I’ll get to the “QOTD” part of this post momentarily. Some people just seem naturally self-confident in any and all situations. I am not innately one of those embarrassment-resistant people. I’m not ashamed to admit that self-confidence was a somewhat slow-building phenomenon for me, and I stand before you today as proof that even dorks can learn to overcome moderate social anxiety and project confidence, even if it means faking it from time to time.
But still. If you were behind the wheel of this first-year Chevy Citation (identifiable by its amber rear turn signals), would you be rocking this orange and gold masterpiece with confidence, with an extended left-arm driving position and the windows down for all to see? Or would you be more likely to hide behind dark-tinted sunglasses and homemade limo tint, hoping with every block you pass that the farting exhaust note and buzzing Iron Duke four-cylinder don’t call attention to you as you roll down a major thoroughfare? (Or would you take as many side streets and back alleys as possible?)
I’ve got to hand it to this guy. Sure, he looked a little uncomfortable as he noticed me taking pictures, and he was leaning in a little bit toward the center console. Maybe the windows were down simply because the air conditioning is busted and he needed some fresh air. However, my thought is that he must be super self-confident, simply because little would have stopped him from flipping me the bird (or worse) when he saw me taking pictures as this Citation came rolling, looking like a slightly-rotten citrus fruit, down Jackson Blvd. toward State St.
I’m baffled by the color scheme of this car, which most certainly looks like a factory option. Orange and gold. Somebody in management approved this. There are some flavors that just never taste good together. Think Goldschläger and orange juice. I’m sure there have probably been worse two-tone color combos that rolled off an assembly line, but right now, I am at a complete loss to think of any, even back to cars of the 1950’s. Let’s just say this one is not my favorite.
My Uncle Bob had a first-year Citation, purchased new to replace a ’73 Ford Pinto. He really liked his Citation, and he maintains to this day that it was, overall, a good car. That light blue Citation might as well have been a Camaro, the way Uncle Bob kept it in such clean condition inside and out – even after giant rust spots the size of McIntosh apples perforated the sheetmetal after only a few years.
My uncle’s Citation probably also didn’t see as much real-life wear-and-tear as other examples, being driven around rural Henry County in northwest Ohio – hardly a place of stop-and-go traffic. Still, Uncle Bob probably drove his Citation a little more carefully than most. Being a Lutheran pastor, volunteer firefighter, and family man, Uncle Bob seemed to have a proclivity toward responsible choices and safety, the Pinto notwithstanding. But I digress.
My apologies for the subpar picture quality. I suppose I was just so nonplussed by the sight of a running Citation on my daily walk from the Red Line to work that I wasn’t able to uphold my usual photographic standards. But I still felt this ‘Tation was too tasty not to share. And I want to make it clear that I am in no way dissing this car’s driver or his personal taste. Everybody’s got to get to work somehow, and I don’t even have a car. So there’s that.
Which (finally) brings me to my two-fold QOTD, directed at “normal” people like me who do get embarrassed: What is the most embarrassing car you’ve ever had to pilot, by choice or out of necessity, and under what circumstances? Go!
Photos as taken by the author, downtown, The Loop, Chicago, Illinois.
Monday, October 13, 2014.
That is a horrible factory color combo. There was only one other I can recall that was worse – a 1980-85 Olds Custom Cruiser that was, wait for it, two-tone black over orange. A real Halloween machine. I am assuming it was somehow stock, as this was many, many years ago so it was unlikely that the guy would have repainted it already. I might ask Google if this was somehow a factory color option.
Harley Davidson colors. And the only place where it looks right. I’m doubting that was factory. Can’t see Oldsmobile, back then, trying to ape Harley.
yeah, I KNOW I saw this car like 30 years ago. I never forget a weird car like that. But maybe it was some company car painted to match the brand colors. Like the now defunct Grossman’s building supply or something.
Oldcarbrochures.org has the 1980 and 1981 Citation brochures. Nothing quite like this color combo was offered for 1980 (though there were some bad 2-tones that year too), but looks like these were factory colors for 1981, called Burnt Orange Metallic over Beige…
what’s wrong with black and orange? Cheer up!
I remember the Chevrolet salesmen back then cursing GM for replacing the Nova with these. They did however sell quite a few in the second year out. Once plentiful, I can’t remember the last one I’ve seem still on the road.
