The teeming masses always have their say when it comes to what we write on BangShift. We don’t delude ourselves here, we know not everything we put up is for everybody and not every comment will be positive. We get that. And I’ll admit that putting up a story about nothing but Chrysler K-Cars followed up by a feature on a 1980s Ford LTD was equivalent to jumping into shark-infested waters while wearing swim trunks made entirely out of meat…mostly because of the attacking frenzy that followed…but allow me to explain to you just how much I’m bothered by all of the hate thrown at 1980s cars:
I don’t care one damn bit.
Here’s the fun fact about any car, anywhere, that anybody who would or could fall into the kind of mold a BangShifter gets: Not every car is a winner straight from the factory. In fact, most of them are fairly boring and quite a lot of them have been spectacularly awful, but with a little work and unrestricted creativity, something that the manufactures desperately lack, any car can be great. What proof do you need of this concept? Maybe you need to remind yourself on the story of the Chevrolet Vega before you let your jaw hit the floor when you see Grumpy’s Toy X. Maybe, when you picture Popular Hot Rodding’s “Project X” 1957 Chevrolet, maybe you might want to think back to all of the six-cylinder, three-on-the-tree basic Chevrolets that were sold compared to the kitted-out Bel Airs. There is lots of love for the Bigfoot monster Fords, but the truck that Bob Chandler started out with was designed to work until either the engine blew, the frame broke, or the owner died.
The fun in hot-rodding stems from reverse engineering. And it still happens today: look at the guy who converted his Hellcat Challenger to e85 fuel and topped the factory numbers nicely. Yes, the 1980s were a pretty shitty time to be an auto enthusiast, regardless of where your loyalties or tastes lie. Got that, nobody will argue that the stock stuff sucked. But if you can’t look past what you have and see what you can do with what you’ve got, then you’re missing the point. It’s why 1973-77 GM A-bodies and the 1978-88 GM A/G bodies started to warm up: there were only so many 1968-72 A-bodies to go around. If you liked the older feel, you could find a nice mid-seventies Colonnade body and you got a better suspension design and the same room to jam a big-block in. If you went for the newer car, you lost weight and you just went ahead and swapped in the engine, unless you taught yourself the turbo witchcraft Buick was playing with. And there are people out there who regularly look past the faults and flaws of the car they chose and make it into something awesome. When these top builds come out, people get nostalgic…how many times have you seen an off-the-wall car in a magazine or online and thought to yourself, “Damn, I haven’t seen one that nice in a long time”?
Here’s my position on it: any car can be done right. Any car can be saved and be cool…it is all in the execution of how it’s done. But bitching because you’re steadfastly against an era, or a model, or a type shows me a lack of creativity and imagination. I hunt for vehicles that aren’t run-of-the-mill…in fact, I’m going to spend today’s articles doing just that, just because I feel like it. There were only so many GTOs and 1967 Mustangs made, but there’s still tons of iron to play with.
So true words Bryan!!!.Back in the fifties,alot of guys wouldnt accept the new Chevy engines.History keeps repeating itself.
I like 80s cars, they’re workable, and usually just some gearing and intake/head work away from being real rompers.
If I were building a racing/track day car, it would probably be an 80s G-body Olds Cutlass because it really wouldn’t take too much work to make it a real hotblooded car.
I also want to point out that I like the 80s box-aesthetics far more than today’s “blob on wheels” or “Machismo+10 truck” styling.
Same thing in Australia…but now mid 80’s cars are actually pretty popular and prices are climbing… its now the 90’s cars here that are cheap and unwanted… but that’s cool, they’re powerful, handle, have good brakes etc. My daily family hack is a 1998 ex cop car Falcon – as its an ex outback WA pursuit car it has a hot 302w , full Tickford suspension etc as well as all the mod cons like air and stuff, all for a bit over a grand..
I got no problem with ’80s cars, both domestic and Japanese. They’re cheap, easy to work on and the styling is cool in that weird new-retro way. I have lots of ideas rattling around in my head that I would love to build involving ’80s cars, including a 1988 T-Bird GT with a turbo on the 302 and an Aero Coupe nose swap or a G-body Cutlass with a junkyard LS on a lot of nitrous
I’ve never had a choice, all I can afford are cars made between 74′ and 94′, and un-loved ones at that. 80s styling sucked (except for trucks) but they can be made fast for cheap and isn’t that what matters most?
I’m returning to this post a third time; but I feel it’s necessary to mention that to me real hot rodding is about taking something unwanted, unloved, or far beyond its prime, and making it go fast or be interesting.
If you have a pulse, you automatically qualify for a car loan that can buy you something off the showroom floor that makes it to the 11s and does burnouts for days, but that’s just cheating. Hot Rodding is all about taking a cheap car destined for the scrapyard and making it into a fun car. Yeah, we have our halo cars, but they just sell the image, the real deal is the Willys Aero or Ford Model A that somebody dropped a flathead V8 into in the 1950s, or the Biscayne, Falcon or B-Body Mopar that got rodded up in the 60s. The real cars behind the hobby were hand-me-downs from the previous generation that could be made cool by ingenuity, elbow grease, and maybe a pullout V8 here-and-there.
