Let me jump right in and say that everyone is free to interpret “quintessential” as you like, never mind that a dictionary will tell you it means (in our context) the “most typical” or “best example of” a 1980s car. It would be easy to go by best-sellers, and that’s certainly a way to do it, but hardly the only way. Cases in point, the choices from Antii and The Bishop:
Antii Kautonen
Giugiaro’s folded-paper styling was one of the most recognizably ’80s designs, something he used on a variety of cars but never in such an iconic way as on the DeLorean. Partially thanks to that one movie franchise, partially because of the movie star life John Z. DeLorean himself lived, the DMC-12 embodies both ’80s excess and ’80s nostalgia. The car might not be the supercar it wants to look like, but not all lasting automotive phenomenons are about straight-line speed
The Bishop
Most Americans have forgotten about the Galant Sigma sedan that Mitsubishi brought over to compete (unsuccessfully) with the likes of the Camry and Accord. Still, every square inch of this thing screams “eighties” even if you don’t know anything about cars. That angular wedge profile, “upscale” chrome-framed grille, and checkerboard taillights? Yes! The fact that the optional V6 was advertised as a magical powerhouse is also perfect for the time.
Ah, but inside the Sigma was where the eighties flag flew high. Flippers and identical rectangular buttons on “satellite pods,” a fluorescent HVAC pictogram and equalizer-looking sliders on the stereo are symbolic of the time. Plus you could get a very-eighties “adaptive” suspension that I’m sure you couldn’t tell “firm” from “soft” apart except for the changes on the cool Millennium Falcon dash lights.
Pete
I went with a much more popular car for my choice, but popularity isn’t why I chose it. Instead, I just went with what hit me first, and that was the original Ford Taurus. My memories of the 1980s are only getting fuzzier, but I feel like that the “futuristic” Taurus, staid as it looks now, really shook things up in a decade-defining way. In an era when the still-very-70s Oldsmobile Cutlass was a top seller (true, incredibly) the Taurus really gave me a “the 80s have truly arrived” feeling. And I still like the blanked-out grille with the floating oval.
Your turn:
What Is The Quintessential 1980s Car?
Top graphic image: RM Sotheby’s
Ford Taurus for the regular car. Ferrari 308 for the exotic car. C4 Corvette for the early decade game changer.
Edit- Throwing in the Integra for a later decade game changer. A premium small car that isn’t a pig in lipstick? What a revelation for Americans.
Integra ruled the 90’s no doubt but late 80’s ones didn’t move the needle.
I never need an excuse to post the Bitchin’ Camaro.
https://youtu.be/ZeY2nut3Gj8?si=jRLVnV0zp4EBGU2h
Porsche 944. That’s all.
A really spoiled, obnoxious girl in my sorority did study abroad in Germany in 1985. She dropped MANY HINTS about the 944, and sure enough, she got a red one.
Counterpoint: it was also the ride of rich-but-good-guy dreamboat Jake Ryan.
My brother had the 928 poster in his bedroom.
E30 3 series – the ultimate yuppie machine
De Lorean
The SAAB kind of transcends decades but I always give it the up vote. 3 door hatchback in black.
Hate to say it but the Dodge Caravan and its ilk, the first minivans, started a trend.
Perfect list.
The Saab 900 convertible is the perfect yuppy choice for the 80s even moreso than the BMW imo.
Those Chrysler minivans (with the fake wood paneling) were definitely the way to get around in the 80s. I remember being jealous my best friend’s family had one and he was an only child! So unfair.
Watch Albert Brooks at the start of the movie Lost in America. He drives a SAAB and he is on the phone with a Mercedes dealer when he realizes that the luxury car they are discussing has “Mercedes leather” (MB-Tex) which is not real leather.
That’s hilarious. I was thinking of that exact scene when I typed my reply!
Well, as a young yuppie, when I bought my 1988 BMW 325i convertible, I cross shopped the SAAB 900 convertible. At the time, I preferred the simplicity and the trunk space of the BMW’s manual top, its better visibility, and its short throw shifter, plus that was a lot of money to be spending on a 4 cylinder SAAB. When my son turned 16, we talked him into buying a used 9-3 Aero convertible.
Well I was still a kid in the 80s, so I will defer to your actual yuppie judgment. 🙂
Definitely the BMW was much more common (I’m in LA.). SAAB then and always was more popular with quirky in-the-know people, architects, professors, etc. At that time, GM had a stake in SAAB and I did some test drives at Cadillac dealers who also carried SAAB. That was the positioning at the time.
I think the reason I would lean Saab as an 80s car is because it was more of the moment. The BMW has since become a collector’s car with a reputable as a stellar driver’s car. It has managed to transcend its status in the 80s to be considered one of the great sport sedans of all time and a key piece of BMWs evolution.
Diamantes were rare when new.
Deloreans were something most people only saw in print before they saw it on screen.
Tauruses are cool – but they were around only for the latter half of the decade – and they missed out on some of the worst elements of 80’s car design: Vinyl upholstered roofs, wire wheel covers, chrome grilles, etc.
Which is why my choice covers everything good and bad about the 80s – lasted the entire decade, and were seen everywhere:
The Chrysler Corporation K Cars.
