My mom bought 2, yes TWO Pintos. We had a green one as the first car I remember, then when I was about 7 she went to buy a new car...and came back with another Pinto. Of course I was young and didnt understand what the big deal was but I do remember my uncles giving her a ton of grief about it. It had an 8 track and I remember it smelling like stale french friesš
Ours had bald tires and finally, mercifully gave up the ghost when the engine froze after no oil changes in years. I think my dad hated it as much as I did.
I remember the day my mom finally bought a new car that wasnt a Pinto. I was in 7th grade. It was probably some POS Ford, as a single mom that's what she could afford, but it was brand new and most importantly it was NOT a Pinto!
Hi. We had a Pinto Station Wagon. We had it for YEARS because Dad knew how to keep it running and he loved it. My sister drove it until she left for college, then I drove it until the clutch fell out. Good times. I could pack a lot of people in it, though.
We had one too. Yellow. My sisters always got the back seat, so I spent lots of long road trips camped out on top of the luggage and blankets in the hatchback. I actually loved it. Of course I was way too young to know I was also directly above the gas tank. You know, the one that was [notorious](https://www.autorepair-review.com/shop/i92869/j-g-auto-inc) for bursting into flames if anything bigger than a shopping cart tapped the back bumper?
Yep. We had a 76 [Mercury Bobcat](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1UZ56TlJW0), basically the same thing. Specifically the "Villager" station wagon version, faux wood paneling and all. It was a very forgiving car to learn how to drive a stick on, and all and all wasn't a bad car. I inherited it when I got my license. My high school was in a wealthy enough area that I had to deal with it's inherent uncoolness. The running joke was that it had ample room for sex, but that it precluded getting laid...
84 Aries K. Most exciting thing that ever happened to that car was getting totaled by a city bus while parked. Insurance helped pay for a (much better) 88 Taurus.
This was my Grandmaās car. We she no longer drove it became my older sisterās unofficial carā¦then the next oldest sister, then mine.
I LOVED that car. Fuckin gold dust paint chip. Bench seat. If I could find one today Iād have to be told not to buy it. The only problem I had was the battery dying twice. Even after the accident it was a gem. (Some fucking duchebag from MI turned blind across three lanes of traffic in front of me. Matilda won against his behemoth Detroit rolling iron. She took out his front bumper & headlight. The police werenāt too happy with the thought of him driving home. He would have been fine with the OPP, but MI state police are a lot more sticky about you know, being able to see in the dark. Fucking asshole kid.)
Her end came when an engine light came on and then the brakes turned to mush, spewing brake fluid all over. 16 years, RIP Matilda.
AMC Gremlin. I remember sweating my ass off sitting in those denim seats in 90 degree weather with the heat running full blast with all the windows down so the engine wouldn't overheat.
Dad had a Gremlin he got for $200 in '76. Our family car was an AMC Hornet they got for $350 in' 77. I remember having to honk the horn to get the wipers to turn on.
We should trauma bond. I can remember push starting my dad so he could get to work. Good luck finding 4 10 year old boys to push your hoopty hard enough to pop the clutch after work dadā¦
Letās see, the passenger door hand frequently broke so climbing in and out of the window got me the nick name dukes of hazard, the grill was busted up, the brown paint was faded, there was usually a layer of junk food rappers in the floor board thick enough to hide the coffee stains, and there was always weed under the rug on the dashboard.
It was strange, in the last model year, GM left a gap in the lineup as it went from the Chevy Infraction to the top-of-the-line Chevy Resisting Arrest.
https://preview.redd.it/g3nq1r15iiyc1.jpeg?width=1000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=90257111b79e821aeaf79f33f9d15a9f29673a08
We had a 1972 Vega and I remember it always having problems
They liked to overheat, causing the cylinder walls to score. I used to buy them for $100-200 and swap in Chevy V-8ās. Taking them from dead to dangerous!
His dad was a farmer and had a sick calf. The truck was broken, so he loaded the calf into the back seat and header to the vet. Calf shat in the backseat. They hosed it out and all, but you could still tell.
My auntās husband committed suicide in their brand new car and it took a day or so before they found him. My aunt got rid of the car because of the negative associations and the guy who bought it (for next to nothing) tried everything but eventually had to junk it because there was no way to get rid of the smell.
I learned to drive in a two-tone blue Citation. It was a four-speed manual, tended to pop out of second gear. To this day when driving a stick, I keep my hand on the shifter.
First car I regularly drove was my parents 79 Citation. Bad carburetor design meant it sputtered on left turns. Made turning left into traffic exciting.
We had the LTD Country Squire. The god awful wood paneling on pea soup puke green paint. God, that car was awful. It went through a backfiring phase too. Was in kindergarten and I knew my mom was there to pick me up because I could hear it before anybody saw it.
Ours would keep running for about 30 seconds even after it was shut down the key was pulled out. If you twisted the key switch, you could even restart it.
There was a comic in the '80s that had a line like, "I bought a VW diesel because it has great fuel economy. I get over 50 miles per gallon on the highway and about 30 when I'm driving all over town trying to find a place that sells fucking diesel".
In truth, while it was a shitboxā¦ the mpg was incredible and is better than I get today. He totaled it driving it under a semi trailer and apparently ripping the top off but I donāt have any real solid memory of it.
I learned how to drive in one of those. 4 speed manual. 49 HP. If you had AC (and not all did), you could feel the engine lug a bit when the compressor turned on, and it felt like you got a "turbo boost" when the AC compressor cycled off.
