Oops! My apologies. I blame my eye doctor (or rather me not listening to him because I didn't want to commit to prescription reading glasses just yet) for that goof
One thing I will say, the exterior does dress up nicely on that Citation, with the 2-tone paint and extra chrome and such.
As for the EPA, I'm too lazy to look up their definition at the moment, but I seem to recall that for a car to be considered intermediate, it had to have a combined interior/trunk volume between 110 and 119.9 cubic feet, or something like that. That's for sedans and coupes; they had different metrics for wagons. And sometimes a hatchback would come in larger than you'd expect because of its increased cargo capacity, since I guess you could theoretically pack it to the top of the hatch...although I wonder if the cops would pull you over if they saw you driving around like that?
Anyway, the Citation was rated at: 94/13 for the club coupe 95/20 for the hatchback (regardless of whether it was 2- or 4-door)
For comparison, a Malibu was: 96/17: coupe 102/17: sedan.
I know some models would sort of straddle the line between size classes, depending on body style, such as the Aspen/Volare, where the coupes had noticeably less legroom in the back.
Going a few years further back, the EPA rated the '77 Grand Prix as a compact, but the LeMans as a midsize! That's because the Grand Prix only came as a coupe, and was rated 94/15 (interior/trunk volume). For the LeMans they averaged the coupe and sedan, and came out with 99/15. Unless I'm doing that math wrong, that would seem to me that the LeMans sedan would've been 104/15, which actually seems pretty roomy to me, considering space efficiency wasn't exactly a selling point of your typical mastodon-era intermediate!
Love it or hate it, I think the Citation pretty much set the pattern for what was destined to be the typical family car for the American market, up until, well, just a few years ago. Compact, tidy dimensions, but with room enough for five, and 4 or V6 power. I think we're at the point now that compact and midsized crossovers are the "typical family car" nowadays, and the few remaining intermediates, while still FWD with room for five, tend to go with a couple choices of tiny, high-powered 4-cyl engines.
I have a friend who recently bought a used Chevy Cruze. I think it's a 2015 and had about 40,000 miles on it. He paid $16K for it.
Yeesh, I paid $10.8K for a 2015 Cruze with 18K miles in 2017. Most are turbos, and that one I bought isn't, but I think the turbos in those gen 1's are nothing to write home about.
I paid just under $12K for my '17 Cruze LT new--had $3K in GM card money; it was the dealership's one 'Red Tag' promotion Cruze which was $5K off sticker; I had a letter from GM giving me $1,500 off my next new Chevy because I wrote a letter about a $500 repair on my wife's '11 Malibu a couple years before; and the dealer gave me $1,000 off to finance. Sticker of the car was $22K.
One would think a 'Red Tag' car would have been one they had in inventory a long time, but I bought in January 2017 and the car was built in Dec. 2016.
So far, at 63K miles anyway, it's probably the best new car I've bought.
Carvana offered me $15.7K for it in January of this year, when I thought I'd be buying a 5600-mile 2020 Impala that was sold from underneath me.
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As I've shared before I bought an 82 Buick Skylark Custom as my daily commuter in 89 to keep miles and wear off my 87 VW Cabriolet Wolfsburg Ed. The Skylark had been ordered as a company car and was fully loaded with V6, all power accessories. The only thing lacking it wasn't the Limited trim. I found it to be a roomy, comfortable nice driving car. Compared to the VW it was Lexus quiet. Build quality seemed to be good, no rattles or squeaks even at 99k. I paid $1400 for it and solid it 18 months later for $1400.
2021 VW Arteon SEL 4-motion, 2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech
I've mentioned before that my father bought an '82 Olds Omega Brougham coupe that was a year or so old when he got it. It was almost identical to the metallic brown one shown here and had the waffle-pattern velour seats shown here also, except in brown:
EDIT: Removed hotlink to picture and replaced with the actual pic inserted:
It was nicely equipped with the V6, stereo, and a few other extras. I took it on a road trip for a few days one time and it drove really well. Amazingly spacious inside too.
I remember being a bit puzzled in the fall of '83 when I visited the Chevy dealer one Sunday when they were closed to see the new models and saw the Citation II badging on the new ones. I didn't know what they had changed but they did a bunch of things to make them more refined and drive better. But of course by then the damage had been done. Too bad because it was a nice package that was initially betrayed by lack of adequate development.
I'm not seeing AB348's pictures either. I'm on a home PC, using Microsoft Edge. Oddly, I just pulled it up on the work computer, which is a Mac, running Firefox, and they show up just fine.
For some reason lately, I've been running into issues like that, with other applications. I tried to log into my health insurance provider, and kept getting these messages that I hadn't verified my email or phone number, and had to call customer service. But when I did, they had my info. I was able to get on it with the Mac, and using Safari. But Firefox on the Mac, and Edge on the PC, are giving me fits. And it's just a recent thing.
It really is a shame that the initial quality wasn't there with the X-cars. If GM had built them correct, from the start, I wonder if it would have been enough to change the automotive landscape today? Or, who knows, they probably would have found other ways to fall from grace, even if these cars hadn't been one of the nails in the coffin?
The 'Citation II' changes made their way into the other X-cars as well, but they didn't add "II". Maybe Chevy thought people would be reminded of the 'Chevy II', LOL.
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Odd about those pics. Both of them are just links to a picture page on the Old Car Brochures site. Maybe they prevent people from linking to them somehow? But that wouldn't explain why sometime you see the pic and other times not. Maybe it's another bug in the Vanilla software here? Stumped.
For a couple years in there GM was thinking about dumping Pontiac in its entirety, so maybe they figured they'd just let the Phoenix run its course, and not bother with any "II" badging? And then once Pontiac made a comeback for '84, since that was the Phoenix's last year, it was like why bother?
The Olds Omega was also a poor seller. It did well for a couple years, but I think once the Ciera came out, that really killed demand for it. Olds was a lot stronger in larger cars too, like the Cutlass Supreme coupe/sedan, Delta 88, and Ninety Eight, so the Omega was really just a niche for them.
The Buick Skylark continued to sell fairly well right up through the end in '85. It seemed like it never picked up the bad reputation that the other X-cars did. While Buick's strength, like Olds, was in larger cars, the Skylark seemed more important for them. And further up the ranks, the larger Buicks usually didn't sell as well as equivalent Oldsmobiles. For example, the Ciera outsold the Century. The Cutlass Supreme coupe and sedan outsold the Regals (they even dropped the Regal sedan after '84). The Delta 88 outsold the LeSabre. I'm not sure about the Electra vs the Ninety-Eight though. And at the top, the Riviera at least, outsold the Toronado.
Beat me to it. So many options and such a dull color combo, although I guess that was the style of the time. 8K, really is true that the best (affordable) cars of the malaise era were used cars. or maybe traditional full sized cars with traditional larger engines.