I doubt they were cursing at first. It way out sold the Nova. Later the quick drop off was annoying, but to some extent that would have happened anyway with the J cars, A cars being so close in size and mission.
Chevrolet sold 811,000 1980 model year Citations. Can anyone think of a car that sold more units in a single(extended) model year since then?
Aside from the full-size Ford and Chevrolet pickups (which are really playing by a different set of rules, just like their pre-1973 full-size car counterparts), I don’t think anything has even approached that since then. I would be surprised if any single model of car, SUV or minivan since the Citation has even hit 500K in U.S. sales for a single model year.
I think it shows the market power GM had before unleashing the X-cars on the public.
GM had a habit of doing some awful color combinations…the late 70s two tones, this orange and gold mess, or the early 2000s bright red paint with burgundy interior. I seem to recall seeing more than one Pontiac GTO with that combo. Blue paint and blue interior is OK, red and burgundy are NOT. GM also built some silver Oldsmobiles and Cadillacs in the 80s, with white vinyl tops.
My parents rented an early production 5 door Citation for a trip to Disney World…dark green with chestnut brownish interior. As I recall, the radio was sideways, and my dad, who was an Oldsmobile guy at that point, was unimpressed with the car. That was the only time we ever flew to Florida in my whole life, and the thing I remember most was squeezing 6 of us into that crapbox. We went back to driving on trips after that.
Good for this guy driving with confidence. His car, while not pristine, is in pretty good shape for 35 years. That gives him the right to show some pride, he took care of his car and it took care of him, for 3-5 times longer than anyone intended. Why not, the iron duke was durable, and so was the THM125, and so was the AC, ancillaries are available for nickels in any junk yard. I know it’s continued existence is a challenge to people’s ingrained dogma. Well good.
My most embarrassing driver was a 94 Sentra in Maui in 2005 that I had rented from a rent a wreck place. Had dings all over, 150k and the AC was a little low. You know what though the car grew on me. Seeing the old car the locals seemed very friendly to you in traffic, I can see how the tourist in the Mustang convertibles could be annoying. The car started easily, the velour interior was clean, comfortable, and right sized, and the car was quite nice handling on the tight country roads. I was sorry to give it back at the trips end. Thanks Joseph.
I’m a pure introvert but for some reason I don’t embarrass easily. I’ve driven many old cars that other people were clearly embarrassed to ride in, but I wasn’t bothered. The cars were reliable, and nothing else mattered.
The nearest thing to embarrassment, I guess, was a rental car for a long trip to a big-city airport to pick up an Important Visitor. My old Fiesta wasn’t up to the trip. The rental car was a new bright-red Ford Probe. I had to explain to the Important Visitor that this was NOT my own car and NOT representative of my personality. My face was the same color as the car.
The color is called “Cinnabar” IIRC.
Never have been embarrassed by any car I’ve driven. Shameless I guess.
That’s interesting. I had an ’88 BMW 325 that was Cinnabar red, but it was basically a true, blood red.
There’s an early Citation in my neck of the woods, light blue over dark blue — make that rust over light blue over dark blue, as this car is rusting from the top down, which is very weird for an Indiana car — but I digress, and dang this sentence is getting long now. ANYway, the dude who drives that buzz bomb looks perfectly happy doing it. One day I will find that car parked, and I will write it up.
I think the gold is actually a stripe. Factory two-tone paint would go to the bottom of the doors and also include the front spoiler. This actually matches the 1980 X-11 stripe, without the “X-11” behind the door. Hard to tell if the color is 1980-only Cinnabar or 1981-only Burnt Orange.
The amber taillights don’t definitively identify an ’80. My mother had an ’83 with amber taillights – the ’83 brochure lists “tri-color tail lamps” as part of the “Deluxe Exterior” package that year.
My gosh, you’re right! It looks like Chevy flip-flopped with red-white / tri-color taillights a few times. The front grille appears to be that of an ’80 – I believe the ’81s went to red/white. Thanks, Stumack!
The deluxe exterior trim group (or whatever that option was called) included the amber rear turn signals as well as chrome frames around the windows and wheel openings, and maybe a few other items. Citations without the deluxe exterior trim got red turn signals.
It does look like an ’80 X11 with the stripe, with some rust where the fake vent once was (ahead of the rear wheel). This car, assuming it still has the original grille, is a 1980. The ’81 got a larger cross hatch design, the ’82 chrome horizontal bars. ’83 through ’85 have low-back front seats with separate headrests so this car is ’82 at latest.