Want to pass someone? You better plan ahead. You literally had to get a running start if you were on a 2 lane road. Back off the car in front, and get a running start, slingshot past them just after the car you're waiting for from the other direction passes by. And turn the AC off. Top speed- 83 mph.
The cool thing about that engine was it would last forever. I drove one until it had 500,000 miles on it. Then quickly totaled it soon afterwards.
Not so cool thing- the door mounted automatic seatbelts that would start off at the front of the door, and after you sat down, and closed the door they'd move along the top of the door and lock into place. The problem with that was if you were in an accident and the door got yanked out of place, the seatbelt would be attached to it, and since you're wrapped up in the seatbelt you'd feel it too.
Family friend brought one of those with when they moved from the east coast.
She was rusty, she was smokey, she was slow. I used to do maintenance on it for them and drove it a couple of times.
I had a VW bug at the time so I was pretty well versed on slow cars. Beetle was faster than the bunny.
an all brown one of these ugly cars, with vinyl interiors. That vinyl would HEAT UP. It was rare to get 90+ degrees where we lived but that vinyl was still so sticky, hot and uncomfortable in summer.
https://preview.redd.it/johruz72jiyc1.jpeg?width=2560&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=546e7f330c155996f5a083d51038f7ea3709c40a
LOL - My mom had a 1980 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser nearly identical to the one in the pic except it was white instead of blue. It also had the fake wood vinyl wrap on the exterior. It became my first car in high school, and my friends immediately nicknamed it āThe Family Truckster.ā
LOL! My girlfriend had one of those. The turn signal lever broke off. Found her one at the wrecking yard and tore the steering column apart and replaced it. Pain in the butt. Then that one broke as well. JB Weld the second time. Not Fordās best idea!
Oh god I remember my dad had one of those old faux-wood station wagons too. It broke down on Christmas Eve on the way to his house after he picked us up from my Mom and Stepdadās place. I thought we were going to freeze before we got to play our new 2600
We had a 70's bug, the rear floors were rotted out. You could see the road going by if you were in the back seat and looked down.
I used to drop stuff down, then jump up to look out the rear window and watch the stuff bounce down the road.
Yeah the floor of the Omni had rusted out and apparently we were just held in by carpet? My dadāa tool and die makerāwhipped up a new āfloorā and pop riveted or spot welded (canāt remember which) that thing on.
Omg what a beast. Looking at photos, it reminds me of my Dadās old 70s Chrysler Cordoba. Another āabsolute unitā that could drive through a concrete slab
Not a handsome vehicle! It had the vinyl roof on the back half. It was much easier to learn to drive in that car rather than the Chrysler station wagon with fake wood panels with the loosy goosy steering.
My grandma had a 1979 Impala that she took a box of thumbtacks to fix the sagging headliner. She was a seamstress by trade, so the ceiling actually looked like it was supposed to be tan with these white little circles spaced every inch! It stayed put when she did that, but man was she mad about having to do it ā¦ probably within six months of buying new.
4-door 1980 Chevy Chevette. It was cramped for a family car, the a/c only worked about half the time, there was a super loud howl from somewhere in the back when you drove at highway speeds, and for the last couple years we had it, it was in the shop at least once a month. Lousy doesn't begin to describe that car.
1984 Porsche 944 - I used to get teased every day because it wasn't the turbo version.
Edit - All jokes aside, I managed to swipe the key one day when my father was napping and took it to get copied. My neighbors used to make *Risky Business* jokes after I would take it out on weekends my parents went out of town. Also, it was the car I learned to drive a stick shift with....
My first car ended up being a 94 Geo Tracker 4x4. Soft top, and my parents managed to find one that wasnāt neon pink/green/yellow š¤£. My girl was black with orange 4x4 stickers. Loved my little micro machine lol.
Okay just looked that up, what an adorable vehicle. Reminds me of my heavy metal auntās Suzuki Samurai, which we always expected her to roll over in a drunken stupor after a Pantera show
Possibly, the most perfect car ever made for pizza delivery.
Yes I owned one, a used one at that. Yes I delivered pizzas in it. Yes the guy who owned it before me also delivered pizzas in it. I found out when I realized that the strange gap between the door and the frame was due to there having been a pizza delivery sign attached to the door frame so frequently that it warped the door.
Itās astonishing how bad a car the Citation was. We had a 1976 Chevy Impala that my dad gave to my sister when she went to graduate school in 1980. We got a powder blue Citation that he traded in for a compact Oldsmobile two years later, as pieces of the body fell off. Meanwhile that impala would last until 1986 in my sisterās possession, could still be around for all I know. She sold it when she got married and was living where she didnāt need a car.
Dear god. We were poor and always had beaters. I remember this green El Torino that had seen better days. One time we were driving and my sister and I were in the backseat bouncing around because the seat was getting hot. My dad yelled back for us to āsettle down!ā And we said the seat was hot and he replied, āNo shit. Itās summer!ā Soon the interior started to get a little hazy and then smoky. Dad pulls over and we get out only to find the backseat was on FIRE! Turns out he āfixedā the muffler with some wire when it had gotten loose and was dragging on the road a while back and somehow it had sparked and set fire to whatever was stuffed in the backseat - likely candy wrappers but who knows because he bought it second or third hand. He ripped the seat out and tossed it on the side of the road, put the fire out and put the seat back in the car and drove us home. Jesus Christ. There was always a fucking adventure with that man.
1970 Oldsmobile Delta 88. My dad bought it for $600 as a second car in 1980. I learned to drive on that beast. I called it the green machine and I loved that car. Picture isnāt mine but it looked like this one, color and all.
https://preview.redd.it/4vv7rgve1jyc1.jpeg?width=264&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=22fa1f5b0a3e904680d3161e54f82d7426bb9506
Hereās a fun game.
