fear of meeting a Nissan Versa at the next stop light. Naught to sixty time for the '77 308 was an excruciatingly slow 9.4 seconds.

1977 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28


The Z/28 was the performance version of the Camaro and, less than ten years prior, it had been tearing up road courses in the SCCA Trans Am race series where other drivers lived in fear of driver Mark Donohue. The Malaise Era version of the car that used to sport in the vicinity of 300 hp? Just 185 hp and a 0-60 time of around eight seconds. That's fully-laden VW Routan performance today.

1978 Ford Fairmont


About the only good that can be said about the Fairmont/Zephyr twins is the fact that the platform ("Fox" in Fordese) became the basis for the Mustang that would lead us back down the path of righteousness in 1985. Otherwise, the Fairmont and the Zephyr were abysmally put together, looked like the box they came in, were barely able to break 16 seconds in the 0-60 sprint and 100 mph was out of the question. All for an unimpressive 22 mpg in return.

1978 Peugeot 504 Diesel


The fact that the American public would entertain a car that took almost 23 seconds to complete the quarter mile and topped out at 86 mph illustrates just how bad things got in the Malaise Era. Although uncharacteristically for a Malaise Era car (and a French one to boot), it was reasonably well screwed together, but the fact that they seemed unkillable simply added insult to injury. 250,000 miles in a 504 diesel must have seemed like a life sentence.

http://www.autoblog.com/2013/04/17/h...e-malaise-era/

GS3Tek

iTrader: (8)

Great article Hoovey
Very nostalgic.

As a kid, I can clearly remember seeing that camaro in brown.

No mention of the Firebird Trans Am (or is it just Trans Am only)?

Hoovey689

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Just posted it so don't give me too much credit hah. Good topic though regarding the oil crisis and automotive "darkness" so to speak in regards to performance.

Oh wow!

mmarshall

I was in my early 20s during that era (having learned to drive about five years earlier, in the late 60s, in high school)...and I remember all those cars well. I agree that power, acceleration, engine-drivability and gas-mileage all three went down markedly after 1971 due to de-smogged engines......and engine-operating temperatures went up due to new electronic ignitions and hotter thermostats. But, considering the fact that that the national speed limit also went to 55 MPH during and after the first Arab oil embargo, the loss of power, IMO, wasn't that terribly important...we could no longer (legally) use much of it anyway. In fact, despite the lower power, I welcomed the fact that many of these new engines didn't need the conventional tune-ups the older engines did every 5000-10,000 miles (new spark plugs, wires, breaker-points, distributor-rotors, condenser, carb-adjustments, etc....) which was a PITA and just added to down-time and driving expenses. Most of the 1970's-vintage cars also converted to at least power front disc brakes, which were a major improvement over the Push-and-Pray all-drums of the 1960s. I do wish, though (big-time), that the industry had coverted to electronic fuel injection in the 1970s instead of the mid-1980s. For far too many years, we had to put up with poorly-running, stumble/stall carburators that were a nightmare to try to adjust (most of them ran way too lean for acceptable drivability and warm-up)...and later ones, before the conversion to EFI, had sealed settings that couldn't be adjusted at all.

LexBob2

I had a '78 Ford Fairmont company car back in the day. My company used the Fairmont for only 1 or 2 model years due to complaints from drivers who had them and poor reliability. Yes, it was a POS, but the standards were so low back then it wasn't much worse than other mainstream cars at the time.

Aron9000

The Europeans were pretty quick at adopting fuel injection in the 70's, but these were mostly on expensive Porsches, Benz, BMW.

^ I'll also agree that there were a couple of good things to come out of the 70's. Like you mentioned HEI distributors and power front disc brakes, I'll also add factory air conditioning became pretty standard in your average price car except in stripped out econo-boxes. Plus we got sunroofs and t-tops from the 70's.

As for crappy cars from that era:

#1 on my list for utter crap is the 1976 Dodge Aspen/Plymouth Volare. These cars replaced the A-body Dart and Valiant as the entry level cars for Chrysler Co. Total disaster. The Dart had been around since the early 60's, and rightfully earned a reputation of being cheap, no frills, durable, reliable transportation. Chrysler sold a ton of Darts because of the cheap price, and people loved them. Thus people bought a ton of the Aspens when they came out, only to find out Chrysler had pissed in their Cheerios. Seriously these were much worse cars than the Dart it replaced, and were a big part of the reason Chrysler had to be bailed out by the Fed government in 1980.

jwong77

Wow those are some terrible cars. I think tho the poster child of the malaise era was the Chevy Citation.

