You mean the Citation with crooked rear bumper didn't take the number one spot? It actually made me feel better knowing that thing was never on straight from day one. We owned an 83 Citation and the rear bumper swayed and pitched with the vehicle. Almost like an automatically deployed rear spoiler. Every time you got out, it was leaning a different way.
My Mom had an 1984 Buick Skylark and we loved it. Until someone hit me while I was driving. But the cars quick response to try to get out of the way saved my life and the car hit the rear quarter.
It must've been pretty depressing being an American car enthusiast in the 80's. With the exception of the Grand National I wouldn't want a single American car from the 80's.
$25,000 Riviera!? That’s over $78k in today’s money. Think of the safety, performance, reliability, rust resistance, and build quality you get with a $78,000 car today.
breathe and squeeze Yea a friends dad had one , badass lightning rods..... kept it in the garage all the time. it just needed another 100hp to be really cool. 80s cutlasses were total poon magnets though.
I had an '84 cutlass. I loved it. and had a '72 also, but never appreciated it like I should have. I should have fixed it up, but instead just drove it into the ground. I had that and my friend had the 442, and we drove the shit out of them. it was so much fun having those and growing up in a small town where you can get away with anything.
breathe and squeeze Yea man , I graduated in 91, so back then everyone had 67 gtos and 71 chevelles and older cars like that. Novas and whatnot. and if they paid 3500$ for em that was alotta money
Martin Espinoza The x-11 lol Remember the one that was 2 front halves welded back to back and could be driven at either end? That was a bucket of chuckles there.
it didn't really feel like I was watching a video from the distant past, until he said "write us" at the end. When was the last time you wrote someone a letter?
Bradford Hart I received a letter just 6 months ago. I myself wrote several letters also, while i was locked up for breaking my fuckin nosy neighbors jaw!
I was a proud owner of a 83 s10 blazer with the powerful 2.8l v6. It was such a powerhouse that cruising on flat interstate at 65, it would have to downshift to maintain speed. It was totally gutless. I don't know which set GM back farther, the 2.8L v6 or the 5.7 diesel made from the 350 block. Then there is the Cadillac Cimarron. You too can have the European luxury of an early 80's cavalier. You know that car had Mercedes, BMW and the rest quaking in fear. What a sad time for the US carmakers.
The Cavalier, Skyhawk, 2000/Sunbird and the Cimarron were all re-badgings on the same J body. My mom bought a Sunbird brand new in '84 and it was fun to drive. Wish I could find one now and restore it.
Tony, is too many options a bad thing? All we have now is 4 doors. Remember when all compact cars had 2 door, 4 door, wagon and hatch options like the Cavalier? The A bodies? Even the land yachts came in 2 door, 4 door and wagon trim. I miss the days of variety and think that option is a good thing. Remember when the camry/Corolla came in a 2 door and a wagon? Now It's only 4 doors. The Civic used to have a wagon, hatch, and a 4 door. Now it's just a 4 door jellybean.
I remember my dad had 2 Olds 98 COUPES. Them was some big heavy doors! How 'bout Coupe DeVille? Remember when cars had engine options? In the '70s I was exposed to so many configs of the same '60s cars. You could get a Nova with an I6 or V8s from 283 to 396 (COPO 427, like Yenko) In 1982, when I bought my first NEW car, I had such a long list of options to customize my Z/28. Mine had manual windows & locks, but power mirrors and 4-wheel disks. You might think 1983 cars were crap, but the F-bodies were a big improvement over the '82s, which were the first year of 4rd gen.
GM was a mess in the 80s. WAY too many car lines and variants all chasing the same customers. Chevy, Pontiac, Buick, and Olds all with the same platforms with multiple body styles. 2 door sedans, 4 door sedans, 2 door hatchbacks, 4 door wagons.. Did we really need 16+ J body variants? And that’s just one platform! There were still another 9 or 10 to go.
the cimmiron: (and a lot of other gm products at the time but by no means the only guilty party) should be hung on a wall at corporate for an example of why badge engineering is WRONG on so many levels.
Wow, it was an entirely different scene in '83! Pontiac and Oldsmobile were still around, and absolutely NOBODY thought they would be discontinued! Those small cars were nothing compared to the ones we have today! There was no Bluetooth, no cell phone plug ins (or cell phones, period!) and no touch screens or back-up cameras! It's also amazing how the compact pickups changed. Today, the Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon come in Crew Cab models that hold up to five full-grown men, and they're as large as a full-size '83 Chevy pickup! I remember the Eldorado/Riviera/Toronado trio, and it was hard to believe they were still being made. A Riviera convertible was pace car at the 1983 Indy 500. GM was still pretty much "old GM" even in '83! Now look at GM in 2017! Times really have changed!
The late 70s and early 80s were truly the dark ages of automotive design. Little technological advancement the past 20 years plus hideous styling . . . really unsurprising how GM lost so much market share.
I find it funny that MotorWeek had nice words for the Cadillac Cimarron, while consumers pretty much universally took one look at it and said "nope, nothing but an overpriced and rebadged Cavalier".
Chris C. Plenty of 86-89 Camry's and Corolla's exist. My 89 crx exists. And my friends 88 Civic, 85 AE86. Another friend of mine has a 79 Datsun, 86 280Z and two 88 300ZX's. One 87 MR2 and an 89 MR2. Additionally, one other friend, for no reason at all, owns 5 Mazda RX-7's from 87 - 90. Also my 1990 Acura Legend exists.
blaknoizee sorry dude but i drive a hundred miles a day around the phoenix metro area and i notice cars. I never see those cars but i see tons of ford and gm cars and trucks from 80s and 90s. We have a huge amount of people from mexico here and all they drive are old cars but never see any Japanese. I think its interesting how many friends you have with cars of that vintage. What are you part of a 80s Japanese car club? Japanese car lovers i found tend to stretch the truth.