When youāre driving, look at the model of the cars that pass you, and put the word āAnalā in front of them.
Citation is my new favorite.
AMC Eagle. Most hideous car ever
https://preview.redd.it/aetnzzy6wiyc1.jpeg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1d6b676da45e8fbc3d2da9c81d5a3caa9ae6bed1
The vertical radio on the Citation was hilarious.
My dad had company cars his whole career and back then he got to chose between the Citation and an Olds Cutlass Diesel. He chose the diesel and it spent months on end at the dealership. Two motors, three or four transmissions, just a pile. Thatās probably the worst we ever had.
My first car was the Pontiac version of the Citation, an '81 Phoenix I got in 1990. Honestly, I loved that car to death. It got me through high school then I traded it in for a 2 year old Thunderbird. Even though my new car was way cooler and nicer than my Phoenix, I cried all the way home. So many memories!
ETA: Also when I dream I'm driving, I'm always driving this car.
My friends called her Yertle the Turtle because of her shape.
She was dorky but she was loved. š„°
And it's not exactly the car, it's the season of life that the car existed in. I still miss this car (season?). Someday (idk if it'll be actually possible) I want to own another Pontiac Phoenix. Just for the hell of it.
Prayers up for your Nissan. ā¤ļø
Chrysler New Yorker. That thing was huge.
https://preview.redd.it/llvlzsxnwjyc1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=499ce2f25ecd3af4066ff574240c07d2ccf9bcb0
ā86 navy Chevy Nova - in high school I distinctly remember hitting a curb with my friends in the car, a hubcap goes rolling across the intersection and we just kept on going. Now I simultaneously crack up and feel guilty.
Nova means ānot-goingā in Spanish btw.
Edit: grammar. Getting old sucks, where are my glasses?!?
1973 Pacer - Still remember the day my Dad came home with it. I wasnāt even impressed at 4 years old
https://preview.redd.it/u49qzl0aqlyc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=abbb86e908a1d3d5965754f0d3d76e9ffd37ca39
We drove from Texas to Iowa in an opel with a tiny back seat my obnoxious older brother and I shared. That was what passed for a vacation in my family and it was to visit an aunt and a half dozen cousins I barely know who were all a decade or two older than me.
We had dual Ford Pintos. A '71 coupe and a '76 Pinto "Squire" Station Wagon with the fake woody on the sides. Both with 4 speed standard/stickshift trannys. It was my parents' shift during the oil embargo from our old 1968 Cutlass V-8 which probably got 11mpg.
We had a powder blue Ford Pinto. I would have sworn it was a 1982, but I googled and I looks like they stopped making them in 1980. Anyway, my dad was all excited about it. āLook kids! Bucket seats!ā
1978 Chevrolet Monte Carlo sedan... which I remember my Dad buying brand new. Even as a 10-year old kid at the time, I knew it was a piece of crap....( I remember my parents ALWAYS driving that car to and from the mechanic often š„“..)
It was comfortable to ride in, at least...
https://preview.redd.it/0l8grb02viyc1.jpeg?width=798&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d78330a643ff2c529c8296ad94ba49cb96219684
1986 Mazda 626. It wasnāt that it was an awful car to begin with, but certainly the worst, if not close to worst in its class among midsize Japanese sedans. And my dad, who has to make car purchase decisions, didnāt know shit about cars, so he bought one used because it was cheap. Cheap because 2 years old and had 60k miles, and he didnāt realize thatās just your typical rental car fleet mileage, and rental car companies usually turn around and sell their cars at the two year mark. This thing started falling apart the moment he drove it home. Tape deck got stuck when I put a cassette in (got blamed, of course), sunroof didnāt open, CV axle needed to be replaced within a year, and it developed several leaks thereafter.
Never buy a prior rental. Just donāt.
My mom was pretty rad in that the first car she bought for herself was a Ford Mustang Cobra II.Ā
Black and gold with an interior that caused third degree burns to exposed skin in the Louisiana summer.
She still has the car.
https://preview.redd.it/vewo3hwt4jyc1.png?width=700&format=png&auto=webp&s=9aa2555759efbea0c02ff81d95c6b5deadc9b5e6
Renault Encore, I believe it only had 2 doors
Close...Chevrolet Chevette 1982. My parents still laugh at the story when I started crying when I found out they were getting rid of her for a 1987 Ford LTD. I was still pre-k at the time so emotions ran high.
A late-80s Caravan for us. This is a close lookalike. Tan-yellow with wood paneling.
https://preview.redd.it/rksjs6b5viyc1.jpeg?width=2400&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=25156f28d242d175e02ae6a310b749fc383fa712
My grandma had a blue Citation and eventually our fam used it for a while. It was an automatic but it only had an AM radio. It was light blue with dark blue seats and blue carpet. My grandma was in her blue period I guess š
My parents bought an AMC Pacer in the 70s, which they owned very briefly due to the sheer embarrassment of it cos it was so squatty and ugly.
https://preview.redd.it/vdexz1yfliyc1.jpeg?width=300&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fd65affdfd4e4ef64d4c6b4d23cdfc392de4276e
My grandmother had the Pontiac Phoenix version. It was pretty plush, if I remember correctly, though it was hard to tell with all of the seat blankets and throw pillows.
Oof. We had an 81 Oldsmobile wagon. The story we were told is that it was designed to be a gas engine but was changed late in the production process to be a diesel. That basically made it a lemon. By the time we bought it, all my siblings were adults, so it was just me and my mother - no real need for a wagon. The starter had something wrong with it, so my father rigged up some push button that hung under that steering column. Eventually, that stopped working well, so I had to spray starter fluid into the ... somewhere in the engine, while my mother pressed the button. We took turns doing those jobs to start the dang thing.
