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We can talk all day long about the cool and expensive cars from that era, the triple white "cocaine Lamborghini Countach", Sonny Crockett's white Ferrari Tessterosa, Scarface's Porsche 928, Magnum PI's 308 Ferrari(a crap car IMO), the A-team van, Doc Brown's DeLorean, every bad guy in Miami Vice who drove a W126 Benz S-class 4 door or 2 door SEC(really love the 2 door), the Buick Grand National, the awesome Euro-spec R129 Benz SL roadster, all those 1980's Lincoln Town Car stretch limos.
Yes there were a lot of nice and expensive European cars in that 1980's malaise era, but what were the sort of normal cars do you remember that "did not suck". I want to hear from personal experience.
From my personal experience, the first car I learned to drive on was a 1985 Toyota pickup, back in 1996-1997ish. That truck was a bit of a beast, 5 speed manual, heavy *** clutch, no power steering, 22-R carburated of course, but man it looked the business, styled steel wheels, black center caps, chrome lug nuts, chrome beauty rings, X-tra cab, had the right stance from the factory, tan paint, those cool 1980's brown stripes all down the door and bed of the truck. Man that truck looked like a lowrider from the factory. Imagine this truck but tan with a stripe down the side
My neighbor still has one of those Toyota trucks, minus the extended cab. It's all he ever talks about.
I really enjoyed my grandma's Cadillac Fleetwoods of the 80's. They were prestigious, comfortable, and a blast to wash and clean on a Saturday (all that chrome!). The reward wasn't money, but a huge dish of steaming Nachos from a local mexican joint. Those were the days.
My friend's Cressida was also a nice, plush ride, as well as my mom's '87 Maxima SE. Apparently it was the talk at my school the few days I was able to drive it.
What sort of Fleetwood are you talking about??? Cadillac was rather haphasard on what they named their cars in the mid 1980's/early 1990's. Fleetwood could either mean a small FWD POS or their traditional RWD car.
I had a relic from that era, but mine was a 1991. I bought a 1990's model on purpose, they had the ever reliable L05 TBI 350 Chevy V8 under the hood stock, ie the same engine you got in a Chevy truck. Can't kill it. Same trans and rear end as a Chevy truck, much more reliable and a lot more power than the 1980's cars with the pathetic HT4100 or reliable but plain weak 140hp 307 olds V8. Also the transmission bolted to the L05 Chevy 350 was much stronger than the weak sauce 200R4 bolted to the 307 Olds and HT4100 cars.
BTW one of my dream builds is to get a nice L05 Cadillac like I had, lower it a bit on air-ride, put in a modern LS V8 power plant with a turbo, 4L80e, at least 600rwhp, just make it a total sleeper with stock wheels, make it run a 10 second quarter mile and get kicked off the track because I don't want to install a roll bar.
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The exact model you posted! In the late 80's, they had the same body, but split headlights and angled taillights. She was in real estate, so had to have a big car, and a nice, new one at that every few years.
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The exact model you posted! In the late 80's, they had the same body, but split headlights and angled taillights. She was in real estate, so had to have a big car, and a nice, new one at that every few years.
The 1980's were a very dark time for Cadillac. The only Cadillacs really worth a **** during that decade were the full size RWD sedans and coupes, and those cars were cursed with ****ty engines from 1981-1985, and the full size 2 door "Coupe Deville" was discontinued after 1985. I mean things were really bad at Cadillac circa 1985, the market really rejected the much smaller FWD Deville, it looked rather generic, was about the same same size as a Chevy Celebrity, and hell even looked like said Chevy. Thank god Cadillac at least kept around the old RWD dinosaur from 1980 until 1992. Lincoln gained a lot of market share in the late 1980's with its Town Car. Acura, Mercedes, and BMW also gained a lot of sales, but it was the Lexus LS400(and ES300) that really stole Cadillac customers IMO.
After a string of FWD lemons (and I MEAN lemons) from GM and Chrysler, I had given up on Detroit by 1984, and turned to Mazda, which, though not perfect by any means, did a much better job....I had a few problems, but not many. Hondas and Toyotas, at that time, with their arrogant dealerships, were too difficult to deal on and buy, whereas, in many cases, you could make a deal on a Mazda that was at least reasonable, despite the Japanese-import restrictions. So, as my policy was (and still is) to always pay cash for a new car and not finance it, I got a relatively inexpensive Mazda GLC in 1984, a 323 in 1988, and a Protege in the early 90s. The Protege was clearly the best of the three, and caused minimal trouble during the years I owned it. I sold it to my Division Chief after I was done with it (I was still in my Federal career) and he got several good years out if it himself, with one significant repair to the radiator. The 1988 323 I had, with EFI, ran better than my overly-lean-carburated 1984 GLC, had A/C to keep things cool in the summer, and overdrive in the automatic for quiet cruising, lower RPMs, and less engine wear. But the interior hardware and upholstery wasn't as as solid as on the 1984, the wheel covers were plastic instead of metal, and a couple of flimsy plastic buttons on the radio and gauge-panel broke. Nevertheless, all three, reliability-wise, were FAR better than the junk that GM and Chrysler was delivering at the time.
1st new car I ever bought, for my wife, 1986 Prelude Si, 2.0 L 110 hp 5speed. 1st black vehicle made by Honda. Never needed the factory warranty, had timing belt replaced @ 90,k miles as recommended, replaced CV boots once & that's it other than oil changes. Sold in 1994 with 131K miles with original clutch.
I have a long list of cars I liked from the 80s, but the three favorite 1980s cars I owned were a red 1985 Honda CRX, a white 1986 Toyota MR2, and a black 1988 Toyota Corolla GTS. Similar to pictures below:
11-04-17, 11:53 PM
Cars from the 1980's that DID NOT suck . . . .