I think a lot of that might be bitterness from youngins in HCOL/coastal areas, like Seattle where houses that could be had for maybe 70K in 1980 might be 1.5MM today, or even more if the neighborhood went berserk. Adjusted for inflation, federal minimum wage was about 50% higher then, too, although admittedly today states sometimes compensate for that idiocy.
If I was car shopping in 1980, an 8K Citation would not be on my list. Maybe an early downsized Caddy could be had that cheap then, it'd be that or maybe a nice Impala/Caprice/Crown Vic, or maybe a used MB when the brand still had some exotic-ness, or maybe one of the often reviled Japanese cars.
Whenever I see those facebook memes about how easy us older generations supposedly had it, I think I'm going to hang on to that pic of the Citation window sticker, and use that as ammunition for how bad it really was. $28,000 in inflation-adjusted dollars, for what knocked the Aspen/Volare off the perch for the title of "Most Recalled Car in History" 🤣 I remember hearing that the Ford Focus, when it first came out, ended up taking that title from the X-car, but I don't know what the metric was. Number of recalls? Number of vehicles recalled? Or what?
It's probably not easy to compare recalls with modern cars, versus older ones, because they'll recall a car over the slightest thing these days. My 2000 Intrepid got recalled twice. One of those times was because there was a possibility that the bolts, or something that held the seatbacks in place wasn't strong enough, and that in a rear-end collision the seatback could suddenly recline. The other recall? They had forgotten to put the instructions on how to install an infant car seat in the back seat, into the owner's manual! For that, they simply mailed the insert, with the recall notice.
The latest meme I've seen going around, is that they think my generation (or more likely, it was my parents') could graduate high school with a nice paying job and be able to buy a house for cash. Where do they come up with this stuff?
I clearly remember '81 Citations being advertised at dealers for more than Monte Carlos, new. Hell, my '81 Monte Carlo, no air, 267 V8, two-tone paint, tinted glass, tilt wheel, intermittent wipers, Positraction, floor mats, AM-FM radio, rear-seat speaker, whitewalls, remote-control outside mirror on driver's side, stickering at the bottom, after destination, for $8,192.00.
In those high-inflation days (history repeats itself), prices were going up pretty significantly in new cars.
On that Citation, far-and-away the most-expensive option was the A/C at over $500.
Unrelated, but as a recent first-time grandparent, my daughter and husband are stressing out about infant formula being hard to get. Infant formula. A very literal WTH?
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In my small hometown, there was heavy industry in primarily three large places--railcar building, Chicago Bridge and Iron Co. (plants in Chicago, Salt Lake City, Birmingham, AL and.....Greenville, PA, LOL), and the repair shops of the Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad. I think since Greenville was mid-way between Chicago and NYC on the Erie railroad, plants sprung up. They all operated into the '80's (railcar building into the mid-or-late-'90's). Those shops all paid enough for employees to buy houses. My Stude dealer friend said how those guys could still buy new cars every few years. While I remember some periods of layoffs, I also remember other periods of lots of OT. My Dad worked at the post office so missed the highs and lows of manufacturing. (Well, he did work second-shift at the railcar-building plant, while in high school during WWII. That reminds me, Sunday was V-E Day. Harry Truman's '72 Chrysler still on display at the home has license plates with '5745' as the number he always reserved--that was V-E Day for him).
Alas, the desire for low-cost overrode everything else, and that combined with the love of all things foreign killed all of those industries. Within two years of NAFTA, the last (major) plant in town left for Mexico, sigh.
Personally, my memory of those days is one breadwinner in the house was usually sufficient. The flip side is, seems like people wanted a lot less stuff, and less-flashy stuff then.
I was the first in my family to attend college. I made a good living and was able to retire at 63, but after 41 years of constantly looking over my shoulder about layoffs and closures, I don't miss it at all. Luckily, I was unemployed for only two weeks in 41 years. But the toll it took thinking about it was stressful.
I have almost zero interest in the current auto industry. As one would expect with technology, the cars may be 'better', but far, far, far, far less-interesting in my mind (choices) than even 1980.
Of course, as always, the above opinions are rooted in when I was born and where I lived and the people I knew.
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I have almost zero interest in the current auto industry. As one would expect with technology, the cars may be 'better', but far, far, far, far less-interesting in my mind (choices) than even 1980.
I went down to southern Maryland to see my Mom for Mother's Day. At one point she said, kind of excited, "want to see my new car!?" She hadn't actually gotten one yet, but is planning to, so she had the sales brochure for it.
This thing she was getting excited about? A Nissan Rogue. About the best I could muster up was, "Seriously? You'd want something that small?" But, I guess they're not really that small anymore. I just remember, a few years back, walking around the lot at the local Nissan dealer with my friend who had a 2006 Xterra at the time. The Xterra was getting up in miles, and was starting to break down here and there, and wasn't exactly cheap to fix when it broke. They weren't making Xterras anymore by this time, so it seemed like the choice was either a Rogue or a Pathfinder. I just remember my friend looking at the base Rogues (which is about all he could reasonably afford), and sort of looking down through his nose at the plastic hubcaps.
But, looking at the brochure, it looks like the Rogue has come a long way since then. It certainly seemed nice enough, but just nothing that got me excited. But, I guess it was nice to see my Mom, at least, seeming enthused.
Normally, when I drive down that way, I'll usually see some interesting cars here and there, because people down there tend to hold on to them longer. But the only thing I saw on the road was a C3 Corvette. Only got a quick glimpse of it as it was coming towards me, but it was red, and had the chrome grille.
There's a place down there called Bert's 50's Diner, which is currently closed. It has a customized '49-51 Mercury on the roof, which has been up there as long as I can remember. Here's a pic of it from their Facebook page...When I drove past it on Sunday, the place was closed, and abandoned looking, but that Merc was still up there!
There was a restaurant in San Antonio named "The Monterey" (since closed). They had an early '60s Monterey out front, and even had the taillights and parking lights wired up to glow. It was really cool. Great food, too.
We rented a Rogue for 9 days in 2021. It was almost brand new, but I think this year's model is different. It was pretty nice for the compact SUV segment. It really is competitive the RAV4 and CR-V.
I like the styling and size of my wife's Equinox better than other things in its price class, and it's been very reliable, but I had to laugh when CR said two or three or four years ago that it had a quiet ride. My Cruze is notably quieter.
The factory Michelins make constant road noise.
They had a bright green available which was not unlike what was available on GM's in '99, but my wife wasn't interested, so we got white (zzzzz, and see ourselves repeatedly on the road). Salesman said last green one they had, they had a long time.
We enjoyed a diner with enormous menu when we were in Hyde Park, NY a few weeks back. We don't have those here. I like a big menu (Cheesecake Factory here). I know people say a big menu means the food isn't good, but I absolutely disagree.
Unrelated topic, but I saw a Stude at the International Meet in South Bend last week with a 'Goldwater '64' bumper sticker. Guy said he bought it off eBay but also said he has a Stude that was originally from AL and he found a 'Wallace '68' button under the carpet. He said "I don't think I'll be displaying that with the car", LOL.
