Do you ever see 80s or 90s American cars on the road?

[eljefino]

There was a Dodge Rampage with a topper for sale on FB last week... i cant imagine driving it.

My mom had a dodge omni miser 024. (what a mouthful!) It was a steaming pile of automotive garbage! It had the detuned VW motor with ~51 hp, a 4 speed stick, and few to no options. IDK what it weighed soaking wet but when Dad sat in it it would dip about 1.5 inches. Dodge was so cheap they didn't paint the backside of the fiberglass bumper cover, or it was lacking fender liners, or both. So if you peeked inside the wheel well you'd see the raw yellow of the untreated 'glass.

She got "Rusty Jones" but it still rusted out in 8 years with a huge hole in the bottom of the door. Expired at 81k miles on its 3rd clutch. Kept eating pot metal door handles.

Later on (1999) my dad and I went car shopping for my sister, so she'd have a clunker for a summer job. We went to a junkyard with dealership on premises to look at what they had. Dad insisted on paying $700+ because under Massachusetts law the car would have to pass a state inspection. Anyway, the contenders were

a 1987 ish Ford Tempo diesel, with a note on the dash with starting instructions and

a 1986 ish k-car with digital dash and dog hair EVERYWHERE. The engine on this thing was a sad mess of half melted vacuum hoses and blowby oil everywhere.

We got a dealer plate and took the mopar 600 caravelle reliant thing to dad's trusted mechanic for a look-over. He gives it the thumbs down and mentions he's got a 1982 Cadillac Cimarron some customer was trying to get rid of.

So we wound up with THAT turd which my sister drove for the summer. My Mazda 323 blew its clutch/transmission right around Labor day so I wound up with the Caddy.

 

[vw7674]

the Fords from late eighties/early nineties had a hilarious plastic retainer set up at the radiator petcock.
that alone melted down more than one Ford Escort. Not that you'd want to drive one today.
Plastics alone take the fuel economy junk off the road. Today there are classic Ford trucks from the early 1970's running
around here, with doors sporting business logos from two states away. Go figure.
Keeping an eighties car on the road means repairing it yourself, you can't afford a mechanic's working rates for it. (no OBD scan port : ( )
And one good hit/crunch means you'll never get it road worthy again for lack of body parts.

 

[4WD]

Cash for clunkers got rid of about 600k cars. Over 10 million were sold each year.

It's unlikely that C4C is what did away with most older cars.

The program was a bad program. Yet its impact is oversold by fans and opponents alike.

But, 94% of the Buick Roadmasters

 

[Zaedock]

I bet it is a chick magnet.................for 50 something year old chicks!

Some of us dig 50 something year old chicks. LOL!!!!

.My wife became super hot after receiving her AARP info in the mail.

 

[earlyre]

But, 94% of the Buick Roadmasters

Not a Roadmonster (said with love), but C4C claimed my uncle's (300k mi +) 95 Bonneville SSEI. Supercharged 3.8, HUD, every whistle you could imagine on a '95, and most of the bells....
traded it on on a base Hyundai Tuscon. after about 2 yrs he dumped the Tuscon on the first of a string of MKX's, and currently a Nautilus.

 

[4WD]

Not a Roadmonster (said with love), but C4C claimed my uncle's (300k mi +) 95 Bonneville SSEI. Supercharged 3.8, HUD, every whistle you could imagine on a '95, and most of the bells....
traded it on on a base Hyundai Tuscon. after about 2 yrs he dumped the Tuscon on the first of a string of MKX's, and currently a Nautilus.

Wow - I just now started to see Lincoln SUV’s selling again - wonder if Ford has not allocated the chips to higher profit vehicles …

 

[CR94]

1960s cars are not unusual here, but not as common as 1960s GM and Ford pickups.

I saw my early-80s Mazda every day until late 2014.

 

[PF52]

I live in DuPage County IL so within a few miles I can drive through some place like Oak Brook or Hinsdale where everyone drives high-end late-model SUVs and I get the stinkeye because I'm driving a 2002 Impala.... Needless to say there is almost nothing there from the 80s or 90s from ANY manufacturer. Or I can go a few miles in the other direction to Addison or Bloomingdale where they are commonplace.

 

[duck__dodgers]

One house in the neighborhood has a pristine, white first gen Olds Aurora. Styling still looks great today. While tOlds Alero driven by the old lady across from a friend's house is rusty and has a whining engine.

Oh what could have been if GM played its cards right.

 

[jhs914]

Some of us dig 50 something year old chicks. LOL!!!!

.My wife became super hot after receiving her AARP info in the mail.

At my age getting a 50 year old chick is me robbing the cradle.

 

[Delta]

Nothing from the 80's is left around here besides maybe the occasional domestic truck. There's a few late 90's cars running about, but are pretty ratty looking and rotted. You know they got an inspection under the table. Our county doesn't do emissions so that's where most of those cars come to die. You don't see those cars in emissions counties. Even my '95 Eagle is rare in these parts, never thought I'd say that about the thing Gonna be even more comical when I put Antique tags on it coming up here in February.

 

[Dave Sherman]

Somewhere around Akron there is a functioning Yugo GV that I've seen on the road. I regularly encounter an early 80s Monte Carlo during my commute.

 

[zzyzzx]

Do you ever see 80s or 90s American cars on the road?​

I drive one, so yes. Every day.

 

[2strokeNorthstar]

Not often around my area. Pretty amazing how many there were and they are gone. T-birds/cougars used to be everywhere. Almost no Camaros of that era are ever seen. Often see 80s-90s Japanese and Euro cars. I’m still driving a 98 BMW.

 

[atikovi]

My mom had a dodge omni miser 024. (what a mouthful!) It was a steaming pile of automotive garbage! It had the detuned VW motor with ~51 hp, a 4 speed stick, and few to no options.

Mine had an '81 Charger 2.2 4-speed. Best sounding 4 cylinder engine next to a Fiat Abarth.

 

[PeterGreen]

I'm stuck in the 60's.

View attachment 73909

But that's not eighties

 

[atikovi]

But that's not eighties

Remember, this is BITOG. Surprised nobody posted a pic of a Cessna or Chris Craft yet.

 

[PeterGreen]

Remember, this is BITOG. Surprised nobody posted a pic of a Cessna or Chris Craft yet.

It's actually my bad because I didn't read what he wrote just responded to the picture

 

[HemiBenny]

There's a guy here in town that drives a '79-'81 vintage Chrysler Newport. It looks amazing for it's age.

 

[350Rocket]

Every day. The black Cutlass is mine. White Monte SS belongs to an old friend from a school. Random 80s c10 some young guy drives around. Up until the roads get salted I see a few every day while driving around for work.