Being born in '87 some of my earliest memories were of metal boxes on wheels. Today whenever I see a car from that decade I'm reminded of how disappointingly boxy those cars were. Unfortunately the creators of the Scion and Honda Element today actually think that they're cool again.

I agree that some of the average 80's cars were crap, but I still think some of the sports cars were really nice.

Check out this Lamborghini Countach.  It was a car of the 80's and is SUCH a classic.  I'll bet it's easy to pick up chicks with a car like this:

http://www.schouwebcoins.dk/Philips_Webhule/Countach-Anniversario-11.jpg

That's definately one of my most favorite cars.

Being born in '87 some of my earliest memories were of metal boxes on wheels. Today whenever I see a car from that decade I'm reminded of how disappointingly boxy those cars were. Unfortunately the creators of the Scion and Honda Element today actually think that they're cool again.
Not only were they ugly but they were also severly underpowered and very poorly built. The period between about 1977 and 1984 was probably the worst era for cars in automotive history. Why is that? My guess is that the government forced a lot of fuel economy and emissions standards on the auto industry too fast, and in order to meet these standards the automakers had to rush out new technologies and materials in their new cars, and they didn't have enough time to properly develop these new technologies before they came to market.
   As far as to why the cars were so damned ugly? I dunno. Maybe the stylists in Detroit were all bitter that the disco era was over, I dunno.


This car:

http://www.auto-enthusiast.com/images/1981_Plymouth_Reliant_Kcar_pic.jpg

will never be a classic. ::)

Well considering that we were in an oil crisis back then (and could be again the way oil prices are) the government had to drive up the fuel economy to conserve oil. Anyway, the only good thing about '80s cars is at least people didn't drive around in Hummers.

Anyway, the only good thing about '80s cars is at least people didn't drive around in Hummers.


And another good thing of course, is the cool sports cars!  :D

And another good thing of course, is the cool sports cars!  :D
There were a lot of cool looking sports cars back then, but todays cars are so much better, in terms of performance AND reliablility. How many 80's sports cars do you see today?

When the Pontiac Fiero first came out in '84 or '85 I thought it was one of the coolest cars I'd ever seen. Unfortunately it turned out to be a complete turd, at least for the first couple of years.  Towards the end of its production run (1988?) GM had worked most of the bugs out but by then it was too late because the Fiero had earned a reputation as being a lemon.

Probably the baddest car of the 80's (and one of the few true classics of that era) was the 1987 Buick Regal Grand National. It was actually faster than the Corvettes of its day.

http://www.geocities.com/rgilz74/87gn.jpg

Actually, I was talking about the dream cars, like the Countach above.  But you'll never see those on the road.

I agree..  one of the few things that sucked in the 80s was the cars.  With the exception of some of the import sports cars..all the cars looked like boring boxes.  Even the Mustangs of the 80s, although some may have been fast, were boxy and ugly (I thought they looked like your typical Toyota or Nissan..)  Probably one of the GOOD things that ever happened in the 90s was the return of CURVES and SHAPES to cars.  Cars got better looking, in fact, I actually bought a brand new 1997 Mustang, not so much cuz it was fast, but because it LOOKED HOT!

all the cars looked like boring boxes.  Even the Mustangs of the 80s

  Ahem, until recently I drove a 1986 Mustang GT 5.0HO, 5-speed manual trans. It always got favorable looks. And it would just roast the REAR tires. I finally traded it, after 240,000 miles(unreliable?) for a 1989 Cougar LS which I still drive. Last I heard it was still tooling around somewhere in Texas. I also have a 1989 Cougar XR7 Super Coupe.  :P :P :P

Who can forget this one?

http://www.mr7.co.uk/images/deloreanpics/Delorean1.jpg

(it don't look too bad, actually)

And this one was the "hippest" car of them all...

http://www.donalan.com/img37.gif
http://www.automag.be/IMG/jpg/Maserati_Spyder_Biturbo_1985-1.jpg
1985/1986 Maserati Spyder.
:)

This was the first one I drove (well, not this one) - and a symbol of everything that was wrong about cars in the 80s (in Britain at least!)

Mind you, it was good for a while - until the rust set in...!!

The Ford Sierra...

(Or, if you could afford it, an Escort xr3i...boy racers only need apply!!)