Wars. Inflation. Gas that costs your life savings.
Does it sound like today? Sure does. But look back forty years. Same chaos. That’s why we’re digging out the metal from that decade. The stuff you probably forgot existed. Or the cars born just before the party started that found their groove in the ’80s.
The Suburban Legend
Take the Subaru BRAT. Launched in ’77. Looked like a budget Lancia designed by someone who’d only seen a Jeep once. Rugged? Maybe. Brainless? Definitely.
Reagan drove one. On his California ranch. For twenty years. If a Republican president buys your weird wagon, you know you’ve tapped a specific kind of loyalty. Subaru sold them until ’94. Marketed in America as “Fun on Wheels.”
It proved so popular it cemented reliability credentials in a way no sedan ever could.
Later models got a turbocharged 1.8. Gutsy thing. 100,000 sold over the run. It set Subaru up for the American success story we know now. Not a bad result for a box on wheels.
The Plastic Package Deal
Then there was the Plymouth Sapporo. 1978. Chrysler needed Mitsubishi’s tech. Mitsubishi needed an American dealer network. So they made this.
It looked like a spaceship crashed into a grocery cart. Plastic bumpers everywhere. But inside? Bucket seats. Lumbar support. Tinted glass. Power mirrors. Options galore. It got 40mpg. That number alone explains the initial rush.
Seventy thousand people bought it. Why the amnesia? Corporate shifting. Mitsubishi got bored of being Chrysler’s junior partner. They started selling the Conquest. Suddenly, the Sapporo felt less like a steal and more like a leftover. Business ventures are cruel that way. You get a car you can’t refuse until you realize it was a setup all along.
The Fire That Killed Ambition
Midas Bronze. Harold Dermott’s creation. This could have been big. A proper affordable sports car that actually passed safety tests.
Glassfibre monocoque. Richard Oakes on the styling. Gordon Murray on the aerodynamics. Name drop heavy for a startup. The Bronze launched in ’78. Later came the Gold. Just hitting its stride, selling well, building hype.
Then 1989 happened. Factory fire. Everything went up. Tooling, molds, dreams. The company folded almost immediately.
500 units built. Bronze and Gold combined. Niche? Yes. Forgotten? Hard to ignore now that people look at those curves and realize how ahead of their time they were.
The Car That Arrived Too Late
Alfa Romeo wanted to launch the 6 back in 1973. The oil crisis killed it instantly. Who buys a big, thirsty sedan when the gas pump looks like a ransom note? They parked the project in the automotive attic.
By the late 70s, oil prices seemed stable enough to wake the giant up. But the Alfa 6 was already a relic. First off the line looking dated. A 2.5-liter carbureted V6 sat inside. Beautiful engine? Yes. A gem, even.
Did it guzzle fuel? Absolutely. Even in 1979, folks raised an eyebrow at the tank dips. ’83 brought new styling and Bosch injection. Maybe a turbodiesel option too. But it was too little. Too late.
They sold 12,000 of them before pulling the plug in ’87. Not exactly a runaway hit. But it drives with that Italian soul. You just hope your insurance premium reflects that.
The Muscle Car’s Last Hail Mary
Buick Century Turbo Coupe. 1979.
Remember when Detroit decided small cars needed big personalities? They stuck a turbo on the Century. Wanted it to scream like a pony car. Looked surprisingly mean, if you ignore the body lines inherited from a sedan.
It tried to bridge the gap between family hauler and muscle toy. Did it work? In some corners of America, yes. People liked the punch. Others thought it was an affront to decency. Either way, it’s one of those cars that reminds us how desperately manufacturers tried to please everyone before giving up entirely.
Where do we go from here? Back to the archives? Maybe. There’s plenty of metal gathering rust that deserves another look. You think you know automotive history. Probably not.
