5th Sep 2022, 20:02

There are few things people argue about more than cars, so you are likely to get many perspectives. I grew up with US cars from every decade from the 1960's to the present, and my family got them when they were generally 10 years old so I know how they were after a few years use. I also currently drive a 1971 Plymouth, a 1973 and 1975 Dodge, and a 1979 Chevy in addition to two cars from the 2010s, so that is my perspective.

I think yes, largely it was probably fuel efficiency standards that brought down the great American motor car, maybe in conjunction with the need to cut costs because of employee obligations (read Lee Iacocca's book). But to be fair, US car companies also had some quality problems and were slow to react to Japanese competition at a time when consumers were caught by the first and second oil embargoes and looking for thrifty, dependable commuters. In those days, there were stories of laid-off auto workers attacking Japanese cars on the highways.

From my perspective, US car companies were great at building big, powerful, rear-wheel-drive cars, with the culmination coming in the earliest 1970s. In 1973, the first oil embargo that led to long lines at the gas pumps combined with increased emission standards really bit hard. The first reaction was to de-tune the existing V-8s and make up for lack of performance with increased luxury. Meanwhile, the early Japanese cars were cramped rattle-traps, but they got good mileage, were affordable, and dependable enough, and that was good enough for recession weary Americans in the late 1970s. US car companies really struggled to build gas-thrifty, dependable 4-cylinder, front-wheel-drive cars at a time when the Japanese had really made their bread and butter in that market.

The best examples of US cars in the late 1970s were still V-8, rear-wheel-drive luxury cruisers, but the transition to fuel efficient cars in the early 1980s produced some junkers like our 1983 Chevy Cavalier, which ran up 200,000 miles but was literally falling apart at the end. Our 1984 Plymouth Reliant was much better, had some comfort and tasteful interior, and also ran up 200,000 miles. But not very inspiring compared to a 1971 Plymouth Fury. Our 1989 Pontiac 6000 was somewhat better, but I worked at a car rental place during the early 1990s and saw brand new Pontiacs with door panels coming unglued, arm rests falling apart, cheap vinyl and plastic interiors, anemic 4 and 6 cylinders and a continued lack of quality or inspiration. It really wasn't until the mid 2000's that you started seeing American cars again that had some suggestion of styling and power. Basically, the 30 years between the mid 1970s and mid 2000s were, in my opinion, a wasteland of uninspiring, look-alike puddle jumpers. Now to be fair, those 4-cylinder, front-wheel-drive, egg-shaped yawn-mobiles were more efficient and dependable (in terms of repairs over longer mileage intervals), and let's face it, safer, than their 1960s and 1970s ancestors. In the 1960s and 1970s, a car was considered to be shot if it had 100,000 miles on it. That range had doubled or more by the 1990s.

I personally continued driving my 1973 Dodge up to the mid 2000s, at which time I got my first modern car, a 2002 Explorer that I had to admit was better in every measurable way. But that's the key. Even better in every measurable way, I was not sad to trade in the 2002 on a new 2017 when the time came because it was merely a machine that had served its purpose. Meanwhile, I'm still driving the 1973 and others mentioned on weekends and likely will never get rid of them. At that age, a car has transcended concerns like gas mileage and spark plug change intervals.

Just my perspective. There will likely be many others, some of which will vehemently disagree with what I've said, but that's the flavor of the world.

6th Sep 2022, 16:03

In the 80's in the US a lot of the US manufacturers were undergoing some painful transitions. Prior to the 1970's there was basically no competition. It was either a Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, or AMC. When the Japanese cars came in suddenly you had smaller, more fuel efficient, more reliable choices than a lot of the junk the Big 3 were cranking out then. ALL US cars back then save for a select few were rear wheel drive. In order to better meet fuel economy standards, they needed to design front wheel drive cars. At the same time many engineers were retiring. So all of those companies had to design their own FWD systems quickly. The first generations of these were terrible. Cars like the Vega, Pinto and whatever crap Chrysler had were pretty bad.

They DID eventually work out the kinks and by the late 80's - early 90's quality had improved a lot. But the reputational damage was done and I would say it's really only been say - in the past 10 years - that American cars are more or less on par with all of the others.

But as someone who grew up in the 80's? Yeah. A lot of American cars were crap. Not ALL of them mind you - the older Jeep Cherokees with the inline 4.0 would run forever and ever.