Real (i.e., amber) rear turn signals were optional. I wonder how the maths pencilled out on that one—given the automaker we’re talking about, and the long list of unmathworthy decisions they’ve made over the years, the obvious answer isn’t necessarily the correct one…!
These CC’s of the cars from the depths of the seventies and eighties are great, like looking at terrible catastrophes of the past. And, as everyone knows, one of the truly worst was the Citation, mainly because, not only was it a bad car, but it also sold in extraordinary numbers (at least at first), so its awfulness was spread out among a very significant portion of the domestic population. A bad car is one thing, but when it sells in really big numbers (like the Citation did until word got out about it), it’s somewhat unique in the bad car genre. The Vega sold pretty well at first, too but, back then, most of the smallest cars were expected to be short-lived, throwaway pieces o’crap. The Citation, OTOH, was intended to be a mainstream vehicle for people who wanted a solitary car they could depend on for years. Needless to say, the Citation was woefully lacking in that mission (except maybe for this one example).
You also have to wonder if maybe the terrible color combination is a reason this one is still in relatively decent shape, i.e., all the owners were too embarrassed to drive it all that much.
Great find — any Citation is a great find, but especially a 1st year 2-dr.
I wonder if the original color was really red, that has faded over the years into orange. Of course, with GM’s myriad color combinations in that era, orange is definitely a possibility. I’m always amused by looking at GM color charts from those days. Often (after listing a dozens of combinations) there is a warning saying something like “Absolutely no color substitutions!”
As for embarrassing cars, they’re not necessarily old beaters. About a decade ago, my wife and I rented a car for a weekend trip, and the rental company gave us a Buick Rendezvous – a car I completely loathed at the time. To me, that car was gaudy, hideous, and a complete debasement of the Buick name (and I love Buicks). Driving around in that Rendezvous for a weekend, I was always annoyed that people would assume I’m the kind of person who would such a car. Unlike many cars I drive, the Rendezvous did not grow on me after a few hundred miles of driving, and I’d never been so glad to return a rental.
The first car my parents ever bought new was a 1981 Citation, vinyl seats, no air conditioning, manual transmission on the floor with a front bench seat. The radio was in fact oriented vertically, which I know because they deleted the factory radio and my dad put in an aftermarket Audiovox. It was a good car, even after the rubber supports for the package shelf on the hatchback snapped and the clutch failed on a family trip.
Unfortunately, the car died by apathy. My parents broke up and my mother bought a 1986 Cavalier station wagon with air conditioning so the Citation got parked and then simply stopped working as parked cars are wont to do.
Most embarrassing? My sister’s Honda CRV. It has served her very well, but not my type of car at all.
I have a lot to say about this one! First, I’m almost certain the featured car was a factory two-tone color offered by Chevy on the first year of the Citation. IIRC there was a duplicate to this car in a four-door in my neighborhood when I was a kid. I think there was a magazine advertisement for the Citation also in this color combo. Second, why should the driver of the Citation be ashamed? We should be impressed! A 35 year old car running around without issues is a great accomplishment, regardless of what make/model it is. Third, there is an absolujte mint condition light blue Citation that I see to this day near my house, usually at the doctor’s office medical arts building LOL. I promise to take pictures of it the next time I see it.
I guess in a silver/white/black sea of cars this red/orange Citation would look bizarre. But I’d still like to see some sort of color options on the lists of manufacturers today, inside and out.
My 84 Citation 2 door club coupe [notchback, but referred to as a club coupe] had a dark brown metallic lower body and a champagne beige metallic upper and dark brown interior. Not quite as radioactive as this Citation, but a nice, subtle two tone. Any color can be tasteless in the wrong combination
The worst modern combination I have seen recently was a Dragonfly Green [nice color] Saturn ION paired with a beige interior [make that cadaver tan]. Or that orange leather [called some sort of “brown”. Looked like an old leather jacket shade from the 70s] used in the Aura with any exterior color.
Hideous time where the brands thought that nasty so called “neutral color went with everything.And GM’s shade resembled dead human flesh more than it did animal hides.
I would think this color combo is “factory” as there were several colors 2-toned with gold as the “bottom” color on these Citations. A very popular color combo was dark green over gold, with black over gold being the best looking.