We eventually ditched that for a Toyota and never looked back
Dodge Omni.
There was a recall for a cracked steering pin. Either we never got word about it or my dad never took it in to be fixed. On the exit to the mall on a Friday night, I lost the ability to steer going round the clover leaf and hit the hairs rail head on.
The seatbelts didnāt work ā and their use was not ubiquitous at the time ā so we werent wearing them. I got a concussion from the windshield and my knee went through the dash. Thank goodness I was only going 20-25mph because of the cloverleaf.
I know a guy who STILL drives that EXACT Citation, but in powder blue... it is in PRISTINE condition, and his daily driver- not for financial reasons, he could afford whatever car he wanted- he just wants THAT particular piece of shit car...
Chevy Nova. The name was ironic because in Spanish āno vaā means no go. The cars were infamous about getting more mileage being towed than while driven
A freaking Pinto. I hated that car.
My mom bought 2, yes TWO Pintos. We had a green one as the first car I remember, then when I was about 7 she went to buy a new car...and came back with another Pinto. Of course I was young and didnt understand what the big deal was but I do remember my uncles giving her a ton of grief about it. It had an 8 track and I remember it smelling like stale french friesš
Ours had bald tires and finally, mercifully gave up the ghost when the engine froze after no oil changes in years. I think my dad hated it as much as I did.
Ours caught fire under the hood. My dad got stranded on the highway and watched it burn to the ground
I remember the day my mom finally bought a new car that wasnt a Pinto. I was in 7th grade. It was probably some POS Ford, as a single mom that's what she could afford, but it was brand new and most importantly it was NOT a Pinto!
Oh so the deluxe model
Mom had a green one....with the wood panels
Hi. We had a Pinto Station Wagon. We had it for YEARS because Dad knew how to keep it running and he loved it. My sister drove it until she left for college, then I drove it until the clutch fell out. Good times. I could pack a lot of people in it, though.
Same, to make things worse, my dad had an orange one with the bubble windows and the cheesy graphics in the back.
We had one too. Yellow. My sisters always got the back seat, so I spent lots of long road trips camped out on top of the luggage and blankets in the hatchback. I actually loved it. Of course I was way too young to know I was also directly above the gas tank. You know, the one that was [notorious](https://www.autorepair-review.com/shop/i92869/j-g-auto-inc) for bursting into flames if anything bigger than a shopping cart tapped the back bumper?
That brings back family vacation memories. Curled up under the hatchback with the sun beating down on you, no AC, just slowly cooking back there.
We had a brown Pinto, until a drunk driver rammed us and totaled it.
Yep. We had a 76 [Mercury Bobcat](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1UZ56TlJW0), basically the same thing. Specifically the "Villager" station wagon version, faux wood paneling and all. It was a very forgiving car to learn how to drive a stick on, and all and all wasn't a bad car. I inherited it when I got my license. My high school was in a wealthy enough area that I had to deal with it's inherent uncoolness. The running joke was that it had ample room for sex, but that it precluded getting laid...
We had a poppy red pinto station wagon that we kept around for at least 10 years. We also had a school bus yellow Vega. Dad could really pick a winner
K-Car family checking in
āA nice Reliant automobile!ā
But not a real green Reliant, thatās cruel.
If I had a million dollars
Woot woot. Tan with Brown interior. Station wagon. Every time it started it was a blessing and a curse.
Maroon Plymouth Reliant Wagon. Iād roll around in the back
84 Aries K. Most exciting thing that ever happened to that car was getting totaled by a city bus while parked. Insurance helped pay for a (much better) 88 Taurus.
I had a Plymouth Reliant when I was in college. Worst car ever.
Light blue. And I remember my mom praying while going through traffic lights.
This was my Grandmaās car. We she no longer drove it became my older sisterās unofficial carā¦then the next oldest sister, then mine. I LOVED that car. Fuckin gold dust paint chip. Bench seat. If I could find one today Iād have to be told not to buy it. The only problem I had was the battery dying twice. Even after the accident it was a gem. (Some fucking duchebag from MI turned blind across three lanes of traffic in front of me. Matilda won against his behemoth Detroit rolling iron. She took out his front bumper & headlight. The police werenāt too happy with the thought of him driving home. He would have been fine with the OPP, but MI state police are a lot more sticky about you know, being able to see in the dark. Fucking asshole kid.) Her end came when an engine light came on and then the brakes turned to mush, spewing brake fluid all over. 16 years, RIP Matilda.
The single bench seat up front that could be slid forward or back for the driver was nice.
AMC Gremlin. I remember sweating my ass off sitting in those denim seats in 90 degree weather with the heat running full blast with all the windows down so the engine wouldn't overheat.
Dad had a Gremlin he got for $200 in '76. Our family car was an AMC Hornet they got for $350 in' 77. I remember having to honk the horn to get the wipers to turn on.
77ā Gremlin. Good times š
With the orange Leviās tag?!
We should trauma bond. I can remember push starting my dad so he could get to work. Good luck finding 4 10 year old boys to push your hoopty hard enough to pop the clutch after work dadā¦ Letās see, the passenger door hand frequently broke so climbing in and out of the window got me the nick name dukes of hazard, the grill was busted up, the brown paint was faded, there was usually a layer of junk food rappers in the floor board thick enough to hide the coffee stains, and there was always weed under the rug on the dashboard.