Hoovey689

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So sad and droopy looking

Hoovey689

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Malaise Era All-Stars

1976-79 Porsche 930, aka 911 Turbo Carrera


While Chevrolet beat them by a decade with the turbocharged Corvair Corsa, the Germans more fully developed turbocharging through racing where General Motors couldn't. Early Porsche 930s (known technically as 911 Turbo Carreras) were a bit crude, with turbo lag that could be measured with an egg timer. They lacked an intercooler as well as brakes that were up to the task, but performance was sensational, with the buff books reporting 0-60 times of anywhere from 4.9 to 5.8 seconds and quarter-mile times of under 14 seconds. This was '60s muscle car performance at the height of the Malaise Era. Sadly, the 930 cost about six times as much as your average muscle car did.

1983-86 Audi Quattro Coupe


The Germans apparently didn't get the secret memo outlining a gentlemen's agreement within the auto industry that "everything shall be substandard until further notice." The Ur-Quattro, as the car became known, was quite possibly the most significant car of the entire Malaise Era. While it wasn't the first GT with all-wheel drive (Britain's Jensen FF claimed that honor), it took the Germans to get it right and popularize it by dominating rallying.

1976 Chevrolet Corvette L-82


Malaise-era Corvettes get dumped on mercilessly by Corvette people. The plastic Vega-sourced steering wheel may have been an atrocity, but in reality, there was more good than bad. General Motors did an excellent job of meeting 5-mph bumper requirements, the slotted aluminum wheels introduced during this time were handsome, and quality remained good at the St. Louis plant. Performance was also quite respectable. Road & Track got their four-speed 210-hp L-82 to 60 mph in 6.8 seconds and called it the best-built Corvette they had ever tested.

1981-83 Datsun 280ZX Turbo


Datsun had apparently had enough of the "soft discomobile" derision directed towards the 240/260/280Z successor, the 280ZX. The 280ZX Turbo with 180 hp and a five-speed transmission silenced all but the most vociferous critics. With a 0-60 time about a second quicker than the 1970 240Z, it was the most sporting Z car since the 1970s and (hint, hint) enormously underappreciated by collectors to this day.

1975-81 Mercedes-Benz 450 SEL 6.9


In much the same way that buying a Duesenberg in 1933 was the equivalent of sticking up your middle finger at the Depression, the 6.9 was the Germans' way of flipping the bird to the Malaise Era. Even with its 6.9-liter V8 in less powerful emission-controlled Federal trim – though still producing 250 hp and 360 pound-feet of torque – the car was capable of at least 140 mph (150 mph in the hands of journalist Brock Yates at Road Atlanta if you believe the stories). Even more impressive was the fact that it was a long-wheelbase, four-door sedan that weighed well over two tons.

http://www.autoblog.com/2013/05/17/m...udi-corvette-/

Aron9000

The Audi Quattro is one of my favorite 80's cars. Its too bad they sold less than 1000 in the US during the entire production run, and all of those have goofy bumpers and stupid quad beam headlamps. The Eurospec car was so butch looking and a great performer(0-60 in 6 seconds flat was FAST for the 80's).



Another great car of the malaise era is the Pontiac Firebird/Trans Am. It still kept the performance flame alive in the mid-late 70's when Camaros and Corvettes were stuck with low powered 350 Chevy v8's, Pontiac still offered 400 cu powerplants and were faster.

Fly4u

My personal POS award goes to the 1976 Audi 100LS sedan! This was a hand-me-down replacement from my parents for my first vehicle, a white 1975 Ford Pinto with orange landau roof and interior. I came to dearly miss the dowdy but reliable Pinto in very short order.

Literally every component of the Audi would sequentially fail save for the drivetrain in four years of ownership....... several alternators, gas pedal cable, power steering, fuel pump, brake master cylinder, a/c, ignition key interlock, oxidized and flaking paint, 2 leaky radiators, catalytic converter, etc. Three of four window lift metal handcranks snapped from fatigue in the identical location! Inboard-brake pad replacements were brutally expensive, and the factory camber/tow wheel settings ate tires like a hungry teenager. It was, however, a nice driving vehicle when functional. I recently obtained via Ebay an original owners manual in an odd desire to reminisce!



Audi somewhat redeemed themselves when I drove a 2000 A6 biturbo, but the lease was just two years to be safe!

Fly4u

From the archives of high-school mischief, early 1970's Honda Civic CVCC's were fair game for pranks. A few guys could lift, turn, and place them at a 90 degree angle in the parking spot!

mmarshall

By today's standards, yes, but anything under 10 seconds was considered quick in the late 70s. Some cars took as long as 18 seconds.

mmarshall

I owned a manual-tranny 1980 Citation....for less than two years. It was easily the most poorly-built new car I ever owned, though some of the Chrysler-products of that era were close. The worst-built new car I ever test-drove (even worse than the Citation) was the 1984 Pontac Fiero (which used some of the Citation's components).

A shame, too, because the Citation (and the other X-body compacts, Phoenix/Skylark/Omega) were a great idea and had enormous potential if the engineering and quality-control had been done correctly.

Hoovey689

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