Chris C. Are you part of an 80's GM club? Why is that question relevant? You metro does not have a high concentration of those types of cars. Go somewhere else. I'm on Ohio and happen to own an old Japanese car. There are plenty if u look. There are plenty of every manufacture really, except euro it seems. Probably due to expense of ownership. It is like you took offense to me just stating what is around my area. Head south to "southern fresh" and you will again find a high concentration of Japanese cars in the southern strip of our country. Or in Washington State and NO California. Arizona may just not have it. So u won't see it.
Chris C. Also, on craigslist you can clearly find many older cars available for sale in that era. Nearly rust free. Rust kills our cars here so it is even rarer to find these older machines. Japanese cars at that time were built to prove to America that they were reliable and reputable. Which is why the market share changed in Japans favor. The motors were quality built, the chassis were built well. My crx and legend still have their original engine and transmissions. My CRX even has its factory front rotors with 171k on them and wheel bearings. Same for my Legend.
Scott K True, but remember that Japan was also producing some junk at this time also. (And didn't have competing vehicles for each class) It wasn't until the late 80's that the US caught up though, and in alot of ways, it was just too late since Japan had by then introduced cars like the Legend and Cressida.
Andrew Clearly, you've never run real gas. Apparently, you also don't understand that 1983 gasoline was higher quality than today's watered-down garbage. And, to top it off, you don't know what engines were actually available in the GM model lines.
i remember. my parents. bought. a 91gmc Jimmy. with. a 4.3.v6 i loved. that. little. truck... it had a digital. dash display. and would. light. up the tires. so easy.
My mother used to own a 1983 Pontiac 2000 and it was the worst car she's ever had, we've thought it would be a better car than her 1980 Chevette but unfortunately we were wrong.
My good friend and neighbor had a 79 Chevette with an auto. It wouldn't do more than 70 with 2 aboard. We went from Chicago to Springfield 1 time and she just kept her foot to the floor the entire time just to keep up with traffic, while that car shaked and rattled like a dog shitting a peach pit. I thought for sure we wouldn't make it on the way home!
The 2.8L in the Blazer wouldn't out run a fat man walking. The 4.3L was a life saver later on. I'm not a gm fan, but can't argue against the 4.3L. Great motor with the TBI
Lol yes it appears to have caught on and dominated the market. These folks never saw it coming, especially since the minivan craze began the very next year with the Caravans
How in the hell do you shift that Oldsmobile with the three levers? I was looking most forward to that part and we only got a few fleeting seconds on it.
dstarks80 That feature alone is reason for it to be shown in detail by a car show. In all my years of driving, I've never come across a production car that had anything close to that.
This is when GM began taking platform sharing to a really extreme degree. And it didn't turn out too well. And that Hurst/Olds made my tongue hard in 83 and it's hard now...and I'm Ford guy...
Though the options we're mostly just slightly different versions of the same basic platform. I really doubt it costed them all that much money to do it and gave them a pretty decent shotgun like method of car production, fire enough products off and your bound to hit some targets. I don't think any of the more expensive engineering changed from car to car, which I doubt could be done today. Nowadays they usually only have a few cars per platform vs the 16 J-bodys
I love these MW Retro Reviews -- the good, bad, and ugly. That was a 15 minute encapsulation of the worst cars America has ever produced. What on earth was GM doing, let alone thinking, back then. Every single one of those cars -- with the possible exception of the forthcoming re-designed Corvette -- was a monstrosity in engineering, craftsmanship, and reliability. Every brand under the GM badge was basically selling the same car with a different name. Why do you need 10 versions of a Chevy Celebrity? What kind of ridiculous financial sense did that make? That last clip of one of those land yachts spewing black Diesel exhaust out of the tailpipe when the driver was flooring it around a turn was the perfect ending and summed up the 1980s for GM rather perfectly.
Yes these cars were hideous and under powered but i will give them an A+ in comfort. Those soft plush seats and soft ride. Would lull you to sleep if you were a kid riding in the back seat.
All proven to be garbage..kinda cool watching these old reviews though..lol..talk em up mannnn talk em up..only thing i would want is a monte carlo or a cutlas supreme from 83-86 or so.cutlass was nice..that hurst olds with lighting shifter is kick ass, hard to find car, only seen 1 in person
Can anyone identify the song that starts at 0:59? I thought it might be a track from Network Music's "Technology Age" album, but it doesn't appear to be.
I have no idea why, but I find a lot of these late 70's/early 80's cars fascinating. It's something about how gimmicky they are, with stuff like the "econo-minder" or the digital gauges, and for some of them I love the looks alone. I guess I'm just weird.
I owned a 1983 Cadillac Sedan DeVille with the 4.1 engine. The worst car ever made. The car was a dog. I could have walked faster up most hills. I replaced the engine with a new 4.1 at under 100,000 miles. I replaced the paint, vinyl roof, leather interior, wheels, transmission, entire A/C system, braking system, and tires at an overall cost of about $20,000.00. In less than a year after, I was rear ended by a girl who was putting a tape into her cassette player and didn't notice me stopped in front of her.