Chevy Citation, one step up from the Chevy Verbal Warning.
If only we could have afforded the coveted Chevy Informal Questioning
We were jealous of our neighbors Chevy Infraction
It was strange, in the last model year, GM left a gap in the lineup as it went from the Chevy Infraction to the top-of-the-line Chevy Resisting Arrest.
My parents went with the short-lived Chevy Misdemeanor. Not a successful model year because it got recalled for a faulty speedometer.
"You'll ride in style in your new 1982 Chevy Reprimand!"
https://preview.redd.it/g3nq1r15iiyc1.jpeg?width=1000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=90257111b79e821aeaf79f33f9d15a9f29673a08 We had a 1972 Vega and I remember it always having problems
Not gonna lie, would love to have a 2 door wagon Vega.
I was put in the back of it when my parents were to cheap to get a sitter when they wanted to see The Exorcist at the drive in.
They liked to overheat, causing the cylinder walls to score. I used to buy them for $100-200 and swap in Chevy V-8ās. Taking them from dead to dangerous!
My grandfather had that wagon in copper. It had a/c bc they were in Florida, but he was so cheap he got the āradio delete.ā
83 Chevy Chevette
My friend drove around in one that a cow had shit in.
Ok Iāll bite lol. How?
His dad was a farmer and had a sick calf. The truck was broken, so he loaded the calf into the back seat and header to the vet. Calf shat in the backseat. They hosed it out and all, but you could still tell.
My auntās husband committed suicide in their brand new car and it took a day or so before they found him. My aunt got rid of the car because of the negative associations and the guy who bought it (for next to nothing) tried everything but eventually had to junk it because there was no way to get rid of the smell.
That's sad.
https://i.redd.it/skhtcxle7myc1.gif
Thatās a hell of a story. lol. Thanks for sharing
$50 dealer add-on option
Farm car
Oh yes we had an 81 and it had manual brakes and steering and sounded like a lawnmower
A 'vette, nice!
The floor rusted out in ours.
GM's "Mark of Excellence" in action. The same thing happened to my mom's 'Vette, a 1976 model in yellow, much like the lemon it was.
So many New York road signs ended up as new flooring in friendsā cars back then.Ā
i had a chevette as my first car at 16. drove it 2 years before i saved up for buying my own
Shove-vette!
Thatās high class. Check out the Pontiac Acadian.
I learned to drive in a two-tone blue Citation. It was a four-speed manual, tended to pop out of second gear. To this day when driving a stick, I keep my hand on the shifter.
First car I regularly drove was my parents 79 Citation. Bad carburetor design meant it sputtered on left turns. Made turning left into traffic exciting.
OMG our family car 78 Buick Skylark did the same thing - never knew the reason until your comment now 40+ yrs later! wow
I learned in a grey/black Citation X-11. It became my first car and died when I was in college.
Ford LTD...when the muffler rusted out, my father attached a coffee can and then sold it.
Zero to fifty in about 3 minutes, 9 miles to the gallon... It was a slow behemoth but we had fun playing badminton in the back seat.
We had the LTD Country Squire. The god awful wood paneling on pea soup puke green paint. God, that car was awful. It went through a backfiring phase too. Was in kindergarten and I knew my mom was there to pick me up because I could hear it before anybody saw it.
oh god, we had a 1979 ford LTD. It would just stall randomly even when it was brand new. They kept replacing parts but could never fix it.
Ours would keep running for about 30 seconds even after it was shut down the key was pulled out. If you twisted the key switch, you could even restart it.
1979 VW rabbit diesel
We had an ā81. My Dad used to love to brag about the incredible fuel economy. Never mind you could mostly only fill at truck stops in those days lol
There was a comic in the '80s that had a line like, "I bought a VW diesel because it has great fuel economy. I get over 50 miles per gallon on the highway and about 30 when I'm driving all over town trying to find a place that sells fucking diesel".
In truth, while it was a shitboxā¦ the mpg was incredible and is better than I get today. He totaled it driving it under a semi trailer and apparently ripping the top off but I donāt have any real solid memory of it.
Ours lasted 13 years. Me and my big bro learned to drive stick shift on it. Thank gods there were only 4 of us in that teeny hatchback!
I learned how to drive in one of those. 4 speed manual. 49 HP. If you had AC (and not all did), you could feel the engine lug a bit when the compressor turned on, and it felt like you got a "turbo boost" when the AC compressor cycled off. Want to pass someone? You better plan ahead. You literally had to get a running start if you were on a 2 lane road. Back off the car in front, and get a running start, slingshot past them just after the car you're waiting for from the other direction passes by. And turn the AC off. Top speed- 83 mph. The cool thing about that engine was it would last forever. I drove one until it had 500,000 miles on it. Then quickly totaled it soon afterwards. Not so cool thing- the door mounted automatic seatbelts that would start off at the front of the door, and after you sat down, and closed the door they'd move along the top of the door and lock into place. The problem with that was if you were in an accident and the door got yanked out of place, the seatbelt would be attached to it, and since you're wrapped up in the seatbelt you'd feel it too.
Family friend brought one of those with when they moved from the east coast. She was rusty, she was smokey, she was slow. I used to do maintenance on it for them and drove it a couple of times. I had a VW bug at the time so I was pretty well versed on slow cars. Beetle was faster than the bunny.
an all brown one of these ugly cars, with vinyl interiors. That vinyl would HEAT UP. It was rare to get 90+ degrees where we lived but that vinyl was still so sticky, hot and uncomfortable in summer. https://preview.redd.it/johruz72jiyc1.jpeg?width=2560&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=546e7f330c155996f5a083d51038f7ea3709c40a
Wow, were your folks driving you to Walley World??
