I freakin’ hate the “What car from the year you were born?” game. Why? 1983. Lohnes might have 1980, the pinnacle of suck, but I’ve got to deal with four-banger F-bodies, front-drive Chryslers that looked like chalkboard erasers and didn’t know what the word “turbo” could really do for their performance image, and the frog-eyed Ford EXP. With such lovely (ugh…) choices, instead of picking my favorite, I decided to choose eleven vehicles that are actually worth the time and effort. With plenty of mud thrown at this era of cars, there has to be room to look at the positives, right? Engine swaps are easy and encouraged, but the lines are classic and in some cases, starting to appreciate with hot-rodders. With that in mind, here’s my list:

11. GMC Caballero Diablo

Aside from being a GM G-body option and a true coupe utility, what reason is there to source the rare, obscure Caballero Diablo versus any El Camino? That’s easy: to irritate, annoy and infuriate anyone who gets offended at the name alone, let alone the “demon face in a flame job” hood graphic that almost looks spot on to the Pontiac Trans Am’s “Screamin’ Chicken” decal in shape. Oh, no, it’s that guy up the street with the redneck devil car. Hide your eyes, Sheryl…

10. Dodge Ram 

The D/W-seres Dodge pickups were basically the same unit that came out in 1972, just squared off and cleaned up for 1981 and carried on more or less unchanged until 1993. For a four-wheel-drive pickup, it’d be hard to pass up a 360 powered Ram like the one pictured. No, there was no Cummins diesel for another six years, but a worked over 360 can handle it’s own. Just make sure it’s either painted black or Graphic Red, like this one.

9. Opel Manta

My Group B choice, the Manta is the one car I feel is screaming “LS SWAP ME!” hardest. Sorry to anyone who disagrees, but a light V8 with some grunt in a car that is meant to be bounding over hill and dale sounds like a fantastic time to me.

8. Toyota Supra

Another import candidate, the Supra has the 1980s sports car look down pat: hideaway headlights, sloped hatch rear, mild fender flares, and those neat X-pattern wheels. Whether it’s running the 2.7L straight six or packing a swap, tell me that there was a better looking Japanese import for ’83. I’m hard pressed to find a better looking car coming in from Japan even thirty-some years on.

7. Mercury Capri “Black Magic”

T-tops, black-and-gold paint scheme straight from the 1970s, meet the bubbleback Capri, in it’s debut year. A five-lug swap and some matching gold wheels that are not TRX-sized will pair nicely with some suspension work and a nitrous-enhanced 347 stroker. Disco, meet techno. And best part of all? It’s not a Mustang.

6. Chevrolet or GMC truck

Find me one good reason why a Rounded Line pickup shouldn’t be on this list. I’ll wait.

5. DeLorean DMC-12

Slower than the coming of Christmas, unlikely to hit 88 miles an hour unless Lohnes shoves one off of the Cliffs of Dover…why a DeLorean? Because even if it wasn’t a film star, it’s proportions and shape make for a very handsome sport coupe. Plus, there’s the added challenge of modifying a rear-engined car to actually perform like it’s Lotus-built chassis deserved.

4. American Motors Eagle SX/4

AMC knew they were in deep fertilizer by ’83. Some decisions, especially those that smelled of escargot, weren’t great. Others, like making a car that did just about everything under the sun, were. I’m still loving the idea of owning an Eagle SX/4. Part sporty hatchback, part Jeep without the need for a tribal tattoo and flat-billed baseball cap.

3. Jeep J-10

Say “Jeep” and the immediate picture is a CJ or Wrangler. Eff that. While I almost picked the CJ-8 Scrambler instead, the J-truck wins out for the ultimate Jeep pickup. It’s no nonsense blunt force, a true truck. Everything you need, nothing you don’t. Shame rust got so many of the FSJs over the years.

2. Hurst/Olds

Tape-stripe musclecars tend to be cringeworthy, but the 1983 Hurst/Olds was anything but. The 307 wasn’t much to rave about power-wise, but for the day it was plenty adequate, but just look at the car…the otherwise plain-jane Cutlass Calais body suddenly starts to echo an earlier era. The color choices are dead-on, and did we mention the Lightning Rods shifter yet? Easy selection.

1. Imperial coupe

Hey, I own it, don’t I? Here’s the thing with the Imperial: Lee Iacocca-era Chrysler really tried to do it right with the Imperial. They got Rockwell Collins to do the electronics, they attempted to fuel-inject the 318 in the name of fuel economy, they threw the kitchen sink at the interior in the name of luxury, and they managed to stay away from vinyl roofs and produced a surprisingly clean shape for a 1980s personal luxury coupe. (Look at a Seville to see what I mean.) Plus, that front-end shape is one of Chrysler’s better-looking nose cones, period. The luxury car kind of looked menacing at the right angles.