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Automotive News & Views Inside Line Article Comments Edmunds turns 40 - guess the most significant car from each year!
349 messages, Last post on Feb 27, 2007 at 5:26 AM
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Edmunds Most Significant Vehicles, 1966-2006
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1983: what about the Toyota Camry? IMO, I'd say that's where the Japanese "family car" really got its start. It was fairly roomy on the inside, with tidy external dimensions, had decent performance and fuel economy, and was very reliable. It was kinda like a 1980's Japanese Dodge Dart. At the time it was also considerably larger than a Honda Accord, and larger than a Nissan Stanza. It was probably the driving force behind the ever-growing Japanese cars and their evolution into the mainstream Accord, Camry, and Altima type cars we have today. 1976: I know this is going to generate some laughs, but hear me out...the Aspen/Volare. Yes, they had their faults, and technologically there was nothing new or advanced about them. However, they really did represent some radical new thinking in Detroit...a "family-sized" compact car, and one that really tried hard to be an alternative to the larger cars out there. In the past, compact cars were never viewed as an alternative to an intermediate or full-sized car, but as something inadequate that you had to put up with. Be it a rougher ride, smaller interior dimensions, less luggage space, less towing capacity, weaker engines, more spartan interiors, etc, they were usually viewed as something for people that just couldn't afford a "real" car. In the 70's, with the fuel scares, there was a new focus on compact cars, especially more luxurious ones. Ford tarted up its Maverick with bulky, formal, expensive-looking sheetmetal and over-stuffed vinyl interiors with acres of fake wood, and put it in ad spots against Mercedes, daring people to guess which was the real thing and which cost a fraction of the price. In retrospect, Mary Ingalls could have spotted the difference even by the 5th or 6th season of "Little House on the Prairie", but at the time the public fell for it. They were miserable cars...cramped, wallowy enough to make you seasick, and many bigger cars handled better while getting about the same gas mileage. The Dart/Valiant were better cars in many respects, but were getting long in the tooth by the 70's, still rode like compact cars, and unless you got an SE or Brougham model, were pretty spartan inside. The Nova and its clones were also probably better attempts. Better performers, better handlers, less fussy styling, but still had a compact car feel to them. Then along came the Aspen/Volare. Now in coupe form, they were cramped, but no worse than your typical compact of the era, or even some midsizers. But the sedan boasted more legroom than many large cars, and as long as you didn't need the center seating position, they were probably better at transporting 4 passengers than many full-sizers. They were also designed fairly tall, with a fairly high seating position. The doors were tall and made entry/exit a dream. No more doing contortions to get into the back seat. And for the first time in almost a decade, the compact wagon made its return. Mopar quit building them after 1966, and Chevy after 1967. The Falcon wagon was actually moved to the intermediate Fairlane platform around 1966, basically being a Fairlane with a Falcon front-end clip. There were those little AMC Hornet sportwagons, but they didn't have a full tailgate. Only the window glass opened up, and they were probably more akin to hatchbacks than a real wagon. The Aspen/Volare also finally brought the big-car ride to the compact field, and its space efficiency rendered most mid-sized cars obsolete. And they were decent handlers for their time. In some ways, I think the Aspen/Volare were to domestic cars what "Logan's Run" was to science fiction movies. "Logan's Run" was considered the peak of special effects in 1976, and it wowed alot of people. However, in 1977 a little thing called "Star Wars" came along, represented a whole new way of doing special effects, really made science fiction turn mainstream, and suddenly Logan's Run looked like it was from a whole 'nother era, and was all but forgotten. And I think that's what happened with the Aspen/Volare. They really made a lot of sense in 1976, and if you wanted big-car features in a smaller package with as little compromise as possible, this was probably your best choice. But then a little thing called the Caprice/Impala came along for 1977. And cars like the Aspen/Volare, and the 1978 Fairmont, kind of became "transitional" compacts, the last of a breed that was still about that size. The first truly new-sized domestic compacts would emerge as the 1980 X-cars and the 1981 K-cars. And speaking of which, I think the 1978 Fairmont deserves some mention. It was considered a compact at the time, although at around 196" it was a bit longer than a 1978 Malibu or Granada, although shorter than an Aspen/Volare or Nova. However, it was very modern in having rack-and-pinion steering, and being light enough, starting at about 2500 pounds, so that it could get by with 4-cyl and small inline 6es, and with a 302 V-8 could actually put a smile on your face. They were very space-efficient too, and also showed that same tall car thinking that went into the Aspen/Volare and GM's downsized big and intermediate cars. Instead of spreading out to maintain interior volume, they'd spread up. Now, none of these cars are ever going to be high-dollar collectibles, or anything that most people today would ever care about, but at the time they did represent a major step forward in the march of making a more sensible-sized family car. |