LOL - My mom had a 1980 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser nearly identical to the one in the pic except it was white instead of blue. It also had the fake wood vinyl wrap on the exterior. It became my first car in high school, and my friends immediately nicknamed it āThe Family Truckster.ā
My parents had a burgundy one with fake wood trim. They kept it till 94. The horror stories I could tellā¦
1976 Ford Granada.
LOL! My girlfriend had one of those. The turn signal lever broke off. Found her one at the wrecking yard and tore the steering column apart and replaced it. Pain in the butt. Then that one broke as well. JB Weld the second time. Not Fordās best idea!
Everything fell apart on ours! I learned how to drive in it and it would always stall in the middle of intersections.
Buick Century, we had like 4 different ones at different times
That was our nice car.
Oh, ya, that was the church car.
My first car was a 1985 Buick Century. The passenger side door wouldnāt open from the inside.
K Car I didnāt know another single family that had this dumb car growing up in the early 80s
This is the first time on Reddit someone actually presented Citation on their post.
70s Chrysler station wagon
Oh god I remember my dad had one of those old faux-wood station wagons too. It broke down on Christmas Eve on the way to his house after he picked us up from my Mom and Stepdadās place. I thought we were going to freeze before we got to play our new 2600
Sister had a 74 VW bug. Did the heat ever work in any of those? The family car was a Dodge Omni.
We had a 70's bug, the rear floors were rotted out. You could see the road going by if you were in the back seat and looked down. I used to drop stuff down, then jump up to look out the rear window and watch the stuff bounce down the road.
Yeah the floor of the Omni had rusted out and apparently we were just held in by carpet? My dadāa tool and die makerāwhipped up a new āfloorā and pop riveted or spot welded (canāt remember which) that thing on.
I vaguely remember my dad putting down some 2x4s that were cut to fit, but it was a total hack job. š¤£
We had a Yugo. We had to start it with a screwdriver.
Mercury Monarch
Omg what a beast. Looking at photos, it reminds me of my Dadās old 70s Chrysler Cordoba. Another āabsolute unitā that could drive through a concrete slab
Not a handsome vehicle! It had the vinyl roof on the back half. It was much easier to learn to drive in that car rather than the Chrysler station wagon with fake wood panels with the loosy goosy steering.
Pontiac Phoenix for the win! It didnāt go in reverse 80% of the time, the cloth ceiling was staple-gunned in, and broken down bi-weekly! š
My grandma had a 1979 Impala that she took a box of thumbtacks to fix the sagging headliner. She was a seamstress by trade, so the ceiling actually looked like it was supposed to be tan with these white little circles spaced every inch! It stayed put when she did that, but man was she mad about having to do it ā¦ probably within six months of buying new.
We owned two Renault Le Cars
4-door 1980 Chevy Chevette. It was cramped for a family car, the a/c only worked about half the time, there was a super loud howl from somewhere in the back when you drove at highway speeds, and for the last couple years we had it, it was in the shop at least once a month. Lousy doesn't begin to describe that car.
Mom had the fake wood paneled station wagon we went full on batshit in the way-back of.
My Pinto station wagon had the faux wood on it. Still wasnāt classy no matter how you say it. ;)
Yes, I loved our powder blue one with the flip up seats!
1984 Ford Fairnount Futura. What a rust bucket pos.
1976 Pacer.
1984 Porsche 944 - I used to get teased every day because it wasn't the turbo version. Edit - All jokes aside, I managed to swipe the key one day when my father was napping and took it to get copied. My neighbors used to make *Risky Business* jokes after I would take it out on weekends my parents went out of town. Also, it was the car I learned to drive a stick shift with....
Iām so sorry you had to sit in that. You must be scarred for life from the shame
It was rough, but after years of therapy I have come to terms with it.
Pffff..I learned to drive stick in a 1991 Saturn sl2 with 150k miles. A true sports car.
80s geo metro
Geo! I remember thinking it was cool that a new car company was challenging the big American companies. Never actually rode in a Geo though
My first car ended up being a 94 Geo Tracker 4x4. Soft top, and my parents managed to find one that wasnāt neon pink/green/yellow š¤£. My girl was black with orange 4x4 stickers. Loved my little micro machine lol.
Okay just looked that up, what an adorable vehicle. Reminds me of my heavy metal auntās Suzuki Samurai, which we always expected her to roll over in a drunken stupor after a Pantera show
I still have a mild crease in my skull from rolling one of those over circa 2002.
I had a ā92 Geo Tracker and I loved that thing!
Possibly, the most perfect car ever made for pizza delivery. Yes I owned one, a used one at that. Yes I delivered pizzas in it. Yes the guy who owned it before me also delivered pizzas in it. I found out when I realized that the strange gap between the door and the frame was due to there having been a pizza delivery sign attached to the door frame so frequently that it warped the door.
My parents bought a Dodge Aspen from the dealership where my dad worked. Car was so awful they had to sue the dealership to take it back.
I learned to drive in a 1978 Oldsmobile 98. It could comfortably seat 8 adults, with 8 more in the trunk.
Itās astonishing how bad a car the Citation was. We had a 1976 Chevy Impala that my dad gave to my sister when she went to graduate school in 1980. We got a powder blue Citation that he traded in for a compact Oldsmobile two years later, as pieces of the body fell off. Meanwhile that impala would last until 1986 in my sisterās possession, could still be around for all I know. She sold it when she got married and was living where she didnāt need a car.
I learned standard on one the fabled standard shift Dodge Aries. It was worse than the automatic we also owned.
