Most Popular Vehicles of the 1980's

[dibbons]

I purchased a used 1985 Caravan (cargo edition) with a four cylinder and five-speed, drove it for years until it just stopped one day on the freeway.


Best Selling 80s Cars for Each Year of the 1980s | In the 1980s

 

[Mopar-Mitch]

I had a 85 dodge charger 2.2 it was a pretty neat little car for the day, saved me a lot of gas. Got rid of it in 91 for a new dodge spirit, it had the mitsubshi 6, never liked that one, gave a lot of problems.

 

[sireland67]

86 escort, indestructible, I worked at the time for a shop that rebuilt them from salvage cars.
We took it in on trade on a newer escort.
I think I gave $500 for it, drove the crap out of it, one day a guy stopped looking for a cheap car to send his daughter off to college in, $1500 it went down the road.

 

[68gtxman]

1987 Buick Grand National (traded it for a 1970 Roadrunner) and a 1984 Pontiac Fiero. Loved them both.

 

[SpeedThrills]

87 Mustang 5.0 LX. Ran 13.95 @97 mph, completely stock. Got 25 mpg on the highway. Still have it. Runs 11.40's and gets 20 mpg highway now.

 

[my5thmopar]

1981 Dodge 024. Poop brown with gold stripe. No AC.

 

[Ddaddy]

The only 80s car I owned was a 1989 Ford Taurus that I bought new shortly after I started working at DuPont Engineering. Black, 3.0L V6 with the gold tinted insta-clear windshield. Press the button and the entire windshield heated up like a giant defroster.

 

[dibbons]

87 Mustang 5.0 LX. Ran 13.95 @97 mph, completely stock. Got 25 mpg on the highway. Still have it.

In 1983 we had one in our south Los Angeles CHP office. It put the 318 Dodge Diplomats to shame. It was off limits on rainy days.

 

[gunbunny]

After I divorced, in leased a new Dakota to rebuild my credit. To keep the miles off the Dakota, I bought a poop brown 4dr 82 Aries K car.
2.2 with a finicky carburetor.
Had it when I met my current wife. I drove the new Dakota to our first date, but the Aries on the 2nd. She told me later that there almost wasn't a 3rd date and if I'd shown up on the 1st with that Aries, there wouldn't have been a 2nd. She hated that car. I gave it to couple who were in bad need of a car.

 

[searcher1990]

85 Shelby charger turbo 2.2. it was actually really fast. bought new and drove it till 94 when heater core went out, you have to damn near pull the motor to get it out so I sold it as was.

 

[pishta]

Mom had a Reliant K car, puke yellow and just a dog, but it had a cool Sony stereo with controls on a wired puck. Drove through a puddle and the muffler pipe slipped out the cat. Traded it in on an '88 V6 New Yorker, Pimp mobile! Tacky as F, ours had pleather 'tuck and roll everywhere' interior but was pretty darn fast and quiet. Lots of friends had mini pickups or beater Buicks for some reason, probably hand me downs.

 

[ddartdude]

Worked in Chrysler Engineering in Highland Park and had connectiona to get an early build minivan. For what it was it was great. Then I bought a new 85 Dodge Omni, GLH Turbo. That was a rocket back then.

 

[R4Sedan]

Had '85 GLH Omni
Bought a brand new '89 Daytona
and have a '88 Mustang LX

 

[69_340_GTS]

Hard to imagine, but the Oldsmobile Cutlass was the most popular car for several years in the '80s. 20 years later GM shut Oldsmobile down.

 

[YY1]

GLH(S) cars are still rockets!

Saw a lot of chevettes back in the 80's (complete with their pre-programmed breakaway hollow crank bolts)
Friend had one, and we tried to figure out what it was useful for (obviously not transportation), and got down to "bottle opener", but it failed that as the sheet metal bent instead of popping the cap.

Lots of fairmonts, too.
Those were actually not terrible. RWD, could be v8, and had rack and pinion.
I always hated the angle of the column shifters and inside door handles on fmc products.

Those gm A body (?) cars (cutlass/monte carlo/gran prix/malibu/regal) were super popular as well.
Still RWD when the FWD backlash amongst "car guys" started.

 

[YY1]

the chevette in the article is NOT a US model!


we used to pick up the rear of our friends chevette (we called it a "shove-it), as it only took two (I actually did it once by myself) over gravel, and let him bury the speedo, then drop it.

It would spin the tires about 6 inches.

We also used to go out on the highway and draft semi's.

They would pull that car along pretty nicely once you got about 24 inches from the trailer bar.

One of the stupidest things I've ever done in my life.

 

[YY1]

Those FWD gm intermediates (cutlass ciera, somerset regal, etc) were all over the place as well.
Those were God-awful to work on, and one of the reasons I got out of the auto repair trade.

At least you could work on the Mopar FWD cars.

 

[68gtxman]

I forgot about my Turbo T-Bird. 1984 Official Grand Prix edition white car similar to the white one above (except it had the decal across the top of the windshield that said “Official Car US Grand Prix”). Stick shift and very fun to drive. I gave it to my little brother (he still has it) when I got the Grand National.

 

[44070dart]

'86 Mercury Sable .. bought it when it was a year old with 4k on it .. 3 or 4 years later the bolts holding the subframe broke and my wife almost hit a parked car when it veered to the right.. they had a recall on it later and I got a few hundred from them .. other than that pretty good car.. they were one of the first new egg shape cars

 

[R4Sedan]

View attachment 1715306080
I forgot about my Turbo T-Bird. 1984 Official Grand Prix edition white car similar to the white one above (except it had the decal across the top of the windshield that said “Official Car US Grand Prix”). Stick shift and very fun to drive. I have it to my little brother (he still has it) when I got the Grand National.

Those are awesome.

 

[340doc]

I was turning wrenches all through the 80's. The lean burn Chryslers could be a pain. GM came out with the computer controlled carbs, had to go to class for them. I never liked them, the dawn of the computer age. I got out in the late 80's and don't regret it.

 

[YY1]

Our neighbors had-

a 74 slant duster, starting to rust before 10 years old (their son got it handed down from the father and did not like it)

a 76 cutlass supreme 2 door 350, actually a fairly nice car (the daughter got it handed down from the mother)

an 83 celebrity

an 84 t bird

 

[gunbunny]

Saw a lot of chevettes back in the 80's (complete with their pre-programmed breakaway hollow crank bolts)
Friend had one, and we tried to figure out what it was useful for (obviously not transportation), and got down to "bottle opener", but it failed that as the sheet metal bent instead of popping the cap.

I totally forgot about my "****"vette. I had that thing a whole of maybe 4 months. Some drunk girl plowed into the side of it as I was turning into my driveway.
I also had a 82 Buick Regal for a while when I was in Germany. I only bought that because it was an American car. I wanted to sell it when I left, but no one would give me anything for it, other troops figured the closer I got to PCS ing the more desperate I'd get to sell. I drove that thing to the airport and left it in the parking lot when I left.