A class for the remaining malaise era junk that rolled from Detroit? Best of show? Best of slow? Biggest transformation? Most improved?
A class for the remaining malaise era junk that rolled from Detroit? Best of show? Best of slow? Biggest transformation? Most improved?
I'm game. We're building a 80 amc spirit for next year.
I'd like to see a hopped up toronado fwd.
Uh oh. I forgot the use of the word "malaise" might make some owners of those era cars un comfortable, and I might be "judging" those that drive them. Might get labeled for being a guy that "doesn't care for" "malaise" "era" "cars". Whoops. What's that I hear? Is that the PC police sirens?
What years are you talking about? Carter era (1977-1981)?
Finally the Catera versus the Maserati TC battle that I've dreamed of.
As much as I like the idea for the challenge, I like it even more for a Lemons race, malaise only.
FFTW. (That's "fugly for the win")
In reply to stuart in mn:
Yeah, it could be stretched out more too. There were ugly, malaise cars in nearly every era...
In reply to captdownshift:
I came "this close" to buying a Chrysler TC for last years Challenge as my Aristocrat entry if the purchase of the second Q45 had not come through.
I still search for them every now and then.
Trackmouse wrote: Best of show? Best of slow? Biggest transformation? Most improved?
I think this would be a strong contender in all of the above noted categories...
In reply to Driven5:
Lol
Speaking of malaise. I spotted a pristine amc eagle sx4 today! Hyper rare.
What are we counting as malaise era? Ford ltd and granadas?
Yeah. The fugly car era. The "donks". The awful "grandpa car" nose. The "I'm an 18ft. long two door coupe!" For reference, look up anything American 1978-1981.
The 1979 ford thunderchicken is a good reference.
Oddly enough, I just acquired a 77 Ranchero that might be making a $2017 appearance. All 18.3 feet of her
Dusterbd13 wrote: I'm game. We're building a 80 amc spirit for next year.
Nice! Hopefully our team will be back in 2017 with our AMC Spirit as well.
You'll want to reach further back for the real "Malaise" days. While the term wasn't coined by Carter until 1979, it described a "Crisis of Confidence" that the country was experiencing after Watergate / Vietnam / etc. Times were rough, gas got expensive and was hard to find, and the automakers hadn't figured out how to clean up their act, without strangulating the cars. These were the days of the huge land barges that made 150hp or so. (They still made torque though.....so the hp numbers are a bit misleading) Giant Impalas, Newports, LTDs, and Marquis filled the highways.
If you wanted "sporty" that generally meant a sticker kit, or maybe even flares--- a la Monza Spyder or Cobra II. Even when the automakers tried to do the right thing---- they failed. ie--- Cosworth Vega
It's pretty widely accepted that 1975 was the worst year ever for cars......ALL cars, not just American machines. When I think "Malaise", I think 4-door Maverick, Granadas, and the horrid Mustang II. GM and Chrysler produced some crap back then too----everyone did. Even the Japanese were making subpar machines back then. Sure the Celica, RX-7 and the Datsun Z looked ok, but they too were slow, and about as safe as a tin can. Even the Ferrari 308 GTSI was only a 16 second 1/4 mile car. Everything was slow.
There were a few sort-of bright spots----- The Trans Am always found a way to be exciting, and pretty fast for the era. The Z28 wasn't a terrible car, and the Corvette was OK if you got it with the L82 package. Overall though, it was a bleak time for the gearhead.
If you grew up in the 50's or 60's you dreamt of new cars. If you grew up in the 70's and early 80s, you dreamt of cars built in the 60's.
It really wasn't until 1985 or so the the automakers started to get their acts together and make decent performing cars again.
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