You forget how much anti-pollution equipment bogs down gas-mileage. After the 2001 Honda Insight, the car with the best out of factory gas mileage was the 1987 Chevy Spectrum.
bentley4l they forgot to tell you, you have to turn the engines off in traffic jams, and coasting down hills with the engines turned off while coasting down mountains
55mph speed limit and 14-17 second 0-60 times. New cars don't do that either. Fuel is blended very differently now and emmision standards tighter. My aunt's ciera got a legit 43 mpg on road trips @ 65. 46 mpg at a steady 55 was probably feasible under the right conditions
In 1983 cars weren't bogged down with so much roll over/crash standard extra steel, and there were not miles of cable for every Govt. mandated camera and sensor and air bag and power EVERYTHING that's standard on most cars now.
Watching this video made me think. At this time, GM was already dealing with the Olds Diesel fiasco, and chose to add the Cadillac HT4100 to their list. They must have had their hands full dealing with problems and warranty repairs. Dark days for GM indeed. I would not want to have been a car buyer at that time. Think I would have just given up and bought something older.
Torque Effect I see many of them. In barns, behind farm houses without any paint left, I see plenty with trees under the hoods instead of engines. Man they make wonderful flower planters
whateverdgaf The first time I watched this I literally burst out laughing too. Having owned both an 85 Scirocco and an 84 Prelude I can't begin to imagine cross shopping, either new or used, with a POS J-body. Never mind performance, just on looks alone. Then again we're talking about the same company who thought BMW buyers would be interested in the Cimmaron.
Those engines were all dogs. BUT at least the Gbodies, S-10s and Fbodies from that era make a good starting point for a cheap fast car (easy to build a 600+ hp SBC on the cheap these days). Those FWD GM cars are only worth their weight as scrap to be turned into rebar!
If I was my age now back in the 80s, I would have given these cars absolutely ZERO consideration. I'd be looking at Japanese cars just like I do today. Although, that Hurst/Olds is badass.
Its evident I'm trying to communicate with a total douchebiscuit that knows next to nothing about cars...I'm out...hurry up Mommy's telling you to take a bath and gobto bed...SLAP
It is so weird to see car reviews talk about front wheel drive like that. You can sense that it seemed new and special at the time where as now the goal of many car guys are to find cars with rear wheel drive. Fasinating.
83 i believe was the worst year for GM, that was the year of everything was a pay option,.. ash trays, lighter outlets, knobs... you had cars with empty holes all over them because no one was forking out fifty bucks for an ash tray.
Imagine how demeaning it would be to have to take out a loan to buy one of these shitboxes. These were bad, ugly cars. Except the Riviera. That's a straight-up gangster car.
Buick Riviera $25K in 1983 = about. $64K today. Damn. Yeah they were fairly nice in their time, but seriously who the hell would spend that kind of money on a Buick.
+Push Back For the trucks with the 350 diesel V8, a late-1980s 4.3 V6 was likely an upgrade, LOL. And the 6.2 diesel V8 has roughly the same amount of torque as the late-1980s 4.3 gasoline V6! The N/A diesels suck...
I owned an 1983 Suburban with the 6.2 diesel. It's truly incredible how slow it was. 130 horsepower trying to move a 7000 pound truck will straight axles and leaf springs at all four corners. It was so bad that it couldn't maintain overdrive on the highway on a windy day. It would literally have to shift down into 3rd gear to maintain highway speed. It was certainly reliable though; I had 550K on mine before I rebuilt it.
Ward413 growing up a buddy's dad had an 86 Ford diesel. Idk I was young, but it was extended cab bla bla ... slow as all heck, but put a 30' airstream behind it and it didn't get much slower , it was odd.
I was in 8th grade, rode in many of these cars, and drove my grandparents 82 Buick as a daily for 10 years as well as owned a 84 S-10 Blazer for many years.
Those cars were all so horribly built. Nowadays a 5-10 year old car is still reasonable transportation, although I remember by 1991 the 1985 Pontiac 6000 STE my parents had was very much on its last legs. We also had a 1981 Chevy Citation X-11 that the doors started to rust from the inside out by 1983. I think the only GM product we owned that was halfway decent was either the 1982 S-10 pickup or the Astro Van, the latter of which was horrible to drive, but at least didn't fall apart.
+Kevin MacNutt Yeah I remember my moms old '88 Cavalier that she bought new being rusted out at the bottom and dead in the driveway when it was probably only 5-6 years old. She traded it for a new '94 or '95 Chevy Beretta Z26.
GM owns all these brands yet many of them look exactly the same, they should have retired some of the brands and focused on just a few while improving them more
I see a bunch of people commenting on how terrible these cars were and how it was the darkest period. I was there, so I can tell you, the 1983 lineup was a big step up from 1980.
As bad as those cars were, they well handling masterpieces of modern design compared to the boatmobiles from the 70's. As an 80's child, I can still remember seeing old 70's cars bobbing up and down in the lane next to me on the highway, and see-sawing when they pulled out of parking lots.
ClayPF My 1992 Cadillac sedan deville drives like that a complete floater boat. And I love it! I hate driving new cars. They ride like they have cement bags for suspension. They stay completely flat when stopping accelerateing or turning. I don't mind body lean or pitching. I find it helps you feel how hard you're taking a turn or how hard your applying the brakes or accelerator. I learned to take long and gentle stops to lessen the nose dive. In a panic stop once, the front plate bracket scraped the ground. If I bought a newer car I would have to install softer springs. My car has factory air bag suspension.
Highlight of this clip was the diesel Caddy belching smoke as it turned.
I seen that too lol
john robert My dad had one God it was awful.
+john robert yeah crazy that a Caddy had a diesel engine from the factory.