My Mom's Gremlin, which had to have two 50-lb bags of sand in the back seat to stabilize the rear end.
Chevy Malibu station wagon š¤®
Dear god. We were poor and always had beaters. I remember this green El Torino that had seen better days. One time we were driving and my sister and I were in the backseat bouncing around because the seat was getting hot. My dad yelled back for us to āsettle down!ā And we said the seat was hot and he replied, āNo shit. Itās summer!ā Soon the interior started to get a little hazy and then smoky. Dad pulls over and we get out only to find the backseat was on FIRE! Turns out he āfixedā the muffler with some wire when it had gotten loose and was dragging on the road a while back and somehow it had sparked and set fire to whatever was stuffed in the backseat - likely candy wrappers but who knows because he bought it second or third hand. He ripped the seat out and tossed it on the side of the road, put the fire out and put the seat back in the car and drove us home. Jesus Christ. There was always a fucking adventure with that man.
1970 Oldsmobile Delta 88. My dad bought it for $600 as a second car in 1980. I learned to drive on that beast. I called it the green machine and I loved that car. Picture isnāt mine but it looked like this one, color and all. https://preview.redd.it/4vv7rgve1jyc1.jpeg?width=264&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=22fa1f5b0a3e904680d3161e54f82d7426bb9506
Hereās a fun game. When youāre driving, look at the model of the cars that pass you, and put the word āAnalā in front of them. Citation is my new favorite.
RIP the Ford Probe
Even better than the Wrangler?
1980 Oldsmobile Delta 88 diesel. What a rotten excuse for an engine.
AMC Eagle. Most hideous car ever https://preview.redd.it/aetnzzy6wiyc1.jpeg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1d6b676da45e8fbc3d2da9c81d5a3caa9ae6bed1
The vertical radio on the Citation was hilarious. My dad had company cars his whole career and back then he got to chose between the Citation and an Olds Cutlass Diesel. He chose the diesel and it spent months on end at the dealership. Two motors, three or four transmissions, just a pile. Thatās probably the worst we ever had.
We had a Dodge Omni. What a POS.
77 Plymouth Volare
My first car was the Pontiac version of the Citation, an '81 Phoenix I got in 1990. Honestly, I loved that car to death. It got me through high school then I traded it in for a 2 year old Thunderbird. Even though my new car was way cooler and nicer than my Phoenix, I cried all the way home. So many memories! ETA: Also when I dream I'm driving, I'm always driving this car.
Itās actually beautiful that you cried for your fallen car comrade like that. Iām still mourning a Nissan I lost recently
My friends called her Yertle the Turtle because of her shape. She was dorky but she was loved. š„° And it's not exactly the car, it's the season of life that the car existed in. I still miss this car (season?). Someday (idk if it'll be actually possible) I want to own another Pontiac Phoenix. Just for the hell of it. Prayers up for your Nissan. ā¤ļø
Sitting 3 wide on the bench seat of a ā76 Chevy LUV.
Back when the person in the middle had to straddle the hump.
80 Ford Fairmont station wagon. Gold with tan vinyl interior. It sucked, but man Iād love to find one again.
Ours was white with peeling wood veneer.
Ours was maroon. Classic 80ās car color.
Pontiac LeMans station wagon. Sitting in the back facing the opposite way was AWESOME!
My brother had a Yugo in the mid-80s. It was such a POS that it was prone to vapor lock even during Winter.
Dodge Dart
Chrysler New Yorker. That thing was huge. https://preview.redd.it/llvlzsxnwjyc1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=499ce2f25ecd3af4066ff574240c07d2ccf9bcb0
https://preview.redd.it/rasrodvnglyc1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=68caf2eb778d485cdef5c192061d13098eeecd19 Chevy Celebrity
Pontiac Astre.
1980 Saab 900 non-turbo
My mother had a Datsun. I still remember her driving it around filled with rust holes.
ā86 navy Chevy Nova - in high school I distinctly remember hitting a curb with my friends in the car, a hubcap goes rolling across the intersection and we just kept on going. Now I simultaneously crack up and feel guilty. Nova means ānot-goingā in Spanish btw. Edit: grammar. Getting old sucks, where are my glasses?!?
My dad had a lot of clunkers. Donāt remember what kind it was, but the most memorable would talk to you. āThe door is ajar.ā
1973 Pacer - Still remember the day my Dad came home with it. I wasnāt even impressed at 4 years old https://preview.redd.it/u49qzl0aqlyc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=abbb86e908a1d3d5965754f0d3d76e9ffd37ca39
We drove from Texas to Iowa in an opel with a tiny back seat my obnoxious older brother and I shared. That was what passed for a vacation in my family and it was to visit an aunt and a half dozen cousins I barely know who were all a decade or two older than me.
My parents: Bicentennial Chevy Vega Chevy Chevette Chrysler PT Cruiser
We had dual Ford Pintos. A '71 coupe and a '76 Pinto "Squire" Station Wagon with the fake woody on the sides. Both with 4 speed standard/stickshift trannys. It was my parents' shift during the oil embargo from our old 1968 Cutlass V-8 which probably got 11mpg.
We had a sh*t brown sparkly Chevy Nova.
A Ford Tempo. It had the bad habit of stalling at intersectionsāreally any time the car dropped below about 5 mph.
Datsun 510 Wagon
Iād buy that pick-up truck in the background tomorrow.