I told him he might have better luck with an "LBJ" sticker on his '64, but we joked that even with that, some will probably think it stands for Lebron James, LOL.
Somehow, when I was a kid, I knew who Wendell Wilkie and Alf Landon were, LOL.
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Personally, my memory of those days is one breadwinner in the house was usually sufficient. The flip side is, seems like people wanted a lot less stuff, and less-flashy stuff then.
I was the first in my family to attend college. I made a good living and was able to retire at 63, but after 41 years of constantly looking over my shoulder about layoffs and closures, I don't miss it at all. Luckily, I was unemployed for only two weeks in 41 years. But the toll it took thinking about it was stressful.
I have almost zero interest in the current auto industry. As one would expect with technology, the cars may be 'better', but far, far, far, far less-interesting in my mind (choices) than even 1980.
Of course, as always, the above opinions are rooted in when I was born and where I lived and the people I knew.
You and I are almost the same age and I would agree with pretty much everything you wrote. I grew up with my father being the only income-earner. At first (at the time I was born, the youngest of 4 kids) he was in the Navy, then later he became a real estate agent. We were not rich but as a kid I do not recall us lacking for anything. But having lived through the depression, my parents were frugal for sure.
My parents owned their own house during most of the years that I was growing up. Because he was in real estate most of that time sometimes he would sell and we would either rent for a while or he would find a different one. It wasn't always going bigger/better either though sometimes it was. I think a lot of that was related to how well or how poorly he did in the immediate past in the sales job. Most of it was invisible to me. By the latter part of the '60s he seemed pretty stable in the job and his income was pretty dependable. We were able to go on summer vacations and he even had a couple of different lakefront cottages for the summers in that time.
One of his trademarks in the real estate business in the '60s and '70s was getting people into a house despite banks not being willing to lend them the full amount they required. He had a network of private lenders, most of them smallish commercial real estate investors, who he would use to get his buyers the rest of the sum they needed. I remember many of them being remarkably grateful to him for his help, and they would send him thank-you notes, small gifts, whatever. Even up to a few years ago I would occasionally encounter some random person who, upon hearing my last name, would ask if I was related to him, and then tell me a story about what he had done for them.
I think there have been real estate bubbles on and off for a long time. Nothing like what we see right now but real nonetheless. I remember one house we lived in he bought for around $20K in 1969, then sold 3 years later for not much more. But in '73 he bought the next house for just under $30K and sold it 9 years later for high $70/low $80K. By around 1990 that was close to a $300K house, and today I imagine it would be close to 7 figures. Location, location, location.
Being brought up by depression-era parents I was very concerned with financial security which is why I tried hard when I got out of university to get into government. Once I did I found it a mix of good and bad and when my IT experience started to become valuable in the late '80s I almost left for the private sector and promises of riches. Glad I didn't in retrospect given the ups and downs that occurred later. But everyone is different and has different priorities.
I'm a bit younger than you both but I also grew up with a one income family. Dad worked for the Fire Department, eventually getting promoted to Captain before injuries took him off the line and he worked in the office as the city's Fire Cause Investigator (think the Robert DeNiro character from Backdraft).
We never wanted for anything - in fact, both my sister and I were enrolled in private school, and I still wonder how they made that happen. They bought a new house in 1968 for, I think, $23K, which they still own.
Dad always had a second job; the shift schedule for the FD allowed him time to pursue that. For years it was construction projects for the local development mogul, then later he got his CPR training certification and hired out to both the US Navy and Shell Oil to train their employees. I remember, at one point, he was making the grand sum of $20/hour!
As my mom tells it, the second income was for my dad's hobbies - he owned a fishing boat for a number of years. I don't think she ever relied on that money for the household budget.
Amazingly, my parents never owned a house. My Dad always sweated that for some reason. He could've afforded one. When I moved my Mom out of the house in 1999, she was paying $200 month plus all utilities. It is a small town with always-low cost of living though. Her house was a ranch or bungalow built in 1956 with about 1/2 an acre of nice yard and attached one-car garage and full basement. Between her and my Dad, who died in 1995, they lived there a total 29 years. The rent was $110 when they moved in in 1970. Their landlord, then her son, I think appreciated them as renters as they didn't destroy stuff and never asked for much. I bought my starter house in 1991, lived there seven years, and live in the house they'll probably carry me out from, since 1998.
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Didn't have my phone but spotted a 2011-2013 dark gray Impala LT with the nice, machined wheels that trickled down from the LTZ a few years earlier. I always liked the wheel and that it was machined/polished. I've always hated wheels that are meant to look like silver plastic wheel covers. The owner obviously had pride of ownership. It had a black bench seat with fold-down center armrest, and was very clean/original inside. I rather like the bench for a couple of reasons--not that you'd necessarily want to put a third person in the center, but it does away with the console your leg always bumps up against, and also you can slide out to the right if you want.
Here's an online black car with the same wheels.
Unusual in these parts for the nice wheels, very clean appearance, and bench seat.
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My paternal Granddad retired from the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1974, at the age of 60. He had been with them for 35 years, and was making the princely sum of $6.00 per hour! Doesn't sound like much, but that's like $35/hr today. And honestly, I don't know if he even finished high school. In those days, you tended to learn more in the real world than you did in school.
To be honest, I think much of that is true these days, as well. They say that you need a college degree these days to get anywhere, but I think the only real reason for that is because employers WANT you to have a college degree. I pretty much learned everything I need to know for my job, while on the job! I mean yes, there are certain fields where you really DO need higher education. For instance, while Granddad could probably do a brake job on a GG1 locomotive, he probably wouldn't have been able to design the thing himself. And I certainly wouldn't have trusted him to do open heart surgery!
Didn't have my phone but spotted a 2011-2013 dark gray Impala LT with the nice, machined wheels that trickled down from the LTZ a few years earlier. I always liked the wheel and that it was machined/polished. I've always hated wheels that are meant to look like silver plastic wheel covers. The owner obviously had pride of ownership. It had a black bench seat with fold-down center armrest, and was very clean/original inside. I rather like the bench for a couple of reasons--not that you'd necessarily want to put a third person in the center, but it does away with the console your leg always bumps up against, and also you can slide out to the right if you want.
Here's an online black car with the same wheels.
Unusual in these parts for the nice wheels, very clean appearance, and bench seat.
I remember taking the wife for a test drive of one of those with the 5.3L V8 - the SS trim. Black over grey leather. Not sure if we were in the market at the time, but she did like the comfort and power of that car. I always thought it would be fun to have one that was the burgundy color they offered, or white.
I remember taking the wife for a test drive of one of those with the 5.3L V8 - the SS trim. Black over grey leather. Not sure if we were in the market at the time, but she did like the comfort and power of that car. I always thought it would be fun to have one that was the burgundy color they offered, or white.
Those (along with the Pontiac GP GXP and the Buick Lacrosse Super) were great cars if you owned a transmission shop. They liked to eat them.