You mean the Citation with crooked rear bumper didn't take the number one spot? It actually made me feel better knowing that thing was never on straight from day one. We owned an 83 Citation and the rear bumper swayed and pitched with the vehicle. Almost like an automatically deployed rear spoiler. Every time you got out, it was leaning a different way.
Gotta love rollin' coal
My Mom had an 1984 Buick Skylark and we loved it. Until someone hit me while I was driving. But the cars quick response to try to get out of the way saved my life and the car hit the rear quarter.
I miss my 83 Malibu with 3.8 V6 it was just a plain white 4-door sedan it served me well
It must've been pretty depressing being an American car enthusiast in the 80's. With the exception of the Grand National I wouldn't want a single American car from the 80's.
all I see is HOT BROWN
$25,000 Riviera!? That’s over $78k in today’s money. Think of the safety, performance, reliability, rust resistance, and build quality you get with a $78,000 car today.
i friggin loved that hurst olds
breathe and squeeze
Yea a friends dad had one , badass lightning rods.....
kept it in the garage all the time.
it just needed another 100hp to be really cool.
80s cutlasses were total poon magnets though.
I had an '84 cutlass. I loved it. and had a '72 also, but never appreciated it like I should have. I should have fixed it up, but instead just drove it into the ground. I had that and my friend had the 442, and we drove the shit out of them. it was so much fun having those and growing up in a small town where you can get away with anything.
I have a '86 442 t-tops, Work in progress right now. Check out my vids. Before that I had a very clean 87 Cutlass supreme. Smooth ride.
anonymous boys ain't got no poon 😂
breathe and squeeze
Yea man , I graduated in 91, so back then everyone had 67 gtos and 71 chevelles and older cars like that. Novas and whatnot.
and if they paid 3500$ for em that was alotta money
I lust for these vehicles
Good old GM 😎
With Top Gear off the air, these retro reviews are turning out to be a solid source of motoring entertainment. This stuff is GOLD!
Yep, jeez its been 8 Years already.
I've never seen so much body roll and understeer in one place.
cambo1200 I've never heard so much tire squeezing in one video
cambo1200 👍💯
Have you ever been on a cruise?
What do you expect, it was 1983, genius.
Go to Jenny Craig.
You'll see it daily.
I haven't heard so many tires squealing so badly while going so slow since.....well.....the 80s.
+1000 m8
Steven D blame hard rubber, tiny wheel and tire sizes and primitive suspensions.
vector6977 yep, we've come a long way.
Steven D I would disagree on that last statement
hahah the good old days where you sounded fast but couldn't get out of your own way!
Man I love the old G bodies, I'll take that Hurst Olds right now!
John Crosetto lol. Something tells me you can have lll the hurst olds your garage can hold. I really don't think anyone is going to compete with you
The darkest days of the American auto.
Oh lord the Citation was agony.
Martin Espinoza it looks like it was design in a geriatric center by old buzzers !
Martin Espinoza
The x-11 lol
Remember the one that was 2 front halves welded back to back and could be driven at either end?
That was a bucket of chuckles there.
had one of those things lol
Wow, look how young he is. Same great voice.
My only question is how did the executives at GM get crack in Michigan when it had barely been introduced in Los Angeles around the same time .
I remember seeing Chevy Celebrities everywhere, actually still see a few rolling around.
My neighbor had a beige one until they moved 5 years ago
You must not be in the Rust belt! Those things would be dust by now.
You are a celebrity with those.,
Yeah, but like Amber Heard... nobody likes you.
it didn't really feel like I was watching a video from the distant past, until he said "write us" at the end. When was the last time you wrote someone a letter?
Bradford Hart I never have tho I was born in 1998... sooo yeeaaahhh
TheDude Your avatar is fantastic.
TheDude lol I thought it was an eyelash on my screen. I swiped it 3 times lmao.
Bradford Hart I received a letter just 6 months ago. I myself wrote several letters also, while i was locked up for breaking my fuckin nosy neighbors jaw!
a lost art. must admit handwriting a letter for or to someone, idk seems more sincere vs email
I was a proud owner of a 83 s10 blazer with the powerful 2.8l v6. It was such a powerhouse that cruising on flat interstate at 65, it would have to downshift to maintain speed. It was totally gutless. I don't know which set GM back farther, the 2.8L v6 or the 5.7 diesel made from the 350 block. Then there is the Cadillac Cimarron. You too can have the European luxury of an early 80's cavalier. You know that car had Mercedes, BMW and the rest quaking in fear. What a sad time for the US carmakers.
Yep, had an '83 S10 extended cab with the 2.8. No guts, but it was completely reliable. Always thought the 4.3 was just right for it.
@@qwertyuiop3455 Agreed. I don't know if the 4.3 was that great or just that much better than the 2.8 though. The 4.3 has had a great run though.
The Cavalier, Skyhawk, 2000/Sunbird and the Cimarron were all re-badgings on the same J body. My mom bought a Sunbird brand new in '84 and it was fun to drive. Wish I could find one now and restore it.
Damn that Coupe Deville was nice!
@ 15:18 the Coupe DeVille belches out a huge cloud of black exhaust.
That's when they thought it was cool to roll coal, haha
It was a diesel
That was the infamous crappy 5.7 diesel that was smoking. They had much worse problems than smoking.
Tony, is too many options a bad thing? All we have now is 4 doors. Remember when all compact cars had 2 door, 4 door, wagon and hatch options like the Cavalier? The A bodies? Even the land yachts came in 2 door, 4 door and wagon trim.