My sister had a period in the late 70s/early 80s when she was often short of funds. To replace a badly rusted 74 Capri V6 she got a 4 cylinder Citation 2 door with what I remember as a floor mounted 3 speed manual. On my only ride in her car, I pointed out the “sideways” radio to my sister…she hadn’t really noticed it til then. I also seem to remember a very odd front seat in that car: a split back bench with very high backs on the ends.
When they 1st came out, Car&Driver told “us” the Citation X-11 was THE car to own in 1980.
BTW, I have a Camaro “white book”, and it lists the various options for paint, vinyl roofs, and upholstery. Some of the possible combinations are truly crazy. And with nearly a dozen top and a dozen interior colors…there was always the possibility of unintended match-ups.
I think this car is a 1981. The brochure offers a burnt orange over beige 2-tone combination.
The vehicle that gave me the most embarrassment? A Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer edition with every luxury feature that was possible to be bolted to a tippy truck. Kind of hard to avoid it, since it was the family “car.”
Ah yes, the first-generation BOF Explorer. The reason why so many millennials thought a Honda Civic was a sports car 🙂
Very nice capture of a Citation in the wild. The last one that I’ve seen running was a later model 4 door two tone blue coming back from a car show a few years back. I can even go for the colour scheme as it looks good in an unending sea of gray, black, or similar earth tone CUV’s and blobby cars.
This picture represents the best and worst of times for me as a car enthusiast. How I was looking forward to the X cars being a game changer in the smaller car market when they were introduced, no doubt buoyed by the glowing car magazine reviews. Then a buddy’s dad bought a fairly loaded 1980 CL in the dark green colour with tan guts. It was noisy, clunky, filled with cheap plastic everywhere and cost over $11k in 1980. My tired ’75 Valiant Brougham looked and drove far better, which took some doing. That was really the start of my disbelief in the opinions (good and bad) from the car mags.
As for embarassing cars that I have driven, the short answer is that I really haven’t felt embarassed with any of the cars that I’ve driven over the years. Whether it is a new expensive car or the cheapest clunker, I really like to experience for myself their unique driving impressions. Some have been much better than expected and others have been disappointments, but no shame or embarassment.
A buddy has a 2005 Malibu Maxx LS. It should be a 2005 Citation LS.
Or even better, a 2015 Malibu Sedan should have really been the 2015 Nova Sedan. Better yet, GM Chevrolet’s division should really have renamed the 2015 Chevrolet SS a Nova since they were both RWD and almost identical in size as well.
This 2013 Ford F-150 XLT 4×4 which I got as a loaner for my Ford Focus. It didn’t fit in the parking spot at Trader Joe’s.
Never embarrassed. Always glad to have something to drive. I was almost always looking for the next car I was going to get so whatever i was driving was just sort of temporary. I did make some bad decisions though, several actually, including a used 80 Pontiac Phoenix (sister to the Citation). I though I got a great deal getting it so cheap. Didn’t take me long to figure out that the original owner got away from it as fast as he could. I traded within a year and took a financial beating.
Still miss my blue 80 Skylark Limited 2,8 !
I drove a late-’80s Mercury Tracer in the early ’00s which by then was an old econobox beater. I had to learn not to let my car negatively affect my self-confidence, or at least not have to prove anything to anyone by the car I drove. It wasn’t a problem being seen in an old crapbox during everyday driving, but I could see the disappointment on the faces of first dates as we walked up to my car for the first time. The biggest problem was that old clunkers are cop magnets; I’d get pulled over because they figured anyone driving an old beater in certain places *must* be doing something illegal, or be uninsured or something. Once I got stopped because I was carrying a big-screen TV that may have been worth more than the car so the cop thought I must have stolen it. That more than anything convinced me I needed a new car.
I don’t recall ever being embarrassed by a car that I’ve driven, which is good, because I’ve driven all sorts of cars that might have embarrassed someone else. I had a company car that attracted attention from all the wrong people in West Palm Beach, but it wasn’t the car’s fault. It just happened to be a car that drug dealers, prostitutes, and street thugs all wanted to be near.
I do recall a friend turning down a ride in an old Chevy truck I was driving while my car was in the shop. I thought it was funny. I’ll also admit to being embarrassed riding in various people’s cars or trucks, but I didn’t turn down the rides because of it.
Repaint or factory color scheme, its just god awful, like the car itself. Definately makes a case for a monochromatic-solid color paint job.I wouldn`t be embarrased to drive it, I just would not want to drive it.
