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I had an early 1980s Pontiac Sunbird. It was very possibly the worst car ever made. It was a 4 cyl engine, but it was physically large and heavy and had no room in the engine compartment. You had to lift the engine off the mounts to change the spark plugs. It had all sorts of very large emissions devices tacked onto it that broke on a regular basis. The engine had no power and got bad gas mileage. There was nothing good about it. Constant problems with exhaust/emissions and the carburetor, cooling system, HVAC, suspension and brakes, ignition system. . . The transmission (manual) was pretty good however.
Inside the car was cramped and uncomfortable. The back seats were a joke. Stuff broke a lot. It had an awesome huge lift out sunroof.
The car had a propensity to catch on fire. One time while going down a mountain, the heat generated from constant use of the brake lights caused the plastic brake light holder to melt. The brake light bulb then dropped down into the towels, socks, and underwear I had put in the trunk (I was moving) and set them on fire. Smoke came in from the rear deck and we pulled over and opened the trunk to see what was going on. When oxygen rushed in the flames shot up and burned my eyebrows and eyelashes partly off. Panic that the gas tank would ignight (it was directly below the flaming towels), I grabbed the flaming towels and threw them (out into the freeway) and burned the hair off my arms.
Moths later, after filling up with gas, I heard a loud pop form under the hood and smoke came out. I stopped and opened the hood and the engine burst into flames. The gas station attendants, somewhat concerned about a flaming car near the gas pumps ran out and sprayed the engine compartment down with a fire extinguisher. They also sprayed a passing BMW with open windows. The engine was still running but the air filter thing had burned so the engine sucked fire extinguisher chemicals into the intake and that did a lot more damage.That was the fourth and last time it caught on fire. This fire totaled the car.
I'd want the 1984 Camaro Z28. At the time it was one of the fastest, best handling and best looking cars at the price. The all new '84 Corvette was a good performer too.
Any of the other V8 RWD cars would be a runner up or a Grand National.
My brother bought a new Fiero in 1988. It was neat but didn't have a very powerful engine. It had the Tech 4/Iron duke . It looked good and handled and braked well though.
Buddy had a Fiero, while on his honeymoon, we all went to his apartment and tried putting his car in the living room......just couldn't fit it around the back of the building
1984? In mint, showroom (or better) condition?
That's a no-brainer, for me.
1984 AMC Eagle! Any body style, with the 4.2L I6, and 5 speed manual tranny. Yes, even the Gremlin based Kambak, although the SX/4 Sport would be at the top of the list.
Oh, wait, the SX/4 wasn't available in 1984. That's OK, an '83 would be acceptable.
Was a GM car buyer until I owned an 85 Caddy Sedan De Vile. It was an unmitigated disaster. Wife drove it and developed auto immune issues during this time. The caddy engine failed twice, rebuilt by GM the first time, left my wife stranded on the road two other times in 5 years of ownership.
Best thing about that car, it sent to Lexus and Infiniti. GM was smart enough to follow the lead or others getting their reliability up but they do not lead in this most important trait to me. I assumed OP was joking but I guess not...
Which of these cars did you have? Which would you want if you could find one in original mint condition?
I drove a 1984 Pontiac Sunbird coupe in driver’s ed. I later bought a 1984 Buick Skyhawk coupe with 4 speed manual and 2.0L OHV engine.
I had a 85 Cavalier 2.0 5 spd (type 10 whatever that meant)......car wasn't fast but took a pretty good beating. Best burnouts were done in fast reverse then dump into first and let it rip! It had a vacuum leak in the brake booster so you essentially could not lock the brakes (like anti-lock ).
Beat that car for 2 years, did a couple sets of tires, one clutch and used probably a dozen cans of wax! Saw one of that vintage recently that had been turned into a mad max/demolition derby style (no doors, roll cage) and laughed it was probably my old car!
1984 was not really a great year for GM....though it was the launch year for the new Corvette which was revolutionary at the time.
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. It looked good and handled and braked well though.
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