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1980s Archive
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Vintage Review: 1980 Cadillac Seville Diesel – “Seems To Serve Little Purpose Other Than To Force The Rich Go Slumming In Truck Stops”
Posted on June 24, 2024 | 46 CommentsCar magazines from back in the day tend to get stereotyped, with Road & Track commonly being called out for being very anti-Detroit. Well, it wasn’t quite as simple as […] -
Vintage R&T Comparison: 1981 Ford Escort, Mazda GLC, VW Rabbit And Honda Accord — FWD Compacts For The ’80s
Posted on May 17, 2024 | 19 CommentsThe transverse FWD layout was taking over passenger cars by the 1980s. By then, the format’s advantages for passenger vehicles were hard to deny, particularly in compacts. A market that […] -
Vintage R&T Review: 1985 Toyota Corolla (AE86) GT-S – The Exciting TwinCam 16 – An Honest High Performance Weapon
Posted on May 5, 2024 | 20 CommentsThere are several ways to start this entry, all in the form of a question. For example; what’s it like to be around when a car legend appears? Particularly one […] -
CC Driving Impressions: 1988 Volvo 240GL – Brick Loving
Posted on April 26, 2024 | 6 CommentsThe Volvo 240 series is certainly no stranger to Curbsiders, with 9 separate COAL entries and numerous other pieces on the site covering the model quite comprehensively. So is there […] -
Vintage Reviews and Commentary: 1981 Cadillac – The Year Caddy Stopped Firing On All Cylinders – GM’s Deadly Sin #29
Posted on April 23, 2024 | 172 Comments(first posted 4/23/2018) If I were to pinpoint a specific year when the flagship Cadillac Division of General Motors lost its mojo (yet to be recovered), it would […] -
Vintage Review: 1984 Chrysler Laser (Dodge Daytona) XE Turbo — “A Strong Running Package In Need Of Refinement”
Posted on April 21, 2024 | 20 CommentsThe ’70s had certainly been a rough decade for Chrysler. After barely surviving, a renaissance of sorts had been in the works with the K-Car era that arrived in 1981. […] -
Vintage Review: CAR Rates The Worst Cars of 1985 – Lada Riva, Reliant Rialto, Citroen 2CV and Skoda Estelle
Posted on March 26, 2024 | 25 CommentsMany many magazines have been sold by the presence of a Ferrari, Aston Martin, Corvette or Rolls-Royce on the cover, accompanied by “Exclusive First Test” type headlines. But, inevitably, many […] -
Vintage Review: 1980 Datsun 200-SX – Samurai Stocking Stuffer
Posted on December 21, 2023 | 49 Comments(first posted 12/21/2017) Just in time for Christmas, way back in 1979, Datsun (Nissan) sent a new 200-SX stateside. For buyers seeking a small-scale Personal Luxury car, […] -
Vintage Car And Driver Review: 1986 Buick Riviera T-Type – What Is This Car Supposed To Be?
Posted on November 30, 2023 | 26 CommentsEvery once in a while, disasters are worth revisiting. Not only in an attempt to analyze what happened but also, because they are fascinating to our collective psyche. Success and […] -
Vintage Review: The Canadian Caper – Road & Track Tests Five Cheap Imports
Posted on August 18, 2023 | 62 Comments(first posted 8/8/2017) We all remember the upstart import brands that launch, stumble, and then become roaring successes. Toyota, for example, almost sunk its reputation with the Toyopet […] -
COAL Update: 1989 Toyota Corolla 1.8 D – The Almost Perfect Beater for a Crisis
Posted on August 6, 2023 | 23 CommentsMy last update indicated that my garage had gotten some new members, partly due to necessity and partly due to my seeming inability to keep cars for long. Well, the […] -
Vintage Car And Driver Review: 1986 Acura Integra LS – Nicely Integrated
Posted on June 4, 2023 | 16 CommentsHonda had gone from an unknown quantity to household name in less than a decade, and the company was striving for more. It may seem odd from today’s perspective, but […] -
Vintage Car And Driver Review: 1986 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale – Personality Crisis
Posted on May 26, 2023 | 47 CommentsTime to revisit a GM model that gets little love. An offering that seemed to click a few right buttons while missing on its ultimate mission; to bring new buyers […] -
Vintage R&T Road Test: 1983 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe – (My) Eco Boost Pioneer
Posted on May 12, 2023 | 75 Comments(first poster 5/12/2017) Although my purchase of one the first of these 1983.5 Turbo Coupes in LA was rather impulsive, I had read the magazine reviews of it. I more […] -
Vintage Review: 1987 Buick LeSabre T-Type and Buick Riviera T-Type – Missing The Target
Posted on April 26, 2023 | 79 Comments(first posted 4/26/2017) During the 1980s, Consumer Guide’s Auto Test Series offered consistent, clear and comprehensive evaluations of new cars, testing a broad array of models and providing “real world” […]