Where would we be without the Ramblers, Ambassadors, Novas, Darts, Valiants, Volares, Aspens, Dusters, Cutlasses, Granadas, Vegas or Pintos that have made affordable fun cars possible? We essentially scavenge the world’s unwanted “boring” or “junk” cars and make them special to us, so why can’t the econoboxes and uninspired slabwork of the 80s be treated the same way? If it has a motor, it can be hot rodded. End of discussion.
The cool thing about our sport is that some guy(or gal) takes a ordinary commuter car and turns it into possibly a asphalt removing machine, that makes you smile so much your face hurts. I think that what ever you want to build (well, some people should not have bondo nor a torch)it’s cool with me.
I grew up at the drags, watching a guy with a Monza Wagon and a 351C run the piss out of it. Terry Howard and his RX3 with 12,000 rpm burnouts, I am happy to see creativity in all the mechanical aspects. But the thing that I don’t understand is how people on here have decided that if drive a certain brand or have a particular engine, than you suck!
Never taking into account the hours or sacrifice it took to get it there. The funny thing is you will never see there junk in the BS forum, never hear them talk about there engine build up on there, or even chassis tuning at the strip. It’s almost like a narcissist telling you how superior they are to everyone else, and if you don’t agree with them, than your less than human. I have ignored it long enough and just wanted to state my peace.
Preach it Brother Bryan! Can I get an Amen?
Amen brother!
Amen!
AMEN!!!
Attaboy Mooseface, that one comment sums it up. There is some uglyass 80’s builds out there but nothing says we have to like them, but we should all be happy that a crafter built whatever it is instead of stuffing 91 trillion watts of stereo boom box bass rap dispensing garbage with neon underneath and wink mirrors in a K car with his or her talents.
There’s few problems in a 80s car that a LS engine can’t fix…
Amen. As someone who learned to drive in the 80’s, I remember fondly the rear drive cars of that era and have owned my Ttype for 24 years. The G bodies have lots of aftermarket support and decent examples can be had reasonably. Aero Tbirds can use anything a Fox Mustang has, too.
My malaise era junk is way better that a Hyundai any day.
Yeah I agree with everything you said Bryan. You gotta have the “eye” for a great car. Some people just dont have it and follow the pack. The Lemans in the picture above is sweet.
Raises hand: “guilty”
I hot rodded a first generation panther (79 LTD/Crown Vic).
Uhh, not just first generation, first year. Even came stock with a C4 transmission.
Nice!
Agree 100%. I was born in ’82 and grew up around late 70’s/80’s cars. Older people have fond memories of the muscle car era and that is great. It was a “golden age” and there is no denying that. But as a young guy with a family, I can’t afford to pay $5k for a rusted ’69 Camaro shell.
I’m nostalgic about what my family members drove when I was a kid…so don’t blame me for my automotive likings. I had no say on what decade I was born in! lol
I enjoy my ’88 T-bird because when I pull into a show, its different from all the cookie cutter stuff. I know “different isn’t always good”, but with the right stuff done to them most of the 80’s cars can be showstoppers!
I’m a car guy & hot rodder. Doesn’t mean I have to like every trend, yet I appreciate things done right, not cheesy or built wrong with fail engineered in to it.
The Mid 70’s to late 80’s RWD cars are great for hot rodding.
I even know of a guy that buys mid 80’s GM FWD cars. He put a Turbo on a FWD Buick Century and it puts out some serious numbers on the dyno.
Plus anything is better then another fart-canned Honda Civic.
I have a 1991 ford thunderbird it’s the sc 3.8 supercharged it’s a popular car and not to many people know about them . But I got a set of black cobra wheels with an x pipe muffler strait pipe headers and an exhaust coming out the driver side (nascar style) through the body. It ain’t perfect buts so much fun and I know some day some one is gonna want that car just the older cars. Completely agree!
I love the g body chevys. I get a lot of hate for owning one but I don\’t care. I view it as a clean slate. I can make it whatever I want. I am currently working on a pro touring build. Just a fun platform to work on.
While I’ll agree that ’73-77 was perhaps the lamest era for American automobiles ever, the 1980’s ushered in the rebirth of modern muscle cars. Build quality jumped in leaps and bound around 79-82 with 1980’s car being some of the first cars to pass 200k in large numbers. The 80 Fox bodies are legendary with anyone under 60. T-type/GN’s were amazing technology for the time and the Syclone/Typhoon trucks were pretty sweet. G bodies were generally under powered yes, but with a little elbow grease and a few spare parts they can be made to go. 80’s era trucks make awesome hot rods & the 1/2 tons looked better than the new stuff.
PREACH ON, BROTHER!!! My current toy of choice is a 5.0L powered ’78 Fairmont 2 door boxtop. Hardly a stylish ride but I love it, and that’s all that matters. F*** the haters!
Correction… WAS a ’78 Fairmont. I sold it to my brother this weekend… because I just purchased an ’85 Mercury Marquis LTS, the Canada-only sister car to the LTD LX, and one of only 135 built. I LOVE oddball cars!!!
Preach!
Right on, Bryan! I’ve thought about all sorts of interesting non-Mustang Fox Body and A/G-body projects that would be neat to do. I’ve even fantasized about some REALLY weird project starting points, like a Chrysler R-body (the last of the true full-size Mopars, which were evolved from the B-bodies) or a Chevette…