I second this.
C4
What is the most quintessential car ad from the 80’s? Yep, that’s right, Ride, Pontiac Ride. Now, what’s the most quintessentially 80’s Pontiac? Gotta be either a white-on-white 3rd gen T/A, or the car that was only made in the 80’s, the Fiero. I can’t decide between those two.
I have no bias at all nope not at all but I agree with the turd gen bird vote.
Volvo 740
My brain always goes to the following for essential 80’s cars:
Fox body goes with the most 80’s song from Vanilla Ice.
Well, THE 80s car? Thats obviously debatable. But here’s some quintessential 80s cars, Testarossa, Delorean (as stated), and on the other end, a Dodge K car. Maybe an Aries in a brutally boring grey with an awful red interior (what was it with the domestic and red interiors back then?) and a 3 speed (count ’em) slushbox with an anemic 2.2 wheezing out like 85 hp.
Or, how about a Chrysler minivan? Born of the 80s, they were the family vehicle for untold thousands. They created an entire segment that lives on to this day.
You may think the Aries/Reliant was anemic with that 2.2/auto… with it’s ~13 second 0-60 time.
But let me tell you, the performance it had was BETTER than most of the 1970s crap people were trading them in for.
For example… let’s say the person was coming from an automatic Pinto, VW Superbeetle or a regular 250 cid 6 cyl/automatic Chevy Nova (3 very common ‘everyday’ cars from the 1970s).
The approximate 0-60 times for those respectively were 15 seconds, 18.5 seconds and 16 seconds
So while the K-car performance seems like crap by today’s standards, it was an improvement over what came before.
Well you didn’t say American just 1980s so I say Thomas Magnums Ferrari
I have to agree with the Taurus. It also had the catchiest theme song!
Gen 3 Accord.
Yay another vote!
GM front wheel drive A-platform. So many cars. Right up there with the K-car but in my area (Eastern WA) they seemed to stay around a bit longer than the K-cars. I still see them occasionally operating under their own power.
These were my second choice.
SAAB 900 Turbo.
I’m not going to go so far as to call it “quintessential,” but go look up a picture of the interior of the 1986 BMW L7. Pure cocaine, which is pretty ’80s….
I went for the more common 3 series yuppiemobile, but you are not wrong.
For pure volume, Chrysler K-cars.
It’s hard to overstate how popular they were then, even if they’re an endangered species at this point. They came in a ton of varieties, and even the most humble of them (and there were plenty) positively screamed the actual – not movie or TV- 1980s. For better or frequently worse.
There are a lot of good choices but for the US market the answer has to be either the Taurus or the Caravan/Voyager. They were the archetypes for passenger vehicles for the second half of the decade.
The Buick Grand National (and the final run of the GNX) are the 80’s cars I remember most.
IROC Camaro.
While the song “Teenage Dirtbag” is fantastic throughout, the “…he drives an IROC…” lyric is my favorite, as it says so much with so little, conjuring up a vivid mental picture of exactly what our lovelorn protagonist is up against.
“…the Galant Sigma sedan that Mitsubishi brought over…”
I read this as “the Galant Stigma that Mitsubishi brought over.
Mitsubishi Starion would be a good one too.
Not just the high end Mitsus. I had an ’87
Colt (“Imported for Dodge”) that just oozed ’80sness from its’ origami hatchback shape with flush windows to the graphing-paper backdrop behind the gauges.
I thought to myself… “What car from the 80s I will still spot driving around, that sold well enough that alot of people drove, but was also interesting.” You know, something that wasn’t there at the very end that technically could be considered 80s.
So my pick for most Quintessential Car of the 80s is: The Third Gen Honda Accord. A good appliance car with sales around the world with some pretty sweet 80s styling with those pop up headlights.
Hey not everything was all Memphis Milano, neon lights, and pastels in the 1980s. Reality was ALOT of beige and brown.
2nd pick would be the Z31 300ZX…but that’s just decadent.
My family had the hatchback with an aftermarket pop up moonroof, pop out rear windows and sweet, sweet 80s pop up headlights. I always wished they’d been able to keep it a few years longer so I could have it when I got my license..
The 3rd gen Camaro and Firebird, mainly because of the show Knight Rider and the cartoon (and toy line) M.A.S.K.
Very simply, agreed.
Lamborghini Countach LP5000
Everyone else, sit down….
Must be Cocaine White with the front spoiler/“bumper.”
Might as well say later model post-chrome Chevette. Both were warmed over ’70s designs and many dreamed of one while driving the other.
The Ferrari Testarossa as memorably driven in the quintessential 80’s TV show Miami Vice. A show so impactful that’s it’s style is frequently used as short-hand for the 80’s as a whole, along with Michael Jackson’s single sparkly glove or zippered jacket from Beat It.
Was going to say this, great pick. There were a couple at Radwood a few years ago, along with a Countach and a couple Deloreans and Buick GNX’s and Firebirds and all the things, and to me that was the most Rad. I mean it’s the model for Outrun! They made Fiero kits to make it look like one, just such a classic 80s car.
YES!!!! Every movie that’s set in the 80’s will have some sort of nod to Sonny Crockett.