I must be one of those embarrassment-resistant people, as I had the confidence to auto cross my bone stock Grand Marquis last weekend
I’ve driven some real crap-boxes, but none of them embarrassed me… unlike the Saturn Ion loaner car I got while our Acura was in for service.
I can totally understand buying a older, well-used Saturn. They’re cheap and reliable-ish, and sometimes that’s all you can ask for. But if you’re driving around a new (at the time) Saturn Ion, that tells people “I have enough money to choose from multiple new cars, and yet I bought this.”
In the late ’70s, I was embarrassed to drive Dad’s 1975 AMC Pacer – two-tone white over blue with a white interior. It looked like an Easter egg with windows. I had to borrow it whenever my rough-looking ’65 Mustang convertible was temporarily laid up. I remember trying to explain to people (particularly dates) that the Pacer wasn’t really my car. This was well before Wayne’s World made the Pacer at least semi-cool.
Well…..uhm…. Back in 1983, I’d lived outside the states for 8 or 9 years, when I decided it was time to come home, and bring my new wife of one year with me. We didn’t have a lot of money, and what we did have we’d left with her parents as a hedge against their conviction that I was a foreigner who’d married their only daughter for her money and would abandon her somewhere in Wyoming, or Mississippi, or some other godforsaken place about which they’d read horror stories.
So, my car options were pretty limited – used, cheap, and cash. At first it was kind of fun hunting. Ever driven up to a used car dealership in a taxi? I had guys jumping through plate glass windows to try and sell me a car. However used cars were very expensive in those days as interest rates were still ridiculous and so people weren’t trading the old cars and so supplies were toght. Car shopping got tough quickly.
I finally ended up buying an 11-year-old Sky-blue Super Beetle automatic (sic) from a Methodist Minister whose parishioners had just given him a Cadillac…built out of two salvage-titled cars. The Minister was completely honest with us about the car, although perhaps his memory wasn’t what it could have been.
The VW was ugly, worn-out and slow (I really have been beaten away from a stop light by a school bus full of screaming and pointing little kids). It had somewhere around 200,000 miles on it since the Minister told us that the odometer had packed it in at 173,000 miles three years before. day the accelerator cable broke and I had to drive home using a quarter to wedge the carb linkage part way open. The car was durable, and pretty reliable, all things considered. It did have a problem with refusing to start when it was hot, but we just learned to wait 30 or 45 minutes till she was ready to go. It was just a matter of replacing all the worn-out parts piece by piece.
All in all, it was pretty embarrassing to stumble-bug into the office each morning where the people with money and/or a credit history parked their respectable cars.
The low point for me came when I decided that I might buy a second car – a $500 Datsun 2000 Roadster. If I was going to show up at the office in a beater, it might as well be a beater with panache. I knew it wpuld bee well worn, but -Japanese car!. I put a wad of cash in my pocket and chugged out to see the guy. The roadster was the most worn-out car I have ever seen to this day. Rust? Yeah, of course, but it was the ‘just needs a new master cylinder’ brakes and the windshield that was delaminating from cowl-flex that made me decide against the car. After a frightening test drive, I turned the guy down, and went to leave. Naturally the VW had heat-soaked and refused to start. The guy said to me, “At least my car runs“. He then turned away and walked into his house leaving me to sit in his driveway for 15 or 20 minutes until the Bug decided it would take me home.
I was never more embarrassed by a car than that moment.
I’m embarrassed to be seen in any SUV no matter the condition. There’s a guy running around town in a ralley-striped Ram with I think a hard tonneau and wing- I think it’s a factory setup- anyway, I would feel like a complete douche rolling that.
I wouldn’t have any trouble bringing that Citation anywhere.
Someone remember those Olds Omega Sport Coupé?.
Maybe the X-car on nicer dress
The most embarrassing car I’ve ever had to pilot: I guess I’ve lucked out, because the closest thing I can think of is the mid-90s Chevy Lumina with peeling paint that I took driver’s ed in. Embarrassing not because of the peeling paint, but because everyone is staring at you in fear!
I remember all of the GM propaganda about the release of the X body cars, and of going to see them through the window of La Jolla Chevrolet on the evening that they were first shown. I also remember being VERY disappointed, and walking away shaking my head, then driving home in my Pinto wagon………
Car I should be ashamed to drive, but thankful to at least have something to drive: my mom’s 1978 Chevette. No power, no style. Haven’t seen one in years now. I used it only when I was home from college.
