QOTD: Were There Any Lustworthy American Cars Built Between 1979 and 1989?

Corey Lewis
by Corey Lewis

Earlier this week, our Junkyard Find was a totally rad 1989 Chevrolet Camaro RS, complete with interesting personal touches applied by an owner who was quite familiar with taste and elegance.

In the comments, things quickly turned to the nature of the automobile during a dark and Malaisey period — 1979 to 1989. A question bubbled to the surface for me: Were there any lustworthy American cars made in that period? Let’s find out.

This question came from an assertion made by frequent commenter Krhodes1.

“There were plenty of lust-worthy cars in that era. But none of them were American.”

Of course, the truth in this statement depends on which sort of characteristics you find lustworthy (YMMV, as Krhodes said). I’ll start the ball rolling with a vehicle that, while not an obvious choice where lustworthiness is concerned, is a very relevant one nonetheless.

Majestic, isn’t it? It is of course the Dodge Caravan, introduced to the world in 1984. Built on the ever-versatile K-car platform that saved Chrysler’s bacon, this (tiny, in modern terms) minivan was a new way to cart children and their auxiliary equipment around the country. Up to that point, van offerings were not of the mini variety. Rough, thirsty, based on trucks, and rear-drive, those vans were cargo haulers first, and forced into people-carrying service after. The Chrysler vans were more comfortable, more practical, and much more efficient in times of gasoline Malaise.

The Caravan defined the segment, prompting Ford to follow with the rear-drive Aerostar in 1986 and General Motors to create its Dustbuster vans for 1990. For the reasons above, these minivans were lustworthy to a whole generation of parents. People who, until then, were forced to drive their large families around in a modified cargo van, or perhaps a baroque, wood-sided station wagon.

The Caravan showed North America there was a different way to travel — a better way. And for that reason, it’s a lustworthy vehicle of our selected period.

What are your picks for lustworthy American rides from ’79 to ’89?

[Image: Fiat Chrysler]

Corey Lewis
Corey Lewis

Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.

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  • Dukeisduke Womp womp.
  • FreedMike China's whining about unfair trade practices? Okay.
  • Kwik_Shift Hyunkia'sis doing what they do best...subverting expectations of quality.
  • MaintenanceCosts People who don't use the parking brake when they walk away from the car deserve to have the car roll into a river.
  • 3-On-The-Tree I’m sure they are good vehicles but you can’t base that on who is buying them. Land Rovers, Bentley’ are bought by Robin Leaches’s “The Rich and Famous” but they have terrible reliability.
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