I remember taking the wife for a test drive of one of those with the 5.3L V8 - the SS trim. Black over grey leather. Not sure if we were in the market at the time, but she did like the comfort and power of that car. I always thought it would be fun to have one that was the burgundy color they offered, or white.
Those (along with the Pontiac GP GXP and the Buick Lacrosse Super) were great cars if you owned a transmission shop. They liked to eat them.
I never saw one locally since no dealer here brought one in, but I was always intrigued with the Buick Lacrosse Super with the 5.3 V8. The Super was reportedly the most nicely done of the 3 models, with some variations in the suspension tuning from the others, but still quite nimble and fast. I did encounter one around 2010 (so it was at least a year old) brand new in a Buick dealer showroom in the Toronto area. I actually inquired as to what they were looking to get for it. I believe it was something like $45K sticker and they weren't moving off that. I wonder how long they clung to that.
I had the Grand Prix with the 5.3 V8 as a rental car in Baltimore with work once.
I remember gobs of power, and I also remember when you stepped on it, that steering wheel jumped out of your hands.
I didn't care for the styling, inside or out, though.
I liked the Lucerne better than the LaCrosse, for styling. There were a couple things on the LaCrosse that reminded me of a Taurus of a few years earlier. One thing that I would have HAD to have on a Lucerne, though, is that chrome molding at the bottom of the decklid (whatever model got you that). They look so naked from the rear without that.
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Yeah, that final W-body LaCrosse made me think a bit of a Taurus too, perhaps with a little Hyundai thrown in for good measure. They definitely seemed better built, when it came to fit and finish and quality of interior materials, than the '97-04 Regal and Century. And it was nice that they made the 3.8 standard, and finally got rid of that Chevy 3.1 that the Century had been using.
My main beef with the W-body in general was the cramped back seat, although these days, back seat roominess really isn't a priority. From what I remember, of the earlier models, the Impala had the roomiest back seat, the Intrigue and Century/Regal were tied for second, and the Grand Prix was the most cramped. But then, when they came out with the new Grand Prix and LaCrosse, they seemed tighter to me. And when the Impala went through that 2006 restyle, it seemed tighter in back, as well. I don't know if the published specs back me up on this, but I'm just going on how they felt to me. And, they might not be as bad for more average-height drivers, who don't put the seat all the way back.
I also seem to recall, back in 2009 when my Intrepid got totaled, one or two of y'all were trying to coax me into one of those 5.3 models as a replacement
I went through a phase where I thought about getting a Lucerne, once the Park Ave that replaced the Intrepid started getting a bit troublesome. But, that just never came to be. My concern about them was the engines. The 3.8 just wasn't enough engine for this much car, in my opinion. For the V8, I worried about the reliability and repair costs of the Northstar. And the 3.9, while an improvement over the 3.8 most likely, just never really intrigued me. Plus, I think the Lucerne is sort of past the window of opportunity when it comes to used cars for me, at this point. If I'm going used, I want something newer; about the only thing I'd be willing to take, going that far back, might be a Ford Panther.
Amazingly, my parents never owned a house. My Dad always sweated that for some reason. He could've afforded one. When I moved my Mom out of the house in 1999, she was paying $200 month plus all utilities. It is a small town with always-low cost of living though. Her house was a ranch or bungalow built in 1956 with about 1/2 an acre of nice yard and attached one-car garage and full basement. Between her and my Dad, who died in 1995, they lived there a total 29 years. The rent was $110 when they moved in in 1970. Their landlord, then her son, I think appreciated them as renters as they didn't destroy stuff and never asked for much. I bought my starter house in 1991, lived there seven years, and live in the house they'll probably carry me out from, since 1998.
I'm maybe 10 years younger than you. Grew up in maybe what could be called a 1.5 income family, mom worked before kids and after us kids were into junior high or so. My dad was a grocery store manager for most of his career, and we never wanted for anything either. My parents were sometimes not the most skilled money managers, and via job transfers houses came and went (I think a couple of houses in the 80s cost 40K or so), but even 30-40 years ago, I think that standard of living was easier to attain.
Speaking of rentals, a family member started renting a house in a small WA town in 1992, $450/month. In 2017 they were still paying $450/month (to be fair, house had few updates in that time). They then bought a place, and given the market here, feel lucky for what they got.
On the housing note, this came up in a nostalgia group today: Seattle 1969 - yes, a basic house, but assuming it is finished, this would be maybe 1.2MM-1.4MM in that neighborhood today:
I'm a bit younger than you both but I also grew up with a one income family. Dad worked for the Fire Department, eventually getting promoted to Captain before injuries took him off the line and he worked in the office as the city's Fire Cause Investigator (think the Robert DeNiro character from Backdraft).
We never wanted for anything - in fact, both my sister and I were enrolled in private school, and I still wonder how they made that happen. They bought a new house in 1968 for, I think, $23K, which they still own.
Dad always had a second job; the shift schedule for the FD allowed him time to pursue that. For years it was construction projects for the local development mogul, then later he got his CPR training certification and hired out to both the US Navy and Shell Oil to train their employees. I remember, at one point, he was making the grand sum of $20/hour!
As my mom tells it, the second income was for my dad's hobbies - he owned a fishing boat for a number of years. I don't think she ever relied on that money for the household budget.
I've mentioned this before, but I always liked the Citation Club Coupe, rarely seen, especially in X-11 trim.
The early '80's was a weird period at Chevy. The Club Coupe was discontinued, then brought back later, like the Caprice Classic coupe and bucket seats and console availability in Monte Carlos.
Maybe similarly, I always liked the '79-era Mustang with a trunk. Seems like they were rarer-seen than the hatch.
andre, re: legroom in the cars like the next-to-last-gen Impala: I remember the rear-seat legroom looking tight when I had them as rentals. One tiny thing I liked was you got a choice, if your ordered, of the woodgrain dash or brushed-metal trim, even with the rest of the interior being the same between the cars. I remember seeing that on window stickers near the bottom. I'd have opted for the latter as the former probably outsold it ten-to-one of course.
Back when I rented frequently with work, I actually preferred the Malibu of 2004-2007. I thought they were OK-looking (not nearly as pretty as the 2008), but I preferred getting them over an Impala....seating position, and power with the V6. And the upscale model had an interior they called 'Ultralux', which had perforated suede seat inserts. I always liked getting one of those.
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I've always wondered; what's the difference between a Citation coupe and a club coupe? My old car book lists 4 styles for 1980... coupe, 42,909 built, base price $4800 2-door hatchback, 210,258 built, base price $5422 club coupe, 100,340 built, base price $5214 4-door hatchback, 458,033 built, base price $5552.
The sales brochure mentions both coupe and club coupe as well, but I couldn't find where it specified a difference. Only thing I can think of is that the coupe was a stripper version of the club coupe? Although I wonder what they found to strip off of an already fairly basic car?
