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BangShift Top 11: The Top 11 Coolest Cars/Trucks From The Year I Was Born (1980)


BangShift Top 11: The Top 11 Coolest Cars/Trucks From The Year I Was Born (1980)

So yesterday, Nutting unveiled his “Top 11” list of cool cars and trucks from the year he was born which was 1984. When we talked about the story no mention was ever made about whether the cars had to be factory stockers or if they could be race cars, off road trucks, etc. Predictably, he chose a lot of strange stuff with small engines and questionable aesthetics. Other than choosing a great looking wife, we’re not sure he understands the principles of good looks, but that is why we love him. Dave began swearing profusely when he was gloating that 1984 had lots more cooler cars available than the year of my birth, which was 1980 and I informed him that there were lots of cool racers in 1980.

In many ways he was right about the cool factor of stock production cars, but as stated above he didn’t interpret the rules in the Smokey Yunick way to see what wasn’t written, he just saw the black and white in front of him and that’s why older and more treacherous people tend to win these things. I will concede that Chad will own both of us and there is a potential dark horse entering this race that’ll blow the three of us right out of the tub, so stay tuned for that.

When I was a days old infant, I began reading and studying car stuff. This list is formed other expertise that I gained during my first year of life on Earth. There are stock production cars here, NASCAR machines, a truck or two, drag race iron, exotica from Italy, and some unlikely heroes. 1980 wasn’t the best year for cars, but there was plenty of cool stuff happening and more than enough to blow that list from 1984 into the weeds like a leaf.

SCROLL DOWN TO CHECK OUT MY PICKS FOR THE COOLEST CARS OF 1980 IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER (AKA…KEEP YOUR PANTS ON, CHARLIE!)

11.) Dale Earnhadt’s 1980 Mike Curb Chevrolet 

earnhardtmonte

So like I said, lots of race cars and stuff on my list because in 1980, like today race cars are always cooler than virtually anything else. Dale Earnhardt kicked everyone’s ass over the course of a 31 race season. He was second in the points coming out of the first race and then #1 in the points the whole rest of the way through. He won 5 races and was top five in nearly half of the contests that he entered in the Mike Curb Monte Carlo you see below with the blue and yellow paint job.

This was before he got “The Intimidator” nickname, before he drove all those menacing black Chevrolets, and before he racked up the rest of his NASCAR titles. Nutting will cry but please, try to tell me that a damned Corolla from 1984 is cooler than this.

 

10.) Bigfoot 

bigfoot

 

You know, King of the Monster Trucks, originator of a craze that still goes on today? That’s the truck and it was certainly one of the coolest vehicles of 1980. Yes, it existed before 1980 but in ’80 the truck started to take the shape of what people really associate with what a monster truck looks like. The tires got bigger (but not to the ’66 inchers you’re thinking of) and the truck got larger. In 1980, the movie Take This Job and Shove It was filmed (it was released in 1981) and Bigfoot stole the show appearing in several scenes, but most famously in the off road race which it won but not before literally bulldozing other trucks across a mud pit.

This truck is one of the vehicles that got my complete obsession with monster trucks as a kid started. This big blue Ford was a mechanical rock star when I was born.

 

9.) The Lamborghini Countach 

lambo

 

Between 1974 and 1990 over 2,000 Lamborghini Countach coupes were built. They were and still are among the coolest cars ever made. In 1980 there was no question of its coolness. The bombastic super car was one of the most impractical things ever built. Remember, you have to actually sit on the door sill and look backward to safely back the car up because there is less than zero rearward visibility. Capable of going 200mph, this was an unfathomably fast car for the time when typical factory high performance machines had like 150hp.

They were temperamental, finicky, expensive to own and maintain, purchased by lots of people who made their living doing illegal stuff, a cliche of themselves when production finally ended, hanging on the wall of every car loving kid’s room in the 1980s, and about as useful as tits on a bull. Damn it, I still want one now.

 

8.) Bob Glidden’s Pro Stock Fairmont 

gliddenBob Glidden’s Fairmont was like the thing that wouldn’t die for fellow Pro Stock competitors in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It literally mowed everyone down in 1978, was retired for a Plymouth Arrow in 1979 and then came back into the picture in 1980 and carried Glidden to another title in the hotly contested class.

Why is this one of the coolest cars of 1980? Because it represents a time when the pro stock cars really looked like raced up stock machines. The engines still made sense because EFI had not become something factories were doing with great frequency or success yet, and because it is a damned Fairmont. A stock Fairmont was a pretty horrid car that old ladies drove and that probably broke down a lot. This one was a dominating race car, proving that you can build a silk purse out of a sow’s ear….if you stuff it full of a tunnel rammed, crazed big block engine and a Lenco.

