Are cars/trucks from the 80s worth buying

[SS1970chrysler]

All the 80's cars I've ever owned all ended up in the junkyards where they belonged. Most of my 70's cars are still running somewhere and all of my 40's, 50's, &60's are still going strong. That said, here's my 80's experiences:
1980 Chrysler Lebaron- slower than dead dog, hard to start, but wouldn't rot. Sold to friend who hit a bus with it.
1981 Ford Fairmount- 6 cyl, top speed 72 and whole car fell apart.
1982 Ford Escort- city buses were faster accelerating, top speed 75(had governor), very difficult to work on at home. Axle bearings failed.
1987 mercury cougar- this one was nice and fun, till deer hit it.
1985 Olds 88- body was junk and bad transmissions around 80k miles. Not just mine either.
1984 Caddy Deville- fell apart, major land slug, lots of electronics problems
1989 Mercury Cougar- had 3 sets of head gaskets in 100k miles and fell apart
1983 Honda Prelude- loved this car, but steering gear pulled itself through the frame.
1986 Olds Cutlass Supreme- this one was junk by 65k miles, bad trans, bad distributor, gas tank, frame, rear axle walked out of car on a left turn.
1985 chevy caprice, fell apart and bad camshaft
1985 chevy caprice, kept eating rear ends. About 1 every 2 years.

 

[steve20]

^^^^^^^
I think you have incredibly bad luck with cars in general. My 83 Cutlass Supreme 2 dr with 307-4V put out an amazing 145hp, but went 150K with ZERO problems (excluding normal maintenance of course), and I finally put her to rest at 256 K due to trans. Never left me on the side of the road for 18 YEARS.

OP don't buy something from the 80's they are so out of style

 

[Spyder7]

Originally Posted By: steve20


OP don't buy something from the 80's they are so out of style


All the more reason to buy something from the 80s. Don't care to play follow the lemmings or their fickle taste in 'style.' Give me substance any day.

-Spyder

 

[steve20]

I agree with you on not following the crowd-I do what I want to do because I want to do it. My previously referenced Cutlass my wife had been trying to get rid of it for at least 5 years---no way---driving a reliable fully deoreciated car also has its benefits.
When you see a rare 70-80's moedl car in traffic, tell me you don't try and get a glimpse of who would be driving this type of car?
In traffic, they just look lik soooo out of place

 

[oppirs]

Originally Posted By: steve20
I agree with you on not following the crowd-I do what I want to do because I want to do it. My previously referenced Cutlass my wife had been trying to get rid of it for at least 5 years---no way---driving a reliable fully deoreciated car also has its benefits.


My 23 y.o. Cutlass SL bought from the dealer. Still is alive, not used much until gas skyrockets, get 23 city 31 highway. I was at the Honda dealer yesterday & the new Accord get just a hair better on the highway mpg. Geez

As mentioned before you need to keep up maintenance on these old cars. I'm shocked when folk stop by and note this car like a classic in the parking lot, now I know it's getting rare. Must be "the cash for clunkers" taking them off the road. Even the R-12 A/C works great, just needs a boost every other year, and yes I have 18lb still left from ions ago.

With the OBD1, don't have to go for emissions anymore. But this Olds never failed them in the past and I have over 15 year of records. I too don't ever want to get rid of her. To me this was a transition years from boxy to "jelly bean" look. Got to luv that digital dash becuz it still works!! A touch of a button I'm metric.

I also had an '88 F-150 great truck & rusty, just poor gas mileage, had the 5.0 liter. What a workhorse.

 

[M1Accord]

Originally Posted By: Spyder7
Originally Posted By: steve20


OP don't buy something from the 80's they are so out of style


All the more reason to buy something from the 80s. Don't care to play follow the lemmings or their fickle taste in 'style.' Give me substance any day.

-Spyder


Style and beauty are in the eyes of the beholder. To me, square body trucks and muscle cars of the 80s scream style and prominence over the 'quick-to-change' design today. True beauty stays forever and the many vehicles 60s and 80s had that down.

 

[dparm]

The old Civic hatchbacks are worth considering. Great gas mileage, simple, very fun & tossable.

And if you like tinkering, there are countless motor swap options to make some real screamers.

 

[HM12460]

Consider a Mustang or F-150. 1986 was the first year for fuel injection for the Mustang with the 5.0, and they were as reliable or more so than most anything else at the time.

 

[Spazdog]

Originally Posted By: HM12460
Consider a Mustang or F-150. 1986 was the first year for fuel injection for the Mustang with the 5.0, and they were as reliable or more so than most anything else at the time.


Technically the first "5.0" Mustang with fuel injection was 1985 with automatic. It had Ford's CFI Throttle body injection.
It looks just like the 1985 4bbl but instead of "5.0 Liter 4V H.O." it has "EFI" in place of the "4V".

It's kind of a joke though. WOT the transmission wouldn't upshift until 5500 rpm. The engine was done making any usable horsepower long before then.
When you lifted off the pedal at 4750-5000 rpm and then put the hammer back down when it upshifted, it was actually quicker than waiting for it to upshift on it's own.

But it was reliable. After all, it is basically a Crown Vic from that time's engine and transmission.

 

[OVERKILL]

'85 would still have had the roller HO camshaft with the 1-3-7-2-6-5-4-8 "HO/351W" firing order. Which the "lopo" in the Crown Vic didn't have.

'85 and '86 both lacked the better E7TE heads that the '87+ HO cars got.