It's really curious that they'd drop the coupe/club coupe for '81. While the weakest selling of the three styles, it still sold well. For '81, the lineup was... 2-door hatchback, 113,983 built, $6270 base (gotta love inflation!) 4-door hatchback, 299,396 built, $6404 base price.
When they brought it back, it almost seemed like a waste of resources. For '82, my book shows... coupe (no longer listed as "club coupe"), 9,102 built, $6297 2-door hatchback, 29,613 built, $6754 4-door hatchback, 126,932 built, $6899
I wonder if they brought it back as some kind of stripper model? Still, seems odd. Especially since '82 was the year other models were getting dropped, like the Malibu and Impala coupes.
For '83, the lineup went... coupe, 6,456 built, $6333 2-door hatch, 14,323 built, $6788 4-door hatch, 71,405 built, $6934
For '84, last year for the coupe, it was... coupe, 4,936 built, $6445 2-door hatch, 8,783 built, $6900 4-door hatch, 83,486 built, $7046 At this point, seems like Chevy could have ditched both the coupe and 2-door hatch, and nobody would have noticed. Those buyers probably would have gone for a 4-door hatch, or to the Cavalier if they wanted a 2-door.
For '85, the final year, they were down to... 2-door hatch, 7,443 built, $6940 4-door hatch, 55,279 built, $7090.
The only other X-body around for '85 was the Buick Skylark. It lost its 2-door after '84, and for '85, offered... Custom 4-door: 65,667 built, $7707 Limited 4-door: 27,490 built, $8283 I imagine the 2-door was dropped, to make way for the Somerset Regal But also, with the Omega and Phoenix being dropped entirely after '84, and their coupes being slow sellers anyway, it probably didn't make much sense to keep a Skylark coupe around for '85.
I have nothing to base this on, but I'm finding some of those numbers hard-to-believe. I'd be stunned that the Skylark outsold the Citation in '85, and some of the two-door hatch numbers for the Citation strike me as hard-to-believe. But in lieu of other info, I'll accept it!
Over 800K 1980-model Citations sold, pretty amazing, even with the extended model year.
Some of those numbers are Studebaker numbers!
I sure remember seeing a lot on dealers' lots in '85 when I was shopping around. I entertained the thought of an X-11, and for a moment or two thought I'd try a six with stick, not available in the Celebrity. I ended up ordering a Celebrity Eurosport coupe, solid dark plum (whatever they called it), same color interior, the aluminum wheels from the X-11, and the 2.8 MFI V6.
I can remember being in the Chevy showroom when I met the son of the dealership owner. I said "I heard they discontinued the Citation". He actually looked at me and gave a small clapping-of-hands gesture, LOL.
Underneath, they were the same as a Celebrity--even same wheelbase.
I just did a Google and found the same numbers you did.
One Chevy that completely underwhelmed me when I test-drove one that year, was the Camaro Berlinetta. I loved the subtle gold trim, but that silly video-game instrument panel they started using in '84, with the swivel radio and turn signal lever on a stalk, was ridiculous. I thought it was rather noisy compared to what I was used to, also (a Monte Carlo with the optional interior).
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Back when I rented frequently with work, I actually preferred the Malibu of 2004-2007. I thought they were OK-looking (not nearly as pretty as the 2008), but I preferred getting them over an Impala....seating position, and power with the V6. And the upscale model had an interior they called 'Ultralux', which had perforated suede seat inserts. I always liked getting one of those.
I had a 2001 Malibu rental when my company sent me to Florida for a week to help out with a convention. In my opinion, the car was thoroughly mediocre. It's like there was nothing really wrong with it, but nothing to get excited about, either. It had the 3.1 V6, which I think was up to around 170 or 175 hp by then? I remember in those days, there was a lot of pushrod vs OHC debate on Edmunds, and this car made me really see, first-hand, what the pushrod detractors were talking about. It was fine around town and such, and, say, from 0-60, but if you were out on the highway and had to stomp on it, like trying to get around a semi in the slow lane, but traffic is coming up fast in the left lane, it didn't inspire much confidence. Still, for what it was, the car was comfortable enough for me. I'd call it a decent 4-seater. A bit narrow for 3 across in the back, but legroom seemed decent, both front and rear.
I didn't like the style of the '04-07 Malibu at all. But, where it counts at least, it seemed like an improvement. I'm guessing that 4-cyl might have been a little weak, but the new 3.5, while still pushrod, put out 200 hp, and seemed decent, although I never drove one. I sat in a few though, and they still seemed comfortable, both front and rear. And an added bonus, is that they seemed better put together. Better panel gaps and such, and, at the time at least, I thought the interior seemed higher quality, although I might have to go back and look at some pics of the two generations to compare.
I remember checking out the '97 Malibu, when it first came out, and liked it better than the Lumina. While it was narrower, it seemed like legroom, both front and rear, was better. It was like the Malibu was a better car if you needed room for four big/tall adults, but the Lumina (and following Impala) would have been better if you needed room for 5 or 6 shorter people.
I never drove an '08-12 Malibu, but liked the looks of them. I was kind of attracted to the Saturn Aura, just to be a bit different.
From what I can tell from the brochure, in 1980 Chevy sold the club coupe version of the Citation as an equivalent non-hatchback to the 2 hatch models, with the same standard equipment. But they had the coupe model as a stripper price leader. It lacked the standard AM radio, front ashtray and lighter, passenger door jamb light switch and a bunch of trim inside and out.
You could order the X-11 option on the club coupe in 1980 but not on the coupe. When they brought back the body style in '83 it was sold as a stripper and you couldn't get the X-11 on it then.
One thing I never thought about or knew was that rear side windows on the club coupe and 2-door hatch just opened at the back edge, either manually or with power. I assumed the rear door windows on the 4-door were like the '78 A-body and did not roll down, but the '81 brochure shows a crank handle in one pic, so maybe they learned a lesson there. The 1980 brochure shows a pic of the 2-door hatch from an angle at the rear and you can see the latch for the side window to open. I think the only way you could do that would be if you opened the hatch because it would be a very long reach from the back seat.
Chevy really monkeyed around with various equipment additions/deletions on the Citation over the course of its run. One thing I noticed from the brochure was that the hatch models came with color-keyed belts in '83 at least, while the poor coupe had black ones unless you bought color as an extra. Also in 1980 if you got a front bench seat it had a full-width bottom cushion but starting in '81 they did away with the idea of 3-across in front and the center of the seat bottom had a plastic tray divider in the middle.
I think GM learned their lesson with the '78 A-bodies, and not making the windows roll down. However, being a midsize, I think the A-bodies were more likely to have a/c than a compact car would, so with a/c, the stationary rear door windows probably weren't as big of an issue. If they tried that stunt with the X-cars, there might have been more of a backlash. Chrysler actually did it with the 1981 K-cars, but switched to roll-down rear windows in mid-1982 for the Aries/Reliant. Bringing the 400/LeBaron out might have prompted that move though, as those cars did have roll down windows, and it was probably cheaper to just make them all roll down, rather than have some roll down and some stationary.