I miss the days of variety and think that option is a good thing. Remember when the camry/Corolla came in a 2 door and a wagon? Now It's only 4 doors. The Civic used to have a wagon, hatch, and a 4 door. Now it's just a 4 door jellybean.
kirbyswarp 100percent facts
Civic currently come in 2 and 4 door, and hatch. Corrolla comes in 4 dr and wagon.
I remember my dad had 2 Olds 98 COUPES. Them was some big heavy doors! How 'bout Coupe DeVille? Remember when cars had engine options? In the '70s I was exposed to so many configs of the same '60s cars. You could get a Nova with an I6 or V8s from 283 to 396 (COPO 427, like Yenko) In 1982, when I bought my first NEW car, I had such a long list of options to customize my Z/28. Mine had manual windows & locks, but power mirrors and 4-wheel disks. You might think 1983 cars were crap, but the F-bodies were a big improvement over the '82s, which were the first year of 4rd gen.
GM was a mess in the 80s. WAY too many car lines and variants all chasing the same customers.
Chevy, Pontiac, Buick, and Olds all with the same platforms with multiple body styles. 2 door sedans, 4 door sedans, 2 door hatchbacks, 4 door wagons.. Did we really need 16+ J body variants? And that’s just one platform! There were still another 9 or 10 to go.
Variety is the spice of life
"Let's see how their marriage is going"
Not. Well.
"Truck/wagon" oh yeah, this was before SUVs were known as SUVs.
Ya. Before this your option was a Jeep® or that large Ford Bronco thing.
Broncos were nice.
There was the International Harvester Scout too.
@@DTD110865 The IHC Travelall too. You know what GM ripped off to make the Suburban
@@J-1410 the Suburban has been around since the 30s.... The Travelall came out in the 50s...
The 4.3 liter came out in1988. It was a great power plant in the s10 truck
the cimmiron: (and a lot of other gm products at the time but by no means the only guilty party)
should be hung on a wall at corporate for an example of why badge engineering is WRONG on so many levels.
Wow, it was an entirely different scene in '83! Pontiac and Oldsmobile were still around, and absolutely NOBODY thought they would be discontinued! Those small cars were nothing compared to the ones we have today! There was no Bluetooth, no cell phone plug ins (or cell phones, period!) and no touch screens or back-up cameras! It's also amazing how the compact pickups changed. Today, the Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon come in Crew Cab models that hold up to five full-grown men, and they're as large as a full-size '83 Chevy pickup! I remember the Eldorado/Riviera/Toronado trio, and it was hard to believe they were still being made. A Riviera convertible was pace car at the 1983 Indy 500. GM was still pretty much "old GM" even in '83! Now look at GM in 2017! Times really have changed!
If you’re putting 5 full grown men in any current mid size truck they better be full grown little people.
The late 70s and early 80s were truly the dark ages of automotive design. Little technological advancement the past 20 years plus hideous styling . . . really unsurprising how GM lost so much market share.
Lol
High style road holding.... that almost made me pass out from laughing do hard
I find it funny that MotorWeek had nice words for the Cadillac Cimarron, while consumers pretty much universally took one look at it and said "nope, nothing but an overpriced and rebadged Cavalier".
Because it wasn't a bad car, it was a bad Cadillac!
When the word SUV hadn't been invented yet. They called the S10 a truck\station wagon.
I was working at Oldsmobile when the last 442 Hurst Olds came out.
With those cars, I'm not surprised people turned to Japan for their next vehicle.
Chris C. Plenty of 86-89 Camry's and Corolla's exist. My 89 crx exists. And my friends 88 Civic, 85 AE86. Another friend of mine has a 79 Datsun, 86 280Z and two 88 300ZX's. One 87 MR2 and an 89 MR2. Additionally, one other friend, for no reason at all, owns 5 Mazda RX-7's from 87 - 90. Also my 1990 Acura Legend exists.
blaknoizee sorry dude but i drive a hundred miles a day around the phoenix metro area and i notice cars. I never see those cars but i see tons of ford and gm cars and trucks from 80s and 90s. We have a huge amount of people from mexico here and all they drive are old cars but never see any Japanese. I think its interesting how many friends you have with cars of that vintage. What are you part of a 80s Japanese car club? Japanese car lovers i found tend to stretch the truth.
Chris C. Are you part of an 80's GM club? Why is that question relevant? You metro does not have a high concentration of those types of cars. Go somewhere else. I'm on Ohio and happen to own an old Japanese car. There are plenty if u look. There are plenty of every manufacture really, except euro it seems. Probably due to expense of ownership.
It is like you took offense to me just stating what is around my area. Head south to "southern fresh" and you will again find a high concentration of Japanese cars in the southern strip of our country. Or in Washington State and NO California. Arizona may just not have it. So u won't see it.
Chris C. Also, on craigslist you can clearly find many older cars available for sale in that era. Nearly rust free. Rust kills our cars here so it is even rarer to find these older machines. Japanese cars at that time were built to prove to America that they were reliable and reputable. Which is why the market share changed in Japans favor. The motors were quality built, the chassis were built well. My crx and legend still have their original engine and transmissions. My CRX even has its factory front rotors with 171k on them and wheel bearings. Same for my Legend.
Scott K True, but remember that Japan was also producing some junk at this time also. (And didn't have competing vehicles for each class) It wasn't until the late 80's that the US caught up though, and in alot of ways, it was just too late since Japan had by then introduced cars like the Legend and Cressida.
2019 here. Somehow GM got through the eighties and is still in business.
Ford and Chrysler were no better.
