1980 quality cars?

[rydfree]

Back story: I can tell you exactly what happened. During this period of time manmade diamond entered the arena. The Japanese were the first to get onboard with implementation of this. It’s also when aluminum entered the scene. High in silica and magnesium. The diamond tooling allows precise tolerances never seen along with finishes that were better than anything before it. What this did was allow far better finished products that would last a very long time. It cost less to machine as tooling life was superior to anything before it. The American auto makers we’re getting their lunch handed to them. That is until they adopted the same technology along with CNC machines to make the parts. I handled the very first manmade diamond back in the mid 70’s. I made tooling using natural diamond back then so I pretty much knew what needed to be done. Later on in mid 80’s we started our own company that specialized in diamond tooling for auto manufacturers, aerospace, and general industrial uses. We were only 1 of 6 business in the country that did this work. I had more business than I knew what to do with. It was in the 90’s when the bottom dropped out. Manufacturing in the US went offshore and so did my business. Company still exists today but I sold out back in late 90’s as I saw the writing on the wall. Today polycrystalline diamond is very common and is used exclusively in all types of non ferrous machining

This was a much more interesting story than mine . The 70's and man made diamonds brings back only one memory , NEVER let your girlfriend find out her ring was cubic zirconia !

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[Dgc333]

If you want to read a good book about the American Auto Industry and specifically GM pick up a copy of;

Car Guys vs The Bean Counters by Bob Lutz

Once I started reading this book I couldn't put it down. It gets into all the failings of the US auto industries and the decisions that were made that got them there.

 

[Marpater]

IMO American manufacturers got complacent an lazy in the 70's. WWII destroyed all the factories in Japan an Germany so there were no threats to their dominance....until the rest or the world started building new factories with the latest tech. The US was caught sleeping. They enjoyed the post war boom an thought it'd never end.

A lot of the problems I remember from the 80's was electronic related. Early fuel injection to reduce emissions was plagued with problems. I bought a brand new 1984 camaro an it never seemed to idle right. That was the only problem I had with it.

Imagine a car with so many problems you just named it after the problems.....The Gremlin!

Hey, my former wife had one of those when we were dating, inline 6 (230 I believe) with a 3 speed on the floor, the only issue that car had was rust, but didn't they all back then.

 

[Marpater]

Car Guys vs The Bean Counters by Bob Lutz

In early 2000's I was the engineering lead for the company who built the paint shop for the Hummer II, on completion of that project I walked Bob Lutz around the paint shop giving him a personal tour. I also shook Arnold Schwarzenegger hand, he purchased the first unit off the assembly line. Now you want to talk about a completely useless vehicle......
If anyone is interested I have a plant serialized plant dedication plaque in slate with the H2 etched on it with the date the plant was opened

 

[Marpater]

Imagine the titles of threads in automotive forums if that was today! ?

Wouldn't that be fun, I remember the Chrysler 383, every time it rained the damn thing wouldn't start, you had to take the distributor cap off, bring it into the house and put it in the oven to dry the moisture off. I had a 69 Mach I fast back, the doors and the rear spring mounts about rotted right off, before it was T boned by a driver who didn't see a stop sign.

 

[9zero1790]

as bad as they were i still have soft spot for some of the 70- 80s cars and trucks. my favorite f150 body styles are that time frame.

 

[DakotaGuy]

Thanks for making the point....
The Pinto was one of the ten best cars in automotive history. Certainly more reliable than a Corrolaskate!

One of the 10 best cars in all of automotive history? Can I have some of what you're smoking?

There were certainly worse cars then the Pinto, but you have to be the only person in the entire world that would put the Pinto with it's wheezy smogged up 4 banger, questionable build quality, and defective fuel tank on a top 10 list. Unreal.

 

[MountainGoat]

All of the manufacturers built some real turds around 1980, but only one can be credited with actually destroying a corporation. Although it took 29 years after the introduction of an abomination of an automobile to drive General Motors into bankruptcy all roads lead to one vehicle…

The 1980 Chevy Citation and related X-body cars. Everything that went wrong for GM can be traced back to that one moment in time.

I took a read through that story and it's pretty damn ridiculous, especially the part about GM hand-building "Super-Citations" for automotive journalists. So reviews said it was better than a BMW, but when customers bought one it immediately started falling apart if it didn't crash first. Despicable.

 

[Floyd]

The only problem with this statement was that the Dodge Little Red Express Truck was built from '78-'79. The '87 on 5.0L Mustang and the 5.7L Trans Am and Camaro would have beat the Little Red Express Truck. For the fastest, I would agree with the GN GNX or the 20th Anniversary Trans Am with the GNX motor.

The GN GNX was quick enough, but not fast, being limited to 120MPH top end.
OH! And the high inflation was through 1980, then we got adult leadership and brought it under control.
Right now... its DEJA VU all over again!
Hope for the adults to return soon!

 

[Floyd]

One of the 10 best cars in all of automotive history? Can I have some of what you're smoking?

There were certainly worse cars then the Pinto, but you have to be the only person in the entire world that would put the Pinto with it's wheezy smogged up 4 banger, questionable build quality, and defective fuel tank on a top 10 list. Unreal.

I'm a teetotaler and always sober. I'm guessing you never drove a properly equipped Pinto.
It was the winningest Roadracing car in its SCCA class history. And with over the counter mods (like shocks and tires) it was the best handling , and most reliable and durable street car on the market. The Lima 2.3 , paired with the Borg Warner 4speed in the Pinto sedan was an amazing car within the reach of ordinary buyer, and a stone riot to drive!

 

[briwill70]

My first car was a 1980 Chevette handed down to me from my parents. What a horrible piece of garbage. At only 36k miles the timing belt broke, AC stopped working and the carb had to be rebuilt. Vinyl seats were ripping and various interior parts were breaking.

 

[9zero1790]

My first car was a 1980 Chevette handed down to me from my parents. What a horrible piece of garbage. At only 36k miles the timing belt broke, AC stopped working and the carb had to be rebuilt. Vinyl seats were ripping and various interior parts were breaking.

i havent seen one of those on the road since about 1990! they didnt last long lol. id say the newer version of the throw away cars as i call them, was the chevy cobalt and its equivalent. i never see a cobalt any more and those are not that old.

 

[Markubis]

I had a 1980 Mercury Capri, Mercury's version of ford mustang. It ha 2.3 liter and there were vacuum hoses everywhere on that engine! They did that to try and meet epa standards using engines that were not prepared.
I eventually pulled the motor and dropped in a 302 from a 72 mustng. No more vacuum hoses! Tough part was getting it to pass emissions standards. I did it by retarding the timing ND leaning out the fuel mixture.

 

[DakotaGuy]

My first car was a 1980 Chevette handed down to me from my parents. What a horrible piece of garbage. At only 36k miles the timing belt broke, AC stopped working and the carb had to be rebuilt. Vinyl seats were ripping and various interior parts were breaking.

Here's a fun bit of trivia, the Citation only weighed 300 lbs. more then the Chevette, but was a considerably larger car.

 

[MountainGoat]

My first car was a 1980 Chevette handed down to me from my parents. What a horrible piece of garbage. At only 36k miles the timing belt broke, AC stopped working and the carb had to be rebuilt. Vinyl seats were ripping and various interior parts were breaking.

Ha! I bought one of those when I was younger for iirc $600 and drove it like a demolition derby car. It didn't last long obviously, but it did last long enough to make it to ~2000 when I got it. I'll never forget telling a girl I was trying to date that I had a Vette and showed up at her house in a Chevette. She didn't get my humor at all.

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