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| on the domestic front, what about the Thunderbird/Cougar? While the domestics had been playing around with aerodynamics throughout the 70's, and I think the 1982 Firebird was one of the first domestics to break the 0.40 drag barrier (the old winged Superbird/Charger Daytona were about 0.35, but took radical means to achieve it), the Cougar/T-bird really took it to a new extreme that year, and brought the rounded, jellybean, aerodynamic style into the mainstream. | |
| I'm trying to think back...was there anything really new, at least on the domestic front, for 1972? The only thing I can really think of is the '72 Torino/Montego, but I don't think I'd call them significant. They were fat, heavy, and thirsty, and of the domestic intermediates I think they were actually the biggest.. IIRC there was a point where a Torino sedan was within a few inches of an LTD in length, and I think the wagons were actually a bit LONGER! I remember reading that Ford couldn't do anything to get better fuel economy out of them, so they just gave up and fitted them with bigger fuel tanks so that people woudln't cry so much about a limited cruising range. | |
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I can agree with the T-Bird in 83. I suspect the K-car will get it for 81. |
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| ...I'd say 1984 has to be the Plymouth Voyager/Dodge Caravan minivans. | |
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did the 4-door Accord come out? I know the hatchback came out in '75, same year as the Rabbit. If the Accord had come out with a 4-door that early on I would have nominated it, but I'm pretty sure its 4-door version came out later. The Rabbit truly was trend-setting in offering a 4-door in something that small. I'm trying to think of something for 1974, but can't. Off the top of my head the only new domestics I can think of are the full-sized Chryslers and the Mustang II. And with regards to the Mustang II, I'm not touching that one!  I do like the full-sized Mopars from 1974, but there was nothing revolutionary about them, and they were very poorly timed, launching right in the middle of an oil embargo, and imparting a massive, hulking look that just looked ready to guzzle, even if they were no worse than their competition. I'm also trying to think of something for 1985, but drawing a blank. Maybe the Maxima? That was the year that it really emerged as something of a driver's car, a Japanese equivalent of a BMW. On the domestic front the only thing I can think of is the downsized Electra/98/DeVille. They took space- and fuel-efficiency to new extremes in full-sized cars, and pretty much cut the cloth for what passes as a full-sized car today. The full-sized market is pretty marginal today though, so maybe that's not too much of an accomplishment. GM also came out with the N-body Grand Am, Somerset Regal, and Calais that year, but I wouldn't say there was anything revolutionary or paradigm-shifting about them. They were just slightly larger, heavier, more luxurious, formal looking Cavaliers. Had the fuel scare of the early 80's continued, these actually would have been the new Grand Prix, Regal, and Cutlass Supreme!  Chrysler was continuing to massage the K-car in 1985, and came out with the nice looking LeBaron GTS and Dodge Lancer. I think that along with the '87 LeBaron coupe and convertible, these probably represent the peak of the K-car's evolution. But in the overall scheme of things, not really all that significant. They did show that you could take a cheap compact and do a good job at making it look upscale, which Chrysler also proved with the 1981-83 Imperial. And I don't know if that's anything to brag about! Although I think Chrysler did it better than some attempts by GM (Cimarron) or Ford (Versailles)
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Replying to: andre1969 (Jul 24, 2006 8:01 am) I can't think of anything for 85 either...kind of the end of the real dark ages there. In 86 things started changing, both for imports and domestics. |
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Replying to: andre1969 (Jul 24, 2006 8:01 am) |
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1971: Chevrolet Vega and Ford Pinto 1974: Ford Mustang II 1981: Cadillac V-8-6-4 1982: Cadillac Cimmaron (and 4100 V-8 for dishonorable mention) 1985: Yugo GV What year did the dreadful Oldsmobile 5.7 Diesel debut? |
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| not positive, but I think the Olds Diesel made its debut in 1978. IIRC the first couple years it had about 120 hp, but from around 1980 or 1981-85 it only had 105 hp. Supposedly the 105 hp version isn't as troubleprone. There was also a conversion of the Olds 260 V-8 one year that put out about 85 hp. And later in the run they lopped two cylinders off of the 350, making a Diesel V-6, which had about 85 hp. Supposedly these other versions weren't as troubleprone either, but they all gave the Diesel a bad name. | |
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