Tax dollars
Some of the worst cars ever produced
thats what i said
How dare you insult a 350 cubic inch V8 that only puts out 105 horsepower on 93 octane fuel!
you talk as if high octane fuel actually adds horsepower, also you mean 305 v8 lol
Thank california and net HP
Andrew Clearly, you've never run real gas. Apparently, you also don't understand that 1983 gasoline was higher quality than today's watered-down garbage. And, to top it off, you don't know what engines were actually available in the GM model lines.
That Riviera convertible is gorgeous. The T-Type is even better. It was fantastic in snow with the front wheel drive.
Now you know why 80’s movie car chases were so good!
46 mpg highway for the shitty Olds diesel? LMAO! Whose ass did they pull these ratings from?
Their own. It was the 80s. Fuel millage numbers were complete bullshit.
...plus those diesel engines were derived from gas engines and most all ended up failing...I know my dads Bonneville diesel did
i remember. my parents. bought. a 91gmc Jimmy. with. a 4.3.v6 i loved. that. little. truck... it had a digital. dash display. and would. light. up the tires. so easy.
wow those Pontiacs with 4 doors look like a firebird from the front
but it's just a cavalier or citation with extra plastic... In the pontiac 'performance' tradition.
"Diesel power" was the biggest oxymoron of the 80s
My mother used to own a 1983 Pontiac 2000 and it was the worst car she's ever had, we've thought it would be a better car than her 1980 Chevette but unfortunately we were wrong.
My good friend and neighbor had a 79 Chevette with an auto. It wouldn't do more than 70 with 2 aboard. We went from Chicago to Springfield 1 time and she just kept her foot to the floor the entire time just to keep up with traffic, while that car shaked and rattled like a dog shitting a peach pit. I thought for sure we wouldn't make it on the way home!
The 2.8L in the Blazer wouldn't out run a fat man walking. The 4.3L was a life saver later on. I'm not a gm fan, but can't argue against the 4.3L. Great motor with the TBI
Man, those Cadillacs were absolutely lovely... right up until 14:47 ... What the hell were they thinking with that thing?
They weren't
I miss the old cars...much easier to work on and prettier, I LOVE the tornado with the coffin nose hood
Did that truck/station wagon thing ever catch on?
Um yeah... ever hear of an SUV?
lol
Lol yes it appears to have caught on and dominated the market. These folks never saw it coming, especially since the minivan craze began the very next year with the Caravans
Joe Williston rd
How in the hell do you shift that Oldsmobile with the three levers? I was looking most forward to that part and we only got a few fleeting seconds on it.
+jflow08 It's why I clicked. I've seen them in person, but never knew how they worked.
+Push Back Argghh.
Anybody??
It's suppose to shift like a drag car. You put all 3 down then shift up starting with the far right lever-then middle-then left lever.
dstarks80 That feature alone is reason for it to be shown in detail by a car show. In all my years of driving, I've never come across a production car that had anything close to that.
This is when GM began taking platform sharing to a really extreme degree. And it didn't turn out too well. And that Hurst/Olds made my tongue hard in 83 and it's hard now...and I'm Ford guy...
The 6000-STE....there's your car right there.
I always liked the S-10 line back then. The 4.3 V6 in later years were bulletproof.
Wow these cars really bring back memories. I had a sunbird with the 2.0 OHC engine. It was my first car.
Very cool 83 Hurst Olds, pretty rare now. Same for the 83 Monte Carlo SS.
people watched this 33 years ago, and then decided to go buy a toyota
Go watch the videos for the 83 Toyota's, they're even bigger pieces of garbage. Well actually they're even smaller, under-powered, pieces of garbage.
@@rodmunch69 OK I admit they are underpowered but weren't junk.
Probably
The Cadillac's are bad ass.......Just not with any 4.1
Curious if you guys have a Mid-90's Cadillac Eldorado review? That would be interesting to see
Man, automobile lineups were a mess in the 80s. Way too many options >_>
TonyisGaming i like many options that way everyone has a unique car!
Though the options we're mostly just slightly different versions of the same basic platform. I really doubt it costed them all that much money to do it and gave them a pretty decent shotgun like method of car production, fire enough products off and your bound to hit some targets.
I don't think any of the more expensive engineering changed from car to car, which I doubt could be done today.
Nowadays they usually only have a few cars per platform vs the 16 J-bodys
Drakilicious
Throw some faux wood grain around the dash and door panels and sign me up.
And velour.
There must be velour.
Lol not 😂
Tonyisgaming hana
I miss having such a diverse lineup. Now, a crossover or a pickup truck.
I love these MW Retro Reviews -- the good, bad, and ugly. That was a 15 minute encapsulation of the worst cars America has ever produced. What on earth was GM doing, let alone thinking, back then. Every single one of those cars -- with the possible exception of the forthcoming re-designed Corvette -- was a monstrosity in engineering, craftsmanship, and reliability. Every brand under the GM badge was basically selling the same car with a different name. Why do you need 10 versions of a Chevy Celebrity? What kind of ridiculous financial sense did that make? That last clip of one of those land yachts spewing black Diesel exhaust out of the tailpipe when the driver was flooring it around a turn was the perfect ending and summed up the 1980s for GM rather perfectly.
UDPride I pretty much agree with everything you said except the g bodies were good cars until they were phased out...
As were the B Bodies that they showed. I daily drive one with 250,000 miles with no trouble.
Yes these cars were hideous and under powered but i will give them an A+ in comfort.
Those soft plush seats and soft ride. Would lull you to sleep if you were a kid riding in the back seat.