 

7.) Johnny Rutherford’s “Yellow Submarine” Indy 500 winner 

submarine

 

1980 was a good year to be Johnny Rutherford. He collected his third Indy 500 win and did so in a fan favorite car that had a cool nickname, “The Yellow Submarine”. We have to imagine that Pennzoil was more than thrilled about how their sponsorship and trademark screaming yellow color got lots of press and attention that year at the Brickyard.

The Jim Hall owned Chaparral was one of the first so called “ground effects” cars and it was revolutionary to the development of Indy cars from that point forward. The Ford/Cosworth engine made plenty of power and Rutherford reported after the race that the car was so stable that he could have removed his hands from the wheel on the straights. Qualifying at over 192mph, it had lots of speed on the field and aside from a few short bursts from Penske owned entries, it dominated the race.

Sports Illustrated set the scene the best after the race in 1980: Early in the race it was apparent that Rutherford could easily pass his opponents anywhere on the track—which is the best thing that can be said about the way a race car handles. “It’s flat holding J.R. down” said Fanning. “You just look around—when the other drivers pit for fuel, their damn eyes are buggin’ out from the strain. Not J.R. He comes in so cool….”

 

6.) Bob Lee’s IMSA AMX 

leeamx

 

I can hear Dave now, “That’s not even a 1980 model year car, man….” He’s right of course but again, these were the coolest cars of that year and Bob Lee’s AMX which was raced at the IMSA 24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring, The 250 miler at Daytona, and at places like Pocono, Miami, etc under the sponsorship of “Bob’s Speed Parts” was certainly one. The AMX didn’t win any of those big endurance races but it finished them and if you have ever been involved with a 12 or 24 hour race, finishing the son of a bitch is the goal of all but a handful of teams capable of actually winning.

Look at this beast with its insane fender flares, huge tires, and classic looks. Basically it is like Barry Bond’s head when he was using all of that “joint cream”. Swollen up, pissed off looking, and seemingly unstoppable. In a field of Porsches, Corvettes, and other cars, these dudes ran an old AMX. 1980 was lucky to have them. (as were other years that they competed!)

 

5.) Mongoose McEwen’s Corvette Funny Car

mcewen vette

Tom “Mongoose” McEwen’s Corvette funny cars were some of the best looking floppers ever in my opinion and his 1980 Coors backed effort in stately silver and black with the famous Mongoose logo on the “hood” is tops. The bodies still looked somewhat like production cars at this time and the Corvette bodied more so than most. The exaggerated front fender arches, the kicked out rear quarter panel humps, and even the rake of the windshield all give strong factory identity to the car.

The fact that it was painted in silver and black and not a completely whacked out scheme like some cars had during this time also appeals to me. This was the epitome of a professional looking funny car when I was born and it sure as hell beats the bag out of a Subaru BRAT, Nutting.

 

4.) Bobby Allison’s championship IROC “Pepto” Camaro

allison camaro

 

Remember what I said about whacked out colors of race cars from the early 1980s? Here’s a perfect example of one that has a shade of bad on it that we’re not sure has ever been replicated but the fact that this car was raced by a true hall of famer and was a championship winning whip negates color instantly.

IROC was a cool series for a long time. Racers from all different genres competing in identical cars on tracks all over the country. There were different models of cars used over the years from Camaros to Chryslers to Porsches but this Camaro, originally built in 1977 by Banjo Matthews was run for several seasons. During the 1980 IROC campaign, Bobby Allison put the TRACO built 350 through its paces at many tracks and prevailed against the world’s best (who were all driving mechanically identical cars).

Look at this thing and tell me the flares, stance, and genera bad-assedness of it doesn’t warrant a spot on this list.

 

3.) The Ferrari 512 BB

Picture 2

 

A 12-cylinder boxer engine that made 360hp, big rubber out back, a super low and wide look, this car was one of the premier road goers in the world during the calendar year of 1980. It had a twin disc clutch, was hand built and in my opinion is a bunch more refined and cooler than the Testarossa that came later and made Nutting’s list. The 1980s were a very wedge-like styling period for Ferrari and what we dig about this car is that it has both the wedge and the curves that make it cool.

Honestly, it is better looking than the Countach, but it does not have the same jaw dropping, traffic stopping shock nature to it. This is a refined Italian woman as opposed to the boobs hangin’ out nature of the Countach. You can also see some Daytona styling traits in this car with the look of the front end and all.

