Was 1980 the worst automotive year ever?

[Klaralven]

Quick, what’s the worst year in American automotive history?

...

No, it's 1980. With the arrival of the second OPEC Oil Embargo the year before, a recession took hold of the country. Sales of US-made cars came in at 6.58 million units, down 20 percent from 1979, as import automakers claimed a 26.1 percent market share, up from 21.2 percent in 1979. Ford lost a record $1.5 billion as domestic sales plunged 33 percent and worldwide sales declined 29 percent. Chrysler, having lost $2 billion in the past year and a half, was in such bad shape that banks wouldn’t lend it money. Instead, Congress did, providing a $1.5 billion loan guaranteed by the federal government. Even General Motors was hit by a $763 million loss, the company’s first since 1921.

But bad numbers alone don’t earn 1980 the title of 'Worst Automotive Year Ever.' Having to engineer cars with new technology for the first time in decades, the Big Three struggled to meet the unprecedented demand for small fuel-efficient cars. And in the face of profits and market share declining, Detroit responded by, frankly, fielding some of the worst cars it has ever produced.

Why did it come to this? In short, the bean counters triumphed—though, of course, the full picture is a touch more complicated than that. To truly grasp the rock bottom that US automakers hit in 1980, you need to rewind a few years earlier and understand the global trends these titans of industry were simply unequipped to handle.

First, though, you can see the proof by looking at the pudding: consider the legendarily woeful cars of 1980 themselves.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2021/11/was-1980-the-worst-automotive-year-ever/

[Boomerproud]

1. My 1st car was a lime green 1972 Ford Pinto.

Need I say more?

[TygrBright]

2. I still have the very fondest memories of my 1972 Nova...

I nearly bankrupted the local Midas dealership - they put FOUR free replacement mufflers on that car.

Practically everything but the chassis and the drive train fell off that car at some point or other, including the rearview mirror, the hood, two window roller handles, the side mirror, and the steering wheel (while I was parallel parking, no less).

Damn' thing never stopped running, though, not even in Minnesota winters when I had to run out and shove a screwdriver in the butterfly valve to get it to start.

Those were the days....

reminiscently,
Bright

[Klaralven]

4. Had a '68 Pontiac and a '71 Plymouth that were pretty OK. The '81 Buick Century was a mistake

Step on the gas. Lurch into the intersection. And die.

Transmission failed at about 14,100 miles.

[myohmy2]

5. and...

...you lived to tell abut it...

...

[Boomerproud]

12. Lol! I just had to respond to you.

Amazing how resilient we were when we were young.

[gay texan]

3. The Oldsmobile diesel

The Dodge Aspen, Ford Granada, and the Chevy Citation.

And what ever AMC thought was a great idea....

But I'm glad the American Automakers went through that period. At the end of the 1980's we had some truly great cars and trucks. They got a handle on fuel injection.

1986/1987 Buick Grand National comes to mind. That car was scary damn fast. It was ahead of its time: distributorless ignition, SFI injection and a real intercooler. With some light tuning, this little grocery getter V-6 would get into the mid 12's on the quarter mile.

[MenloParque]

6. 1980 Pontiac Trans Am Turbo V8

My first brand new car. Had cherry bombs welded on and i thought I was a bad bitch cruising down Sunset Blvd with a Newport hanging out of my mouth! I miss those days.

[Polybius]

13. It was slow as molasses for a TA though

210 hp, one of the lowest (if not the lowest) year ever.

[Aristus]

7. Growing up in the early 1970's my family always owned foreign cars.

VW's and Volvos, mostly. Our very first brand-new American-made car was a 1978 Ford LTD. We never stopped having problems with it. It was a bit of a lemon.

[Best_man23]

8. The Malaise Era of Cars was going strong before 1980.

However, 1980 was the zenith year of the Malaise Era.

Cadillac's 8-6-4 engine, the 5.7 Olds Diesel, Buicks and Oldsmobiles that had horrendous transmission issues, and of course, the GM X Body. Techs I worked with who were on the line in 1980 told horror stories of the X-body's fastener studs meant to hold the steering rack and pinion in place backing out of their fittings or simply snapping off at the firewall. As tight as the engines were shoehorned in, replacing these studs was a Class 5 Mo-Fo. During this year, GM also began rolling out their computer control systems in select cars, which had their own issues.

Ford was not much better. The variable venturi carburetor, which, if you see one of these on eBay, buy it if you're into collecting automotive history. The only person who would intentionally mount one of these creations of Satan on an engine is someone who truly dislikes themselves (those Ford variable venturi carburetors were THAT BAD). Of course, the underpowered Mustang and the Pinto that had that rear end collision issue everyone knows about also added to the Malaise Era suffering.

Chrysler had issues with many of their late 1970s cars. I still remember the wiper blades on my parents 1978 Volare, which they had owned for less than a year, stopping in the middle of the windshield during a monster Florida downpour. The mounting financial issues Chrysler was experiencing only made things worse. It took the local Chrysler dealer almost four months to get the part needed to fix my parent's car.

Fortunately, by the mid-1980s things were beginning to improve a bit. Ford launched the Fox body Mustang with a Holley carburetor equipped 302 V-8 and five speed manual. GM had the Gen 3 Camaro and Firebird, along with the C4 Corvette, all available with V-8s and Tuned Port fuel injection. As mentioned in another post, Buick had taken their trusty V-6, married it to a turbocharger in a G-body platform, and went out and blew the doors off many Mustangs, Camaros, and Firebirds. Chrysler had emerged from their financial difficulties and launched the K-car platform along with the minivan, which eventually spelled the death of the station wagon.

[boston bean]

9. I drove a monza, a horizon, and a reliant.

The horizon caught fire front passenger side. Drove it for quite a while without a front passenger seat!

It was a two door. So when passenger got in they sat in the back! LOL

Oh the good old days!

[blueinredohio]

10. Yes it was a bad year.

I worked for G.M. and got laid off for 5 YEARS.

[hardluck]

11. Loved my 1980 Honda Civic

Bought it used to commute to UCLA. Wasn’t as fun as the 70 Camaro I had in high school but I couldn’t afford the gas for the commute from Burbank to Westwood. Kept the Camaro though until I finally sold it in 2010.

[EX500rider]

14. While i agree in general, the '78 Mustang was a POS compared to the '80

1978
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1980


I really liked my 4sp '83 GT, last year of the 4 barrel before the fuel injection & computer
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