Darn you Motorweek and your Retro Reviews! Now I'll be watching UA-cam all night.
All proven to be garbage..kinda cool watching these old reviews though..lol..talk em up mannnn talk em up..only thing i would want is a monte carlo or a cutlas supreme from 83-86 or so.cutlass was nice..that hurst olds with lighting shifter is kick ass, hard to find car, only seen 1 in person
The big Caddys are really really beautiful.
Can anyone identify the song that starts at 0:59? I thought it might be a track from Network Music's "Technology Age" album, but it doesn't appear to be.
I have no idea why, but I find a lot of these late 70's/early 80's cars fascinating. It's something about how gimmicky they are, with stuff like the "econo-minder" or the digital gauges, and for some of them I love the looks alone. I guess I'm just weird.
same here brother
haha, i like their look too. sure, they're gaudy, but i think that's part of the charm. i won't say anything for engineering or performance, though.
It's all just a little bit of history repeating.
Its called the "so bad that its good" effect.
DELCO Bose??? that just screams CRAP
Those were good... Way better than previous stock systems.
Come on Bose is a great company. That create high-quality products
Actually they were good. Don’t arbitrarily judge things you know nothing about
I owned a 1983 Cadillac Sedan DeVille with the 4.1 engine. The worst car ever made. The car was a dog. I could have walked faster up most hills. I replaced the engine with a new 4.1 at under 100,000 miles. I replaced the paint, vinyl roof, leather interior, wheels, transmission, entire A/C system, braking system, and tires at an overall cost of about $20,000.00. In less than a year after, I was rear ended by a girl who was putting a tape into her cassette player and didn't notice me stopped in front of her.
I had a sedan deville with that 4.1. And I know what you mean. It sucked driving it on freeway so slow lol
27 mpg city and 46 mpg highway???!!!! New cars don't even do that!!!!
You forget how much anti-pollution equipment bogs down gas-mileage. After the 2001 Honda Insight, the car with the best out of factory gas mileage was the 1987 Chevy Spectrum.
bentley4l they forgot to tell you, you have to turn the engines off in traffic jams, and coasting down hills with the engines turned off while coasting down mountains
I got news for ya. Those didn't either.
55mph speed limit and 14-17 second 0-60 times. New cars don't do that either. Fuel is blended very differently now and emmision standards tighter. My aunt's ciera got a legit 43 mpg on road trips @ 65. 46 mpg at a steady 55 was probably feasible under the right conditions
In 1983 cars weren't bogged down with so much roll over/crash standard extra steel, and there were not miles of cable for every Govt. mandated camera and sensor and air bag and power EVERYTHING that's standard on most cars now.
I've owned a few of those. Just like going down memory lane! Thank you!!
6:22 look at the appalling fit and finish of the hood on a brand new Chevy...
Watching this video made me think. At this time, GM was already dealing with the Olds Diesel fiasco, and chose to add the Cadillac HT4100 to their list. They must have had their hands full dealing with problems and warranty repairs. Dark days for GM indeed. I would not want to have been a car buyer at that time. Think I would have just given up and bought something older.
Isn't it funny you hardly see ANY of those FWD GMs anymore, except for the occasional Cavalier wagon. But I still see tons of those old RWD 80s GMs.
Torque Effect malibu are like rocks on wheels
Torque Effect I see many of them. In barns, behind farm houses without any paint left, I see plenty with trees under the hoods instead of engines. Man they make wonderful flower planters
I see some of those fwd 80s gm cars at dollar tree parking lots
Turds like the Aztek contributed to Pontiac's demise.
Fascinating to watch these now, its great they have been preserved and I got to witness the birth of KIT from Knight Rider!!
Olds cutless supreme only nice car here
So why is it the sedans look ancient but the Camaro and Trans Am look new? It's like they couldn't make up their mind to embrace past or future.
I never understood how they can take an opel ascona, and instead of using that body, they made these chernobyl aberrations.
The S10's, camaro, and firebirds were true gems in the 80's!
5:14 Really GM? You expected to successfully compete against the Supra, Scirocco, and Prelude......with that thing? HAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!!!
whateverdgaf i laughed so hard at that. GM sure had high self esteem xD
whateverdgaf
I'd pull a plug wire or 2 on my old mk1 gti so I wouldn't embarrass them so bad, let em think they had a chance
i know, look at the rear inside wheel, it locks up under the braking :P
whateverdgaf The first time I watched this I literally burst out laughing too. Having owned both an 85 Scirocco and an 84 Prelude I can't begin to imagine cross shopping, either new or used, with a POS J-body. Never mind performance, just on looks alone. Then again we're talking about the same company who thought BMW buyers would be interested in the Cimmaron.
whateverdgaf you like it
Those engines were all dogs. BUT at least the Gbodies, S-10s and Fbodies from that era make a good starting point for a cheap fast car (easy to build a 600+ hp SBC on the cheap these days). Those FWD GM cars are only worth their weight as scrap to be turned into rebar!
I make you glad to know you didn't have to live in the 80s with cars like these on the streets.
If I was my age now back in the 80s, I would have given these cars absolutely ZERO consideration. I'd be looking at Japanese cars just like I do today. Although, that Hurst/Olds is badass.
GT6SuzukaTimeTrials Japanese cars back then weren't exciting back then either, just more reliable...
Patrick Simmons CRX and MR2 would like a word with you.
Riceboy lol the 80s Corvettes and F-bodies were garbage except for the turbo Trans Am.