 

2.) The Jeep CJ-5 

Picture 3

 

Nutting chose a freaking Cherokee. Look, they are cool because they can be made into road racing/autocrossing dominators but jeez man. Really? If we’re picking Jeeps here, my choice for 1980 is going to be the CJ-5 because I prefer its shorter wheelbase to the 10-inch stretch of the CJ-7 from the same time frame. This one still has the “right” front end with round lights, the seven slot grill in the front, folding windshield, removable doors, roll bar, etc.

I’d take mine with a stick and the 258 sixer although the venerable GM Iron Duke engine was the base mill if you didn’t want to spend any more money. Jeeps have held onto their image and capability over the years. This little stocker CJ-5 would be plenty to get in to trouble and fun with off road and the short wheelbase means that I’d motor on by Dave when his Cherokee high-sided.

 

1.) Any Car From The Kelly American Challenge Series 

kelly american challengeFrom 1977-1991 the Kelly American Challenge series was one of the coolest road racing series in America. The cars were things like Novas, Hornets, Volares, Cutlasses, Pontiac LeMans, Skylarks, etc. These were basic race cars that guys like Joie Chitwood, Don Yenko, and others would hammer on around some of the most famous road courses in America as the warm up act to stuff like Trans-Am and other heavy duty classes. The fact that the series ran for 14 seasons says something for its popularity and the reality is that when the cars all started looking the same people and sponsors lost interest.

These two photos were shot at Road America in 1980 and they totally illustrate why I am capping my list with them. From the Nova to the back of that Pontiac with the huge circle track slicks on it to the Granada below, the Kelly American Challenge Series contained some of THE coolest cars of 1980. Fact.

 

kelly american1

 


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14 thoughts on “BangShift Top 11: The Top 11 Coolest Cars/Trucks From The Year I Was Born (1980)

  1. Beagle

    god I feel old. Thanks, ya punk ass kids.

    So the MC was cool for a ’77, Chapparal had a corporate appt. next to my mom’s, and I got my license in 1980 in a T/A. I guess it was a cool year. 🙂

  2. Benoit

    Brian, since you do post on Rally cars, 1980 is the year of the Renault 5 Turbo, build, may be somewhat on the LeCar body style, but nothing to do with it technically. It’s the car that pretty much inspired the Group B. Not an easy car to park with its 3 disc clutch, that much I’ve learned. There are a few in the US, I saw one in Charlotte in 1989.
    On the other end, I’m hoping Chad won’t come up with a Ferrari. We had a Mondial at the shop and that thing was more often waiting for parts than on the road.

  3. 440 6Pac

    Dodge brought out the Mirada in 1980. It wasn’t much on power, but it didn’t look all that bad and sure had a whole heap of potential. I stuffed a 440 into mine in 90. It ran like a bat out of hell until the garage burned down with it in it.

  4. Piston Pete

    Good job, Brian. You youngsters don’t have too much to choose from, but I salute you for using racecars (racecar spelled backwards is racecar). Though not yet sorted out as well as Glidden’s Fairmont, the Reher, Morrison and Shepherd Camaro was also a badass in 1980.

  5. Mike Walsh

    Agree on the 512 boxer!! Both ya picked Jeeps if you made a list of least reliable the jeep would top that also, the IROC cars are bad ass esp with the 2 bars holding the back window in!!

  6. AngryJoe

    Lame, Nuttings list was better….more “in the spirit” of what cars were cool in 1980…although the cars listed were cool…who the hell could get these cars? Meh, try harder next time.

  7. Whelk

    I still have my Lamborghini poster, rolled up in a tube in the spare bedroom. This also reminds me of a R&T article where they took the Countach and the Boxer to TRC and ran them both to their top speeds. 200 MPH was … optimistic. Later someone took a Boxer and turboed the V12. That quite something for the 80’s.

    1. weim55

      If production vehicles be the “rule” well…….. forget it. Having lived the time there were absolutely zero new cars of 1980 to get excited about. And no the the Lambo and Ferrari don’t count. those were just poster dream cars on a 15 year olds wall. Reality had one thinkin’ n dreamin’ of stuff made 10 years prior at the time. And hey….. you could even afford it! The best way to some up 1980: A high school kids hand me down ’65 Bonneville 4 door beat a new paper plate red Vette 3 for 3. As witnessed my me in the back seat of the Bonnie…………..

      Nice list though. you had no choice but to dig for that one…

  8. gary351c

    The car I dreamed about in 1980 (the year I got my license by the way) was the Vector W2. 600 horse twin turbo Donovan blocked Chevy and a claimed top speed of 242 mph. Technically they were production cars even though only a few were built.

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