I also don't think it was that much of a deterrent to sales, as they continued to sell fairly well, despite more updated competitors coming to the market. I was always impressed that Olds kept the Cutlass Supreme sedan in their lineup through 1987! It was down to about 38,700 units that final year, but at that point it probably had a hefty profit margin.
I think Olds tried to spur sales by mimicking Saturn with no haggle pricing while providing decent content level. When dad bought his 95 Ciera the only thing negotiable was his trade in. I think the no haggle pricing wasn't successful for Olds and was dropped when the 98 Intrigue was introduced or somewhere in that time frame.
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Besides being good cars, Honda shook things up by having just a few trim levels and just about no separate options. On top of that, even the base trim was pretty well optioned, for the time.
Yesterday while out running errands, I spotted a '68-72 Corvette convertible, blue, top down. Looked pretty good. It came and went too quick to get a picture though. However, as a consolation prize, this pulled up next to me at a traffic light...The Smart certainly seems like a fad that has come and gone.
The optional opening quarter windows on Citations, and I assume Phoenix sedans, I seem to remember was some sort of set up where there was a switch above the driver's door glass that opened them. It seemed like some sort of manual operation, not the power window switch like the Malibus et al had for power flip-out quarter windows.
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One thing I will say, the exterior does dress up nicely on that Citation, with the 2-tone paint and extra chrome and such.
As for the EPA, I'm too lazy to look up their definition at the moment, but I seem to recall that for a car to be considered intermediate, it had to have a combined interior/trunk volume between 110 and 119.9 cubic feet, or something like that. That's for sedans and coupes; they had different metrics for wagons. And sometimes a hatchback would come in larger than you'd expect because of its increased cargo capacity, since I guess you could theoretically pack it to the top of the hatch...although I wonder if the cops would pull you over if they saw you driving around like that?
Anyway, the Citation was rated at:
94/13 for the club coupe
95/20 for the hatchback (regardless of whether it was 2- or 4-door)
For comparison, a Malibu was:
96/17: coupe
102/17: sedan.
I know some models would sort of straddle the line between size classes, depending on body style, such as the Aspen/Volare, where the coupes had noticeably less legroom in the back.
Going a few years further back, the EPA rated the '77 Grand Prix as a compact, but the LeMans as a midsize! That's because the Grand Prix only came as a coupe, and was rated 94/15 (interior/trunk volume). For the LeMans they averaged the coupe and sedan, and came out with 99/15. Unless I'm doing that math wrong, that would seem to me that the LeMans sedan would've been 104/15, which actually seems pretty roomy to me, considering space efficiency wasn't exactly a selling point of your typical mastodon-era intermediate!
Love it or hate it, I think the Citation pretty much set the pattern for what was destined to be the typical family car for the American market, up until, well, just a few years ago. Compact, tidy dimensions, but with room enough for five, and 4 or V6 power. I think we're at the point now that compact and midsized crossovers are the "typical family car" nowadays, and the few remaining intermediates, while still FWD with room for five, tend to go with a couple choices of tiny, high-powered 4-cyl engines.
Yeesh, I paid $10.8K for a 2015 Cruze with 18K miles in 2017. Most are turbos, and that one I bought isn't, but I think the turbos in those gen 1's are nothing to write home about.
I paid just under $12K for my '17 Cruze LT new--had $3K in GM card money; it was the dealership's one 'Red Tag' promotion Cruze which was $5K off sticker; I had a letter from GM giving me $1,500 off my next new Chevy because I wrote a letter about a $500 repair on my wife's '11 Malibu a couple years before; and the dealer gave me $1,000 off to finance. Sticker of the car was $22K.
One would think a 'Red Tag' car would have been one they had in inventory a long time, but I bought in January 2017 and the car was built in Dec. 2016.
So far, at 63K miles anyway, it's probably the best new car I've bought.
Carvana offered me $15.7K for it in January of this year, when I thought I'd be buying a 5600-mile 2020 Impala that was sold from underneath me.
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EDIT: Removed hotlink to picture and replaced with the actual pic inserted:
It was nicely equipped with the V6, stereo, and a few other extras. I took it on a road trip for a few days one time and it drove really well. Amazingly spacious inside too.
I remember being a bit puzzled in the fall of '83 when I visited the Chevy dealer one Sunday when they were closed to see the new models and saw the Citation II badging on the new ones. I didn't know what they had changed but they did a bunch of things to make them more refined and drive better. But of course by then the damage had been done. Too bad because it was a nice package that was initially betrayed by lack of adequate development.
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Test:
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For some reason lately, I've been running into issues like that, with other applications. I tried to log into my health insurance provider, and kept getting these messages that I hadn't verified my email or phone number, and had to call customer service. But when I did, they had my info. I was able to get on it with the Mac, and using Safari. But Firefox on the Mac, and Edge on the PC, are giving me fits. And it's just a recent thing.
It really is a shame that the initial quality wasn't there with the X-cars. If GM had built them correct, from the start, I wonder if it would have been enough to change the automotive landscape today? Or, who knows, they probably would have found other ways to fall from grace, even if these cars hadn't been one of the nails in the coffin?
Edit: I CAN see SDA's Skylark, if that helps...
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The Olds Omega was also a poor seller. It did well for a couple years, but I think once the Ciera came out, that really killed demand for it. Olds was a lot stronger in larger cars too, like the Cutlass Supreme coupe/sedan, Delta 88, and Ninety Eight, so the Omega was really just a niche for them.
The Buick Skylark continued to sell fairly well right up through the end in '85. It seemed like it never picked up the bad reputation that the other X-cars did. While Buick's strength, like Olds, was in larger cars, the Skylark seemed more important for them. And further up the ranks, the larger Buicks usually didn't sell as well as equivalent Oldsmobiles. For example, the Ciera outsold the Century. The Cutlass Supreme coupe and sedan outsold the Regals (they even dropped the Regal sedan after '84). The Delta 88 outsold the LeSabre. I'm not sure about the Electra vs the Ninety-Eight though. And at the top, the Riviera at least, outsold the Toronado.
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Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
If I was car shopping in 1980, an 8K Citation would not be on my list. Maybe an early downsized Caddy could be had that cheap then, it'd be that or maybe a nice Impala/Caprice/Crown Vic, or maybe a used MB when the brand still had some exotic-ness, or maybe one of the often reviled Japanese cars.
In those high-inflation days (history repeats itself), prices were going up pretty significantly in new cars.
On that Citation, far-and-away the most-expensive option was the A/C at over $500.
Unrelated, but as a recent first-time grandparent, my daughter and husband are stressing out about infant formula being hard to get. Infant formula. A very literal WTH?
Alas, the desire for low-cost overrode everything else, and that combined with the love of all things foreign killed all of those industries. Within two years of NAFTA, the last (major) plant in town left for Mexico, sigh.