Its evident I'm trying to communicate with a total douchebiscuit that knows next to nothing about cars...I'm out...hurry up Mommy's telling you to take a bath and gobto bed...SLAP
How red is your neck exactly?
It is so weird to see car reviews talk about front wheel drive like that. You can sense that it seemed new and special at the time where as now the goal of many car guys are to find cars with rear wheel drive. Fasinating.
As always, Pontiac's cars are the best looking.
@@Thugman98 - I always thought of Pontiac as the rebellious teenager of the GM family. LOL
83 i believe was the worst year for GM, that was the year of everything was a pay option,.. ash trays, lighter outlets, knobs... you had cars with empty holes all over them because no one was forking out fifty bucks for an ash tray.
Imagine how demeaning it would be to have to take out a loan to buy one of these shitboxes. These were bad, ugly cars. Except the Riviera. That's a straight-up gangster car.
Buick Riviera $25K in 1983 = about. $64K today. Damn. Yeah they were fairly nice in their time, but seriously who the hell would spend that kind of money on a Buick.
12:14...wonder what kind of car those hideous seats came out of.
I remember that year well. It’s hilarious now that they’re making such a big deal out of front wheel drive!
The Cimarron...junk, junk, junk!
If GM only knew what they were about to face with those diesel engines. If they only knew what was coming.
+Push Back
For the trucks with the 350 diesel V8, a late-1980s 4.3 V6 was likely an upgrade, LOL.
And the 6.2 diesel V8 has roughly the same amount of torque as the late-1980s 4.3 gasoline V6! The N/A diesels suck...
No kidding. They couldn't predict rock bottom gas prices, efficient gas engines, and American's lack of interest with diesels.
I have never seem a diesel s10 I never even knew they existed! pretty cool! where they turbo? 4-stroke or 2?
I owned an 1983 Suburban with the 6.2 diesel. It's truly incredible how slow it was. 130 horsepower trying to move a 7000 pound truck will straight axles and leaf springs at all four corners. It was so bad that it couldn't maintain overdrive on the highway on a windy day. It would literally have to shift down into 3rd gear to maintain highway speed. It was certainly reliable though; I had 550K on mine before I rebuilt it.
Ward413 growing up a buddy's dad had an 86 Ford diesel.
Idk I was young, but it was extended cab bla bla ...
slow as all heck, but put a 30' airstream behind it and it didn't get much slower , it was odd.
GM has some decent looking cars. The diesel V8 was a major lemon.
Thankfully I was in the 3rd grade when this aired. I unfortunately had to ride in some of them, not buy em.
suzigti92 You could have walked...SLAP!
I was in 8th grade, rode in many of these cars, and drove my grandparents 82 Buick as a daily for 10 years as well as owned a 84 S-10 Blazer for many years.
3:21, the epitome of GM 80's garbage.
+James Last That thing was gorgeous! Okay, just kidding.
@@javierjosechavezbenitez3707 why? You've owned one? You don't know
Hahahaha. Yeah that's true. Hunk of junk
Those cars were all so horribly built. Nowadays a 5-10 year old car is still reasonable transportation, although I remember by 1991 the 1985 Pontiac 6000 STE my parents had was very much on its last legs. We also had a 1981 Chevy Citation X-11 that the doors started to rust from the inside out by 1983. I think the only GM product we owned that was halfway decent was either the 1982 S-10 pickup or the Astro Van, the latter of which was horrible to drive, but at least didn't fall apart.
+Kevin MacNutt Yeah I remember my moms old '88 Cavalier that she bought new being rusted out at the bottom and dead in the driveway when it was probably only 5-6 years old. She traded it for a new '94 or '95 Chevy Beretta Z26.
The absolute worst generation of American cars ever. Total crap.
GM owns all these brands yet many of them look exactly the same, they should have retired some of the brands and focused on just a few while improving them more
The best of beta max 240 aspect ratio.
Love how they called the S10 Blazer a Truck/Stationwagon. I guess the term SUV didn't exist yet 😃
I see a bunch of people commenting on how terrible these cars were and how it was the darkest period. I was there, so I can tell you, the 1983 lineup was a big step up from 1980.
"And Buick has some kinda' turbo G-body Regal sports coupe." In 2 years EVERY gear head will know what the hell that Regal sport coupe is.
As bad as those cars were, they well handling masterpieces of modern design compared to the boatmobiles from the 70's. As an 80's child, I can still remember seeing old 70's cars bobbing up and down in the lane next to me on the highway, and see-sawing when they pulled out of parking lots.
ClayPF That may be true but there is nothing like floating down the road in style then there came the " good handling cars" ugly and boxy.
With one hand on the wheel, and the other holding up the sagging roofliner.
ClayPF one hand on the wheel and the other holding a can of Budweiser
ClayPF My 1992 Cadillac sedan deville drives like that a complete floater boat. And I love it! I hate driving new cars. They ride like they have cement bags for suspension. They stay completely flat when stopping accelerateing or turning. I don't mind body lean or pitching. I find it helps you feel how hard you're taking a turn or how hard your applying the brakes or accelerator. I learned to take long and gentle stops to lessen the nose dive. In a panic stop once, the front plate bracket scraped the ground. If I bought a newer car I would have to install softer springs. My car has factory air bag suspension.
GM Monza no Brasil
the 3.8 was a great motor and these cars are ten times prettier than today's ugly plastic bubbles
Twaddles McGee while new cars are hideous, you must be hellen keller if you think these are pretty
eat shit twatwaffle we all have our opinions and like assholes most stink...go watch your hero Trump
Twaddles McGee trump is everyones hero dickface