Car I was ashamed to be seen driving: the 2002 Chrysler Town & Country minivan that I bought from my dad when it was questionable whether I would get my Nissan truck back in 2012. I drove that for 15 months before the highway speed multi-vehicle crash I was in. I was a single guy driving a 10 year old car. At least the moms cut me some slack. My dad, married, drove a minivan for several years, but he knew no shame (a Navy pilot, driving a 1961 Falcon in 1969?) about what he drove.
Car that people tried to convince me I should be ashamed and embarrassed to be seen driving: the 1978 Datsun 810 4dr with the I6 and 4 spd. This was 1999, and I was sans car and job; then I got a job but held onto it for almost 2 years. It was a loaner from my dad who otherwise would have donated it. I liked it because it was fast on the highway and it was beyond just unique. It was balky at times. The interior was in rough shape, and the exterior paint was badly worn by the elements. People at work screamed what a loser-mobile it was. Still, it had character, and I liked it when dad bought it new. I gave it back to pop the year after I bought my 2001 Nissan Frontier truck.
Car that the Girls didn’t like: my 1982 Toyota SR5 pickup. I had it 14 years and by 1991 the now-well-known rust issues (weren’t known to me then) was very self-evident. That was my truck, reliable as hell, and being a budget-conscious post-graduate, it was paid for, and upkeep was low. The Girls probably thought that was my character and earning potential. Future g/fs usually insisted on us taking her car. Sigh. Probably because of the unpainted bondo all over the bed. I cried the day I handed the title and keys over to a friend of mine in late 1998 since I knew it wouldn’t make the 1000 miles going home to Atlanta when I found myself without a job or future.
The only time people should be universally ashamed is when their vehicle is on a flatbed truck through some fault of their own. That’s the walk of shame.
Most embarrassing car was probably an ’87 Ford Taurus wagon, in light blue/rust/bondo with light blue cloth interior. Had the old Vulcan V6 engine, high mileage but ran really well. However, looked like a total junker. Was way more embarrassing than the several AMC Concords I owned in the early ’90s when I first started driving. Yeah, that decade was a tough one, I was broke most of the way thru it.
Too bad the Citation and it’s stablemates were such crap cars. They seemed well-designed on paper, had pleasant styling and roomy interiors. When equipped with the right options and trimmed out nicely, they weren’t too bad to look at. But there were serious design flaws and the quality of components and assembly were atrocious. This is where the 30-year downfall of GM really began.
In 1980 we had a Citation 2-door hatchback as a loaner when my dad’s ’77 Century was being fixed after an accident. He took my older sister and I out for a drive in it, and even let me drive it on a side road (I was 17 and didn’t get my learner’s until the next year). Not bad to drive, and he really liked it. After hearing all the X-body horror stories, though, it’s a good thing he never bought one. Once the Century came back from the shop we got 6 more years of good service from it, and I doubt we would have had the same luck with an X-body. I honestly can’t remember the last time I saw one on the road.
Chevy Mutation! My sister had one. A good car that no mechanic would work on.
Maybe my Chevette, but it was a diesel when they were the rage. I wonder how many months it took for Car and Driver to become embarrassed over this.
I don’t get embarrassed anymore, comes with age. You learn that no one really cares, unless you’re missing a muffler. I’m proud to drive something different. Everyone in my upscale neighbourhood drives a 2014-2015 euro-suv like a bunch of conforming robots. I get a chuckle when I pass them in my ’96 Lumina minivan.
I used to drive this.
Another angle….
One of the Holden Panel vans I owned was kinda embarrassing to drive, every time I went into town in it the Police would stop me to ask if it was registered it was but not in the state I was living in which required a roadworthy cert for rerego, yeah it was rough well beaten old heap but ran ok and I wasnt in a financial position to replace it just then so to hide it from the cops I painted with a brush and white housepaint, it then resembled thousands of other HQ-HZ Holden vans in then current use and I got another 5 months driving before it died without attracting any tickets. After that I only bought white panelvans and remained anonymous no more metalflake brown with Monaro blackout panels for me.
Great article. I love reliving this time in the industry. A man around the corner has a pre-1983 Dodge Omni that I am obsessed with. I plan to post it soon.
