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
Another vote for the K-car family of vehicles.
The Taurus struck me more as a really decent imitation Audi 5000.
I had relatively base versions of both as company cars and the Ford was a better place to spend time. But it was much more obviously designed to compete with cars from Europe. The K-cars felt more ‘murican meat and potatoes. They weren’t awful and certainly were an improvement over what Chrysler was selling prior to their arrival.
Chrysler K-cars and minivans.
I’d say the Chrysler corporation minivans would probably what I’d go with. Instinct says Taurus, but the minivans are the ones that basically found an underserved market.
For regular cars, Ford Taurus or Chrysler mini-van.
For exotics, probably a white Ferrari Testarossa like in Miami Vice.
I immediately think of the Ferrari Testarossa.
Miami Vice and, it seemed, everyone had the poster of that car on their wall.
On posters hanging in teenager’s bedrooms? That Lambo with the model spread eagle on it.
Fox Body Mustang
Station wagons! My family has a Volvo wagon and a Mercury Sable wagon at the same time. My neighbors all had either Chevrolet Caprices/Parisennes or the larger Ford wagons (Crown Vic?). We were the oddballs on the street.
Reliant K-Car. They were everywhere, and were still common on the roads well into the early aughts.
Runner up would be the Countach 5000. It’s a giant line of cocaine with wheels.
The Shelby Charger. A long-hooded FWD 2-door liftback captive import with a turbo, block-letter stickers and recessed sealed beams is, to me, more 80s Anericana than anything else.
That said, if I want to experience peak 80s car for myself, I’ll take a 190E Cozzie.
I sold new Mitsubishis back in the late 80’s and we had ONE Galant Sigma. ONE. It was exactly like the one pictured above and it was NICE. A very rare bird in the US.
I’m going with GM G Body.They were everywhere and you could pick from a boring grandma version all the way up to the not so boring GNX depending on what badge you wanted and how much you wanted to spend.They were all reliable,nice looking,and comfortable cars.
See also: El Camino!
Looking back, it feels like the ’80s really began with the introduction of the C4 Corvette. By the early 80s the bloated-looking late C3 seemed like a symbol of the Malaise. When it was replaced by the visually smaller and cleaner design of the C4, the 70s were truly gone.
Nissan put another nail in the coffin of the 70s that same year with the introduction of the 300ZX.
So to me the peak of the ’80s started in late 1983. It ended with the death of Optimus Prime in the summer of 86.
“It ended with the death of Optimus Prime in the summer of 86.”
Wasn’t Shia Laboeuf a bit too young to film in 86?
(I’m just kidding, I know about the cartoons, but this is still a good reminder to take your blood pressure medicine)
I would love to cough up some original answer and burnish my OG Class Of 1990 cred, but I don’t think there’s a better answer than the first Ford Taurus. Like its name implies, it bullied the entire American auto industry into what the next generation of automobiles would look like, and realistically, it took the rest of the industry the rest of the decade and then some to catch up.
OG Isuzu Impulse/Piazza. Semi-pop-up headlights? Check. Round wheels with square holes? Check. Giugiaro styling? Check. Crazy interior? Check. The inevitable turbo variant (with handling by Lotus, no less!)? Check. It’s peak 80s and the only reason more people don’t know about them is because they all returned to the Earth many years ago like a proper 80s Japanese car should.
Affordable – S10, Chevy 454, F-150, Ranger
Out of our league Vector W8.
The Trans Am GTA was an amazing looking car that normal people could afford. The Fiero GT looked great too. We also can’t forget the Corvette ZR-1 that came out and competed with the best from Ferrari and Lamborghini. Honorable mention to the 300 ZX Twin Turbo, that squeaked in at 1989.
The 300ZX you mentioned is still one of my favorite cars that was released new in my lifetime.
Aside from what was already mentioned, I’m gonna mention a car that was very 1980s in the Toronto area that most Americans won’t be familiar with… the 2nd gen Hyundai Pony:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/da/HyundaiPony1400GLS.jpg/250px-HyundaiPony1400GLS.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e2/HyundaiPony1400GLS-rear.jpg/250px-HyundaiPony1400GLS-rear.jpg
These were a huge surprise success in Canada when they came out in 1984.
And the Pony was sold only until the 1987 model year
People assumed that these would be reliable and durable like Japanese cars.
They weren’t.
These cars were cheap and highly disposable. From a reliability/durability perspective, they made Chevettes look good. And Chevettes were shit.
To say the the Hyundai Pony was shit would be an insult to shit.
From 1984 to the end of the 1980s, they seemed to be everywhere around here.
But by the early 1990s, most of them were gone.
They didn’t hold up well under Canadian Rust Belt winter usage.
So the 2nd gen Hyundai Pony, particularly in the Toronto area, was a very 1980s car… in that you saw them everywhere in the 1980s and then seemed to disappear as fast as they came.
@Pete – Seeing the Taurus with the floating oval makes me realize that those cars with blocked off grilles were “modern” and yet here we are with cars and trucks that have grilles the size of an entire Ford Escort’s total frontal area.
Ferrari Testarossa!
Hard to go wrong with this one!
The Marty McFly SR5 Toyota extra-cab pickup.
IROC-Z and Fox Body Mustang. 1986 nominally. They got better later and were worse earlier.
That model of Galant appeared in Australia as the Mitsubishi Magna, widened by a few inches and strengthened to suit Australian conditions. My mother-in-law bought one soon after is was released, and it served her well for the next 20+ years.
Like the Magna and the DeLorean, the 80s were a time for wedge-styled cars, so I nominate the Subaru Alcyone/Vortex/XT – the ultimate wedge!
Mazda RX-7 (FB & FC generations). Still futuristic for the time rotary engine, pop-up headlamps, and available for the entire decade. A two-door coupe for the time when most everything still had two doors, and a hatchback to boot.
The Countach LP5000 QV is probably the most 80s car for me at least.