Personally, my memory of those days is one breadwinner in the house was usually sufficient. The flip side is, seems like people wanted a lot less stuff, and less-flashy stuff then.
I was the first in my family to attend college. I made a good living and was able to retire at 63, but after 41 years of constantly looking over my shoulder about layoffs and closures, I don't miss it at all. Luckily, I was unemployed for only two weeks in 41 years. But the toll it took thinking about it was stressful.
I have almost zero interest in the current auto industry. As one would expect with technology, the cars may be 'better', but far, far, far, far less-interesting in my mind (choices) than even 1980.
Of course, as always, the above opinions are rooted in when I was born and where I lived and the people I knew.
This thing she was getting excited about? A Nissan Rogue. About the best I could muster up was, "Seriously? You'd want something that small?" But, I guess they're not really that small anymore. I just remember, a few years back, walking around the lot at the local Nissan dealer with my friend who had a 2006 Xterra at the time. The Xterra was getting up in miles, and was starting to break down here and there, and wasn't exactly cheap to fix when it broke. They weren't making Xterras anymore by this time, so it seemed like the choice was either a Rogue or a Pathfinder. I just remember my friend looking at the base Rogues (which is about all he could reasonably afford), and sort of looking down through his nose at the plastic hubcaps.
But, looking at the brochure, it looks like the Rogue has come a long way since then. It certainly seemed nice enough, but just nothing that got me excited. But, I guess it was nice to see my Mom, at least, seeming enthused.
Normally, when I drive down that way, I'll usually see some interesting cars here and there, because people down there tend to hold on to them longer. But the only thing I saw on the road was a C3 Corvette. Only got a quick glimpse of it as it was coming towards me, but it was red, and had the chrome grille.
There's a place down there called Bert's 50's Diner, which is currently closed. It has a customized '49-51 Mercury on the roof, which has been up there as long as I can remember. Here's a pic of it from their Facebook page...
We rented a Rogue for 9 days in 2021. It was almost brand new, but I think this year's model is different. It was pretty nice for the compact SUV segment. It really is competitive the RAV4 and CR-V.
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The factory Michelins make constant road noise.
They had a bright green available which was not unlike what was available on GM's in '99, but my wife wasn't interested, so we got white (zzzzz, and see ourselves repeatedly on the road). Salesman said last green one they had, they had a long time.
We enjoyed a diner with enormous menu when we were in Hyde Park, NY a few weeks back. We don't have those here. I like a big menu (Cheesecake Factory here). I know people say a big menu means the food isn't good, but I absolutely disagree.
Unrelated topic, but I saw a Stude at the International Meet in South Bend last week with a 'Goldwater '64' bumper sticker. Guy said he bought it off eBay but also said he has a Stude that was originally from AL and he found a 'Wallace '68' button under the carpet. He said "I don't think I'll be displaying that with the car", LOL.
I told him he might have better luck with an "LBJ" sticker on his '64, but we joked that even with that, some will probably think it stands for Lebron James, LOL.
Somehow, when I was a kid, I knew who Wendell Wilkie and Alf Landon were, LOL.
My parents owned their own house during most of the years that I was growing up. Because he was in real estate most of that time sometimes he would sell and we would either rent for a while or he would find a different one. It wasn't always going bigger/better either though sometimes it was. I think a lot of that was related to how well or how poorly he did in the immediate past in the sales job. Most of it was invisible to me. By the latter part of the '60s he seemed pretty stable in the job and his income was pretty dependable. We were able to go on summer vacations and he even had a couple of different lakefront cottages for the summers in that time.
One of his trademarks in the real estate business in the '60s and '70s was getting people into a house despite banks not being willing to lend them the full amount they required. He had a network of private lenders, most of them smallish commercial real estate investors, who he would use to get his buyers the rest of the sum they needed. I remember many of them being remarkably grateful to him for his help, and they would send him thank-you notes, small gifts, whatever. Even up to a few years ago I would occasionally encounter some random person who, upon hearing my last name, would ask if I was related to him, and then tell me a story about what he had done for them.
I think there have been real estate bubbles on and off for a long time. Nothing like what we see right now but real nonetheless. I remember one house we lived in he bought for around $20K in 1969, then sold 3 years later for not much more. But in '73 he bought the next house for just under $30K and sold it 9 years later for high $70/low $80K. By around 1990 that was close to a $300K house, and today I imagine it would be close to 7 figures. Location, location, location.
Being brought up by depression-era parents I was very concerned with financial security which is why I tried hard when I got out of university to get into government. Once I did I found it a mix of good and bad and when my IT experience started to become valuable in the late '80s I almost left for the private sector and promises of riches. Glad I didn't in retrospect given the ups and downs that occurred later. But everyone is different and has different priorities.
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We never wanted for anything - in fact, both my sister and I were enrolled in private school, and I still wonder how they made that happen. They bought a new house in 1968 for, I think, $23K, which they still own.
Dad always had a second job; the shift schedule for the FD allowed him time to pursue that. For years it was construction projects for the local development mogul, then later he got his CPR training certification and hired out to both the US Navy and Shell Oil to train their employees. I remember, at one point, he was making the grand sum of $20/hour!
As my mom tells it, the second income was for my dad's hobbies - he owned a fishing boat for a number of years. I don't think she ever relied on that money for the household budget.
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Here's an online black car with the same wheels.
Unusual in these parts for the nice wheels, very clean appearance, and bench seat.
To be honest, I think much of that is true these days, as well. They say that you need a college degree these days to get anywhere, but I think the only real reason for that is because employers WANT you to have a college degree. I pretty much learned everything I need to know for my job, while on the job! I mean yes, there are certain fields where you really DO need higher education. For instance, while Granddad could probably do a brake job on a GG1 locomotive, he probably wouldn't have been able to design the thing himself. And I certainly wouldn't have trusted him to do open heart surgery!
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I too was intrigued by the LaCrosse super when it came out, but the reviews weren’t that great and as you note they were pricey.
Up until the recent craziness with used car prices I’d wager you could find some low mileage examples for relatively little money.
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I remember gobs of power, and I also remember when you stepped on it, that steering wheel jumped out of your hands.
I didn't care for the styling, inside or out, though.
I liked the Lucerne better than the LaCrosse, for styling. There were a couple things on the LaCrosse that reminded me of a Taurus of a few years earlier. One thing that I would have HAD to have on a Lucerne, though, is that chrome molding at the bottom of the decklid (whatever model got you that). They look so naked from the rear without that.
My main beef with the W-body in general was the cramped back seat, although these days, back seat roominess really isn't a priority. From what I remember, of the earlier models, the Impala had the roomiest back seat, the Intrigue and Century/Regal were tied for second, and the Grand Prix was the most cramped. But then, when they came out with the new Grand Prix and LaCrosse, they seemed tighter to me. And when the Impala went through that 2006 restyle, it seemed tighter in back, as well. I don't know if the published specs back me up on this, but I'm just going on how they felt to me. And, they might not be as bad for more average-height drivers, who don't put the seat all the way back.