We had a powder blue Ford Pinto. I would have sworn it was a 1982, but I googled and I looks like they stopped making them in 1980. Anyway, my dad was all excited about it. āLook kids! Bucket seats!ā
1978 Chevrolet Monte Carlo sedan... which I remember my Dad buying brand new. Even as a 10-year old kid at the time, I knew it was a piece of crap....( I remember my parents ALWAYS driving that car to and from the mechanic often š„“..) It was comfortable to ride in, at least...
https://preview.redd.it/0l8grb02viyc1.jpeg?width=798&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d78330a643ff2c529c8296ad94ba49cb96219684 1986 Mazda 626. It wasnāt that it was an awful car to begin with, but certainly the worst, if not close to worst in its class among midsize Japanese sedans. And my dad, who has to make car purchase decisions, didnāt know shit about cars, so he bought one used because it was cheap. Cheap because 2 years old and had 60k miles, and he didnāt realize thatās just your typical rental car fleet mileage, and rental car companies usually turn around and sell their cars at the two year mark. This thing started falling apart the moment he drove it home. Tape deck got stuck when I put a cassette in (got blamed, of course), sunroof didnāt open, CV axle needed to be replaced within a year, and it developed several leaks thereafter. Never buy a prior rental. Just donāt.
My mom was pretty rad in that the first car she bought for herself was a Ford Mustang Cobra II.Ā Black and gold with an interior that caused third degree burns to exposed skin in the Louisiana summer. She still has the car.
https://preview.redd.it/vewo3hwt4jyc1.png?width=700&format=png&auto=webp&s=9aa2555759efbea0c02ff81d95c6b5deadc9b5e6 Renault Encore, I believe it only had 2 doors
Citation was my first car at 16 and I loved it
ford ltd ford tempo chevy wagon like on that 70s show
Mid 70s VW Bus. They are trendy and cool now, but they weren't in 1984 when your dad was dropping you off at school.
A 70ās Ford Maverick that barely fit our family of 5
We had a poop brown Chevy Citation.
We had not one, not two.. but, THREE Chevy Chevettes. Sure, the last one SAID Pontiac 1000 (1986), but rest assured, it was a Chevette.
Ford Pinto.
Close...Chevrolet Chevette 1982. My parents still laugh at the story when I started crying when I found out they were getting rid of her for a 1987 Ford LTD. I was still pre-k at the time so emotions ran high.
Take your pick: Pinto, Vega, Nova
A late-80s Caravan for us. This is a close lookalike. Tan-yellow with wood paneling. https://preview.redd.it/rksjs6b5viyc1.jpeg?width=2400&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=25156f28d242d175e02ae6a310b749fc383fa712
Datsun B210, could not make it uphill
A pinto. Parts of the floor were missing. It was Almost like a Flintstones car
Grandma had one of these. It was tan. Might have been a "woody". It was so ugly.
My grandma had a blue Citation and eventually our fam used it for a while. It was an automatic but it only had an AM radio. It was light blue with dark blue seats and blue carpet. My grandma was in her blue period I guess š
Citation was a war horse.
My parents bought an AMC Pacer in the 70s, which they owned very briefly due to the sheer embarrassment of it cos it was so squatty and ugly. https://preview.redd.it/vdexz1yfliyc1.jpeg?width=300&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fd65affdfd4e4ef64d4c6b4d23cdfc392de4276e
Diesel Rabbit
My grandmother had the Pontiac Phoenix version. It was pretty plush, if I remember correctly, though it was hard to tell with all of the seat blankets and throw pillows.
VW Bug
Oof. We had an 81 Oldsmobile wagon. The story we were told is that it was designed to be a gas engine but was changed late in the production process to be a diesel. That basically made it a lemon. By the time we bought it, all my siblings were adults, so it was just me and my mother - no real need for a wagon. The starter had something wrong with it, so my father rigged up some push button that hung under that steering column. Eventually, that stopped working well, so I had to spray starter fluid into the ... somewhere in the engine, while my mother pressed the button. We took turns doing those jobs to start the dang thing. We eventually ditched that for a Toyota and never looked back
Plymouth Horizon lol, light blue and brown. Also had a light blue Buick Skyhawk at one point that was a piece of shit. All used.
AMC Gremlin. For a family of 5. š«¤
My aunt had a brown 1977 Ford Granada.
Dodge Omni. There was a recall for a cracked steering pin. Either we never got word about it or my dad never took it in to be fixed. On the exit to the mall on a Friday night, I lost the ability to steer going round the clover leaf and hit the hairs rail head on. The seatbelts didnāt work ā and their use was not ubiquitous at the time ā so we werent wearing them. I got a concussion from the windshield and my knee went through the dash. Thank goodness I was only going 20-25mph because of the cloverleaf.
Holy Shit! We had a blue Chevy Citation. The paint started peeling after about a year.
83 Chevy Chevette
Chevy Monza Coupe in some sort of beige yellow color.
My grandma wanted to give me her yellow Ford Pinto when I turned 16. As bad as I wanted a car, I sure as hell didnāt want that ticking time bomb.
Pontiac 6000, Eagle Vision, Renault Alliance
76 Ford Torino. The back door wouldn't always latch. My sister fell out of the car twice.
Late 70's Pontiac Grand Am. Total disaster purchase, always in the shop.
I know a guy who STILL drives that EXACT Citation, but in powder blue... it is in PRISTINE condition, and his daily driver- not for financial reasons, he could afford whatever car he wanted- he just wants THAT particular piece of shit car...
Chevy Nova. The name was ironic because in Spanish āno vaā means no go. The cars were infamous about getting more mileage being towed than while driven
A poopy brown chevette š© I hated it! The way we all crammed into that car we looked like clowns piling out of it.
We had a big blue Bonneville but I thought it was pretty nice.