You bring up a good point about CFI/TBI however. They didn't make enough power to hurt themselves. LOL!

 

[M1Accord]

Originally Posted By: dparm
The old Civic hatchbacks are worth considering. Great gas mileage, simple, very fun & tossable.

And if you like tinkering, there are countless motor swap options to make some real screamers.

I can't find them around here. People hold on those things like crazy in the past 5 years due to gas price. Anything I see is more like a ricer modded and screwed with beyond ownership worthy.

There is a 88 Integra with perfect engine rolling pure stock at 250k miles. It's a my dad's DD and it's a stick. Gas mileage is about 26-34 mpg depending on driving condition and gas region. Hopefully, he's not stupid and trade it in for a new car. He tried to cash-for-clunker it and that was a dumb move. A perfect running 88 Integra is something to be proud of since he owns it since new.

 

[addyguy]

I know it sounds dorky, but if I could ANY mid-1980's car, it would be an 1986-1987 Oldsmobile Firenza GT V-6, Basically Old's version of the first Cavalier Z-24 V-6.

Less than 2k built in total; good luck ever finding one - I've seen 2 or 3 in the whole time I've been driving!

 

[Spazdog]

Originally Posted By: addyguy
I know it sounds dorky, but if I could ANY mid-1980's car, it would be an 1986-1987 Oldsmobile Firenza GT V-6, Basically Old's version of the first Cavalier Z-24 V-6.

Less than 2k built in total; good luck ever finding one - I've seen 2 or 3 in the whole time I've been driving!


Interesting.
Of all the J-cars, I thought the Buick Skyhawk T-Type was most interesting.(Buick's interpretation of the Sunbird GT with fully hidden headlamps) Then again, I've actually seen one of those. Like you said, Firenza GTs were pretty rare. I don't recall ever seeing one. Even at the State Fair Auto Exhibit.

 

[addyguy]

When I started looking for my first car, I found one at a seedy small car lot near my house. It was a turd, but I've always though it was a neat car.

The Skyhawk T-type was the same thing, the 'sporty' Buick J-car, but it came with the Pontiac tubo I-4, not the 2.8 V-6 in the Z-24 and Olds. Pretty well just as rare, as well.

 

[ls1mike]

I had one of these for awhile. I loved that thing. Someone totalled it.
Had a Direct Connection computer, some exhaust and a few other modifications. Car ran low 14.s. Was reliable and easy to maintain.

 

[mechanicx]

Originally Posted By: oppirs
Originally Posted By: steve20
I agree with you on not following the crowd-I do what I want to do because I want to do it. My previously referenced Cutlass my wife had been trying to get rid of it for at least 5 years---no way---driving a reliable fully deoreciated car also has its benefits.


My 23 y.o. Cutlass SL bought from the dealer. Still is alive, not used much until gas skyrockets, get 23 city 31 highway. I was at the Honda dealer yesterday & the new Accord get just a hair better on the highway mpg. Geez

As mentioned before you need to keep up maintenance on these old cars. I'm shocked when folk stop by and note this car like a classic in the parking lot, now I know it's getting rare. Must be "the cash for clunkers" taking them off the road. Even the R-12 A/C works great, just needs a boost every other year, and yes I have 18lb still left from ions ago.

With the OBD1, don't have to go for emissions anymore. But this Olds never failed them in the past and I have over 15 year of records. I too don't ever want to get rid of her. To me this was a transition years from boxy to "jelly bean" look. Got to luv that digital dash becuz it still works!! A touch of a button I'm metric.

I also had an '88 F-150 great truck & rusty, just poor gas mileage, had the 5.0 liter. What a workhorse.

My brother had an '89 Cutlass that looked just like that. Same color, digital guages, only diference his had the luggage rack on the trunk lid. He sold it just a couple a month ago still running good and everything in working order including the A/C (we converted it to R134a though). Only reason he sold it was because he wanted something different and bought a '99 Olds Alero. Well the previous owner had hacked up some things on the Cutlass (A/C compressor missing, injectors replaced with mismatched used ones) but we fixed that had installed new struts, brakes and tires and it ran and drove good when he sold it.

 

[G.Frost]

Originally Posted By: M1Accord
......... True beauty stays forever and the many vehicles 60s and 80s had that down.


Like the Citroen DS21...


Citroen DS21

 

[needsducktape]

You can't beat the digital dash of the 300zx - the RPM bling -o- rama factor was great.

Like all things though, they go in circles- I remember people saying how digital dash's were incredibly stupid. So they go away. Now we all look back in nostalgia.

Ford: Very square in the 80s to the Jelly bean 90s then When the Focus came out (and Mustang update 1999) it was "new Edge" styling (aka square).

On a side note:
Maybe we remember cars better than they actual were!?

 

[Hokiefyd]

I love '80s cars. My first car was an '84 Cutlass. It had T-tops, the smooth but gutless 307 V-8, chrome SSIII wheels, rallye pack gauges and full center console with bucket seats. I also bought a beater '87 Regal into which I put an Olds 403 V-8. My roommate in college had an '87 Monte SS, and then an '89 Camaro RS with the 2.8 that we beat mercilessly.

 

[VNTS]

Yes the Turbo Dodge cars were very reliable, I drive a 89 Shadow ES turbo every day, 80 miles. Up to 285K.

Also have a 86 CS Daytona.

It is all about maintenance. THE MPI injection cars were easy to maintain.