The 80's had their share of clunkers; Chevy Chevette, The Chrysler K-Cars, The Yugo, etc. Anyone buy a car that turned out to be a total piece of junk during that era? Not exactly Detroit's finest hour in many respects.

While my car, personally, wasn't a clunker, I'd heard alot of the same year/model were terrible.

I had a white 1981 Chevy Citation.  It ran like a champ and I drove it nearly 200,000 miles.  I was sad to see it go.  :\'(  Almost was gonna look for another one, but I was told they were lemons and I had just got lucky with mine.  :o

My parents had owned a 1984 Buick Electra Station wagon. It was a Lt blue with faux wood siding, inside was dark blue. The car had all kinds of problems, but I kind of miss it. I remember this had little "USA" 1984 Olympics with the five rings symbol on the windows. Odd, this car had an Oldsmobile engine in it.

I had a 1984 Honda Accord, which I bought because of Honda's perceived superiorty in quality. Boy, was I wrong. Tht car was the worst rustbucket I've ever owned. It was so bad that the fuel filler neck rusted out, and a bunch of rust and crap got into the engine and made it start spitting out this nasty, foul-smelling smoke. I got it fixed, and I never had any trouble with the engine after that. But I also went through 2 or 3 mufflers, and after only about 2 or 3 years the rust got so bad that I was embarrassed to drive it and I sold it.
   Now when it came to cars of that era, that was probably par for the course, and obviously Honda made an all-out effort to improve their quality to the point where they're probably the best cars you can get for your money, but back then the Japanese cars had their fair share of problems (body integrity being probably the biggest one) and it wasn't until the mid-to-late 80's that they really began to pull away from their Detroit counterparts in terms of quality.

I had a 1981 Datsun 280 ZX and I was really happy with it.  Eventually it broke down though, and I really wanted a pick-up instead of a car, so I junked it.

If I was going to get a car instead of a truck/suv, I wouldn't mind having another 280Z...

My parents had a Chevy Celebrity.  That's the only car they had in the 80s that I actively remember.  My first real memory of it was being driven to my Grandma's house in it when my mom was in labor with my sister in 1987.

My dad had an '83 Buick Century, which was probably the worst car he'd ever had. I remember the interior seemed to be very cheap and flimsy, and when I drove it it felt like the turn signal lever was going to break off. Not to mention that it was one of the most gutless cars I'd ever driven.
 

We had an '84 tan Honda Accord until 1998, and I grew up with that car. Surprisingly, ours had no problems and remained in excellent condition, but the siding was falling off.

1985 Ford Tempo. I literally drove that car to death.

The vehicles my family owned during the 80s were reliable machines, so I guess we got lucky, too. We started the decade with a 1976 Ford Granada, but later traded it in for the only foreign car we've ever had, an '82 Nissan Stanza. That gave way to an '87 Dodge 500 4-door, while an '86 Dodge Caravan was the primary means of transport for road trips thru sometime in the early 90s. I inherited that minivan and drove it to and from college until a faulty cooling component led to the engine's untimely demise.  :(

My Dad was sort of impulsive when it came to owning cars. He'd just come home with a new car and my mom would have her hands on her hips in a manner suggesting, "Where did this come from?" My Dad often bought cars from doctors he worked with who'd give him a deal. Some I don't remember the models of, but I do remember a 1987 Blue Cadillac El Dorado. We thought that was pretty nice then. Cadillacs were still considered the ultimate in luxury. My mom owned a 1985 Pontiac Grand Am. It was gold in color and worked fairly well, but it always had an overheating problem and left us stranded many times. Her car before that was a '73 model, I believe a Buick. We got rid of that one in 1987 when she got the Grand Am. I actually remember getting the Grand Am in 1987 and thinking it was pretty nice.

'80s cars are super boxy.  At least they don't look Martian though, like '00s car.  ;D