I drove my '74 Jeep all through University, and it never didn’t leak oil that entire time. I had all the driveline gaskets replaced once, and the rear main engine seal replaced twice. It still leaked its entire life. Every mechanic said “that’s just how Jeeps are”. Imagine a modern car that always leaks oil, practically by design. Nobody would buy it and it would be national news for what a lemon it clearly is.
And yah, it left me stranded a lot. I was on a first name basis with all the local tow truck drivers. The day the timing chain broke at highway speed was especially exciting. Another exciting day was when the right rear wheel flew off at highway speed because the half-shafts are only retained inside the differential by the inner bearing. When the bearing fails, out it comes. That corner landed on the brake drum and filed it flat to a depth of about an inch by the time I got it stopped.
It was so, so, so much fun to drive around town, though. I miss it, but like, in the way that a woman misses her abusive husband. It was a massive source of anxiety in my life but the good times almost made it worthwhile. ALMOST
The ex-husband & I had 44 cars in the 15 years we were together, mostly because he bought cars to fix up and sell. OK, mostly he bought cars to fix up; sometimes they actually got sold before something else would go wrong. Some were a treat to drive (67 & 69 Camaro, 69 Chevelle, 79 Firebird, 72 Toronado, 70 & 72 Electra 225) and some were nightmares (72 Blazer, all the mid-80s sedans). Some were both (63 Caddy convertible, 60 Ford Falcom, 65 Corvair)
After electronic ignition, it got harder to fix your own car.
That is true, but I’d rather NOT have to fix my own car, TBH. If someone is cash strapped and needs a daily driver, you can get a used Civic or Corolla for next to nothing that will run forever on pretty basic maintenance. Some of which you can do yourself. Granted, not a lot of fun.
Oh, absolutely.
In the past decade, the best/cheapest to fix car I had was a hatchback Civic. It even could hold an entire drum kit! (unfortunately, it was totaled by an asshole who didn’t think stop signs were mandatory; fortunately, the husband and the drums were fine.)
For the mid-1980s, that wasn’t too shabby. Even the vaunted Grand National didn’t top 200 hp until 1986, when they added an intercooler. To be fair, the '85 GN did have 300 lb-ft of torque on command, so it certainly wasn’t slow.
It’s easy to forget that today’s engines are a hell of a lot more powerful than those of 35+ years ago, even at the economy car end of things. It’s nice that even a lowball Fit can get on the freeway without getting run over.
Mid-80s sucked for cars. I blame Reagan.
Engine size to horsepower is now back to what it was in the late60s-mid70s muscle car era, without the muscle car noise and excessive fuel consumption.
I’m glad I got to live through that era of quarter-mile races in deserted warehouse areas.
I’m always surprised that I did live though it, when I think about it.
Now I’m wondering if the Auburn roadster I saw the other day was one of these. (I also remember fiberglass replicas bolted onto VW chassis. Like, instead of a dune buggy, it looks like an MG, or an Italian sports car.) Who knows, maybe it was a real Auburn…?
In hindsight I should’ve kept my 1988 Accord coupe. I bought a new one in '99 and it used/leaked oil the whole time I had it (and still did after I had the engine replaced). Most maddening was the main relay randomly shutting the whole car off.
I’ve heard this about Subarus. Our old Forester would also leak gas (or, the fumes, anyway) if the weather got really, really cold. The newer ones don’t seem to have this problem.
Oh man, I had an '86 CRX that I would probably still be driving*, if I hadn’t got front-ended. That thing was a pocket rocket and got something close to 50mpg (and probably as good or better than the hybrid CRZ).
*And for the minor detail that it had no rear seats, in which to, for example, place children and/or their car seats.
Yah, those so-called “kit cars” were a huge thing in the 80s. They were kinda the proto-restomod. The Pontiac Fiero was an extremely popular platform for this. If you ever see a Ferrari that doesn’t… quite… look right… it’s a Fiero-based kit car. The Fiero and VWs were a great choice for kit cars because of the simple drivetrains and very “average” wheelbases. You could make a decent looking fiberglass copy of almost any other car to stick on top. They all have an uncanny valley effect though. The ride height and proportions are never quite right and they leave you feeling… odd.
The best car our family had i mentioned previous on this thread but it was the Toyota Starlet, don’t know the year but it was something like this one in a similar metallic green color:
That thing was a trooper. My parents took excellent care of it and it never stranded us, i have fond memories of taking road trips with it and the car making it up (and down) the Andes mountain roads, also on another trip we were trying to get to a slightly remote town and unbeknown to us part of the road required passage with an off road vehicle. Well with careful driving my dad managed to get the little car up a steep dirt and rock “road”.
After that and the Toyota Autana i’ve been firmly a fan of Toyota cars and have one now There’s probably other manufacturers just as reliable if not more but so far i haven’t had a need to shop elsewhere.
Welcome to the malaise era, where even Corvettes with 5.7L V8 engines were producing less than 200 hp. I remember in the Top Gear Season 9 USA special the astonishment among the presenters of how Jeremy Clarkson’s '89 Camaro RS could have a 5L V8 and somehow produce only like 200 hp.
All things considered, the Buick 3.8L V6 Turbo is actually pretty well regarded. It’s a very solid engine that can easily be modified to push loads of horsepower without blowing up. It was the power plant for some highly sought after vehicles from that era like various Regals (including of course the legendary GNX), and '89 Pontiac Firebird GTA. There’s a reason Buick stuck with that powerplant from the late 1970s to late 2000s.
That was the best era for Honda, IMO. Those inline 4’s were extremely impressive. Great handling, fun to drive. When my hatch got totaled by the idiot making the illegal left turn, I used the insurance money to get a CRX. Was a fast little devil.
Although I do remember being passed on a downhill one time leaving the Bay Area for Tahoe. I passed a 911 on 580 east and got it up to… something. Then I slowed it down and pulled into the right lane. When I was still well above the speed limit, he blasted by me like I was standing still… The inline 4 in those Hondas were pretty cool, but the flat 6 in the 911 was better.
There’s probably other manufacturers just as reliable if not more but so far i haven’t had a need to shop elsewhere.
