As is often the case with the cheapest new cars, nobody expected very much of the Ford Festiva. When new, it was a bottom-feeder. It was a cut above similarly cheap cars like the Hyundai…
Posts tagged Cars of the 1980s
Lincoln Town Car FN36: A Land Yacht For The 1990s
“We had an established identity that we wanted to keep, but … how do you do that and make the car look fresh and new?” said Gale Halderman in 1989. He was talking to the…
Hyundai Excel: From Small Beginnings
You see Hyundais everywhere now, and the Korean giant is light years away from its origins as a bargain-bin brand, but it’s rare to see one of the early Hyundais. They were cheap cars (which…
Peugeot 305: The Inflection Point
1.7 million of them were made and the car was a staple of European roads for decades. And yet, few people ever seem to talk about the Peugeot 305. It was an excellent family car….
Mk3 Honda Prelude: The Prelude Perfected
When the second-generation Honda Prelude came along, it defined the car. Sure, the first generation had been modestly successful, but the sedate Mk1 Prelude always drew complaints that it wasn’t fast enough or sharp enough….
Nissan Stanza T11: The Wallflower
First things first. 1. “Sport” is definitely a misnomer here. 2. No, you can’t save this yellow car, these are old photos and this car has long since shuffled off to beer-can land. Too bad…
1982 Buick Riviera: Convertible Comeback
American convertibles had been all but dead for six years when, at the Chicago Auto Show in February, 1982, Buick debuted a brand new droptop Riviera.
AlfaSud Ti: The Pocket Rocket
If Starsky and Hutch had been from Napoli instead of Bay City, this is how they would have rolled – in a striped, souped up AlfaSud Ti. The front-drive AlfaSud wasn’t quite as tail-happy as…
BMW Z1: The Ultimate Dreaming Machine
The tall sides and wedge shape may say “eighties,” but the BMW Z1 still looks like the future even 30+ years after it broke cover. Z is for zukunft – German for future – and…
1987-93 Pontiac LeMans: Partners at Odds
It seemed like a great idea – take a respected small car designed in Germany, where engineers know about good dynamics and quality cars, manufacture it cheaply in South Korea, then sell it in America…
Infiniti M30: The Leopard’s Different Spots
It was new to Americans, but the Infiniti M30 was almost half a decade old when it first appeared in what were then brand new Infiniti showrooms in 1990. Baseball-loving Japanese would refer to the…
Subaru Justy: The Little Guy
It was basic transportation in the eyes of American consumers. As small a car as you could get, with as small an engine as many of them could remember. The Subaru Justy, which arrived on…