In the meantime- I am also not embarrassed by any at Car have driven. The closest I came was a 1997 green Plymouth (don’t you dare say “Dodge” Neon Expresso sedan. While I liked its peppy engine, good gas mileage, sporty handling and price, I hated it inability to start at the worst times. I had it looked at a bunch of times- and the mechanic finally thought he found the issue. While it did start, every day, for the last couple of weeks I had it, it was too late. So, I traded it in on a certified 2002 Camry that I owned for 11 years.
When I went to the car wash prior to hitting the Toyota dealership, it came out of the wash with a HUGE dimple on the roof. The whole thing was caved it. I was mortified. Here, it was the super thin roof, cold water and the 95 degree heat. Another driver had a similar issue in the past, opened the door, and popped it back up. I was never so excited to trade a car in.
I had the 1981 Pontiac Phoenix version of this as my first car. It was a hand-me-down from my mother. It was the base model, not the dressier “LJ” model as shown here, and in solid mud-beige inside and out. It had the 6-cylinder, A/C, and cruise control, and not much else. It was a very handy car, and could carry tons of stuff. It was a comfortable driving car for a family sedan. Here’s a pic of a similar car.
I had an ’80 Skylark; what a nice sized car, comfortable, easy on gas, and a body style where the 4-door actually looked better than the coupe. Negatives were the poor quality paint which even with decent care allowed rust to pop up virtually everywhere, and what I suspect killed mine was a plugged cat.
My family took a trip to Orlando back in 1980. When we got off the plane and Dad proceeded to the rental car counter, mom, my brother, and I went off to use the rest rooms. When we all met up, Dad was holding the keys and the paperwork for a brand new 1980 Citation. Oh boy, were we all excited that we were going to be driving around Florida in “The first Chevy of the Eighties! Chevy Citaaaaaation !!
When we went to collect the car, we ended up with a dark red 4 door hatch with a red interior. The car looked pretty basic with vinyl seats, no power windows or anything, and very little exterior trim. Pretty different then our current family car, a 1977 Caprice Classic 4 door sedan.
Dad opened the hatch and loaded all our luggage, which fit fine with room to spare.. We piled in the car, headed to International Drive to find our hotel. First thing we all had a good laugh about was the AM/FM radio and how it was mounted sideways. That was so strange.
The car was pretty roomy and drove nicely for a small car. We actually enjoyed the car for the 2 weeks we were in Florida, exploring the state. The air worked well in the Florida heat, was pretty comfortable for a family of 4, and got really good gas mileage. I remember mom complaining a bit about the lack of power when she took the wheel.
When we returned home, we were surprised when our next door neighbor picked us up from Newark airport in a brand new Citation. He traded in his big old Dodge Monaco for the “First Chevy of the Eighties”. His, though, was fully loaded and had a very nice custom interior. It was also a 4 door hatch, but with all the trim, and the really nice two tone exterior of a creamy beige over a rust color. I remember that car serving him and his family for many years.
You know, I have never been embarrassed by what I bought to drive because every car I have owned are cars i wanted to buy and because I always budget my money and are careful with my money, I have never been in a situation where I needed to rush out to buy a car on Sunday in order to get to work on Monday
I guess the only time I was embarrassed to drive a car was when the dealership(Carmax) gave me a loaner Dodge Intrepid while they were working on my car. All I had wanted was a ride home(as I had another car to drive) since the shuttle driver would not be back for an hour, I reluctantly took the Dodge in order to get home(and I would have left it parked and took my other car till it came time to return it) I got down the street with this Dodge and its nasty brown interior(just as worse as the brown leather package in the Aura and Malibu) and turned it aorund and went back and waited for the shuttle driver to return.
Say what you want – but the Citation is an early 80s icon !
Not everbody needs to ride around town in vintage Porsche 911 or Plymouth Barracuda in order to appear and feel cool.
In 1981 I bought a brand new, well-optioned Caprice V8. At some point soon thereafter I had to take it back to the dealership for something (a “we owe”, routine service, or whatever) and while I was waiting around for it, I started talking to a salesman about a new Citation that happened to be sitting outside the showroom. I told him I had never actually seen one up close, so he asked me if I wanted to take it for a drive while I was waiting for my car. Maybe it was my boredom speaking, but I said sure, why not.
I don’t know what engine that particular Citation had (probably the base 2.5L), and maybe I was spoiled by my Caprice, but I was shocked at how badly that brand new Citation drove. To me it just felt like it wasn’t properly sorted out. The steering felt loose, the brakes seemed dangerously nonlinear (see: the later NHTSA lawsuit vs. GM and the recall of 240,000 X-cars over this issue), and it just felt and sounded rough and unrefined overall. I really liked my Caprice before that experience, but afterward when I saw it I felt like running over and hugging it.
Later, GM was increasingly criticized for rushing the X-cars to market before they were truly ready, which led to the X’s poor reputation. Sales went off a cliff, and after all the bazillions of dollars invested and the massive introductory hoopla generated by GM, the X’s died an amazingly quick death in only five model years. Based on my admittedly brief experience, I wasn’t surprised in the least.
Lots of great responses on here. I also especially acknowledge those of you who stated in one way or another that just being thankful to have a car at all goes a long way. True that.
My personal chariot of embarrassment was the ’84 Ford Tempo GL 4-door that my parents bequeathed to me when I was 16 (1991). It had the 2.3L HSC 4-cylinder (aka two-thirds of the Ford Falcon 6) and had issues with stalling while idling at stop lights and stop signs.
I used to have to rev the engine in neutral just to keep it running, and on more than a few occasions when the light turned green and I shifted into “D”, I chirped the front tires. I got many sideways glances from people in nice cars who were like, “Seriously? You want to race me in that?” LOL Great days.
I sold the Tempo during my senior year of high school and bought a ’76 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu Classic that I want to write up here.
Drove a 1980-81 Renault Le Car a few times. Not the most reliable to say the least. Once the drive shaft fell right out at a stop light. Glad it was not my vehicle. Just a bad set of wheels.
My girlfriend just after college briefly had an ’86 Pontiac Grand Am 4-door with the 2.5 iron duke. Man, that thing was in *rough* shape. She was clearly embarrassed by it, and the couple of times I drove it, it drove notoriously bad enough that I, too, was embarrassed. Thankfully she didn’t have it for long.
There have been other bouts of situational embarrassment–my ’79 Malibu, which I actually quite liked in general, had an oil leak for quite some time where oil would drip onto the hot exhaust manifold and smoke. I knew what was going on and didn’t care, but there were many times where I’d park, get out of the car and walk away, only to be alerted by a passer-by (often a fellow student in the high school lot) that “Your car is smoking!”. A few asked if it was on fire. “No, it just does that” with a sheepish look on my face…
While a Citation certainly deserves a spot in The Annals of Bad Cars, to be driving one today has a certain cool all its own. Surviving for 35 years and still being roadworthy has its charms.
I’m in the process of resurrecting an ’80 Citation Notchback and can’t wait to drive it. You’re not a dork if you’re driving it in the name of fuel economy (not that it gets that great of mileage or anything, but its still an excuse). Just play the fuel economy card!
As bad as the X-cars were, there were many people that had them and liked them. I knew a few personally. On the contrary I also knew a few that hated their cars, too. I’m sure a lot of them were “used up” quickly and beat up, especially the rental cars. But for how many were sold, there were certainly some satisfied customers. We are talking about the early 80’s and cars didn’t have nearly the 200k mile life expectancy that they do today.
My friend was supposed to have use of his older brother’s 1975 Camaro for us and our dates to go to our prom in 1981, but either the car broke down or his brother needed to go out of town with it (too long ago…), so we ended up using my mother’s ’75 Hornet in that weird pale pea green (“ivory green” in the catalog).
This probably sounds crazy, but in the 1980s, when I was a teenager, I don’t think I’d ever ridden in an American car. A Capri once but that was German. For real. I grew up poor in an affluent but bohemian, San Francisco suburb. My parents were genuinely snobby about American cars as were their friends. Yet, I had nothing to judge them on. Then I took one of our two cars in- it was either the ’67 Volvo 122 or the ’70 Datsun 510. Neither new. Both all we could afford yet we lived a little ‘fancier’ than some. Anyway, the kind tire shop loaned me a vastly newer Citation while the tires were being mounted. It was probably only 4-5 years old at the time. I drove it all of 3 miles and was astounded that it was even considered road worthy- much less built by the largest automaker in the world. It was gallingly bad. And this was compared to our cars, which were between 12 and 15 years OLDER than the Citation. Then I ‘got’ why my parents and their friends were so judge-y about American cars. It still flabbergasts me that GM got to sell so many X-bodies. At a time when you could buy an Accord for generally similar cash, I sure didn’t get it. Now two of our three cars are American built (Toyotas but still) and they’re flawless. Things have come a long way.