I also seem to recall, back in 2009 when my Intrepid got totaled, one or two of y'all were trying to coax me into one of those 5.3 models as a replacement
I went through a phase where I thought about getting a Lucerne, once the Park Ave that replaced the Intrepid started getting a bit troublesome. But, that just never came to be. My concern about them was the engines. The 3.8 just wasn't enough engine for this much car, in my opinion. For the V8, I worried about the reliability and repair costs of the Northstar. And the 3.9, while an improvement over the 3.8 most likely, just never really intrigued me. Plus, I think the Lucerne is sort of past the window of opportunity when it comes to used cars for me, at this point. If I'm going used, I want something newer; about the only thing I'd be willing to take, going that far back, might be a Ford Panther.
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about the only thing I'd be willing to take, going that far back, might be a Ford Panther.
A Panther is always the right answer. 😎😎
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Seller has another, too
Not concours time capsules, if if these float your boat, maybe a deal.
Speaking of rentals, a family member started renting a house in a small WA town in 1992, $450/month. In 2017 they were still paying $450/month (to be fair, house had few updates in that time). They then bought a place, and given the market here, feel lucky for what they got.
On the housing note, this came up in a nostalgia group today: Seattle 1969 - yes, a basic house, but assuming it is finished, this would be maybe 1.2MM-1.4MM in that neighborhood today:
The early '80's was a weird period at Chevy. The Club Coupe was discontinued, then brought back later, like the Caprice Classic coupe and bucket seats and console availability in Monte Carlos.
Maybe similarly, I always liked the '79-era Mustang with a trunk. Seems like they were rarer-seen than the hatch.
andre, re: legroom in the cars like the next-to-last-gen Impala: I remember the rear-seat legroom looking tight when I had them as rentals. One tiny thing I liked was you got a choice, if your ordered, of the woodgrain dash or brushed-metal trim, even with the rest of the interior being the same between the cars. I remember seeing that on window stickers near the bottom. I'd have opted for the latter as the former probably outsold it ten-to-one of course.
Back when I rented frequently with work, I actually preferred the Malibu of 2004-2007. I thought they were OK-looking (not nearly as pretty as the 2008), but I preferred getting them over an Impala....seating position, and power with the V6. And the upscale model had an interior they called 'Ultralux', which had perforated suede seat inserts. I always liked getting one of those.
coupe, 42,909 built, base price $4800
2-door hatchback, 210,258 built, base price $5422
club coupe, 100,340 built, base price $5214
4-door hatchback, 458,033 built, base price $5552.
The sales brochure mentions both coupe and club coupe as well, but I couldn't find where it specified a difference. Only thing I can think of is that the coupe was a stripper version of the club coupe? Although I wonder what they found to strip off of an already fairly basic car?
It's really curious that they'd drop the coupe/club coupe for '81. While the weakest selling of the three styles, it still sold well. For '81, the lineup was...
2-door hatchback, 113,983 built, $6270 base (gotta love inflation!)
4-door hatchback, 299,396 built, $6404 base price.
When they brought it back, it almost seemed like a waste of resources. For '82, my book shows...
coupe (no longer listed as "club coupe"), 9,102 built, $6297
2-door hatchback, 29,613 built, $6754
4-door hatchback, 126,932 built, $6899
I wonder if they brought it back as some kind of stripper model? Still, seems odd. Especially since '82 was the year other models were getting dropped, like the Malibu and Impala coupes.
For '83, the lineup went...
coupe, 6,456 built, $6333
2-door hatch, 14,323 built, $6788
4-door hatch, 71,405 built, $6934
For '84, last year for the coupe, it was...
coupe, 4,936 built, $6445
2-door hatch, 8,783 built, $6900
4-door hatch, 83,486 built, $7046
At this point, seems like Chevy could have ditched both the coupe and 2-door hatch, and nobody would have noticed. Those buyers probably would have gone for a 4-door hatch, or to the Cavalier if they wanted a 2-door.
For '85, the final year, they were down to...
2-door hatch, 7,443 built, $6940
4-door hatch, 55,279 built, $7090.
The only other X-body around for '85 was the Buick Skylark. It lost its 2-door after '84, and for '85, offered...
Custom 4-door: 65,667 built, $7707
Limited 4-door: 27,490 built, $8283
I imagine the 2-door was dropped, to make way for the Somerset Regal But also, with the Omega and Phoenix being dropped entirely after '84, and their coupes being slow sellers anyway, it probably didn't make much sense to keep a Skylark coupe around for '85.
Over 800K 1980-model Citations sold, pretty amazing, even with the extended model year.
Some of those numbers are Studebaker numbers!
I sure remember seeing a lot on dealers' lots in '85 when I was shopping around. I entertained the thought of an X-11, and for a moment or two thought I'd try a six with stick, not available in the Celebrity. I ended up ordering a Celebrity Eurosport coupe, solid dark plum (whatever they called it), same color interior, the aluminum wheels from the X-11, and the 2.8 MFI V6.
I can remember being in the Chevy showroom when I met the son of the dealership owner. I said "I heard they discontinued the Citation". He actually looked at me and gave a small clapping-of-hands gesture, LOL.
Underneath, they were the same as a Celebrity--even same wheelbase.
I just did a Google and found the same numbers you did.
One Chevy that completely underwhelmed me when I test-drove one that year, was the Camaro Berlinetta. I loved the subtle gold trim, but that silly video-game instrument panel they started using in '84, with the swivel radio and turn signal lever on a stalk, was ridiculous. I thought it was rather noisy compared to what I was used to, also (a Monte Carlo with the optional interior).
I didn't like the style of the '04-07 Malibu at all. But, where it counts at least, it seemed like an improvement. I'm guessing that 4-cyl might have been a little weak, but the new 3.5, while still pushrod, put out 200 hp, and seemed decent, although I never drove one. I sat in a few though, and they still seemed comfortable, both front and rear. And an added bonus, is that they seemed better put together. Better panel gaps and such, and, at the time at least, I thought the interior seemed higher quality, although I might have to go back and look at some pics of the two generations to compare.
I remember checking out the '97 Malibu, when it first came out, and liked it better than the Lumina. While it was narrower, it seemed like legroom, both front and rear, was better. It was like the Malibu was a better car if you needed room for four big/tall adults, but the Lumina (and following Impala) would have been better if you needed room for 5 or 6 shorter people.
I never drove an '08-12 Malibu, but liked the looks of them. I was kind of attracted to the Saturn Aura, just to be a bit different.
You could order the X-11 option on the club coupe in 1980 but not on the coupe. When they brought back the body style in '83 it was sold as a stripper and you couldn't get the X-11 on it then.
One thing I never thought about or knew was that rear side windows on the club coupe and 2-door hatch just opened at the back edge, either manually or with power. I assumed the rear door windows on the 4-door were like the '78 A-body and did not roll down, but the '81 brochure shows a crank handle in one pic, so maybe they learned a lesson there. The 1980 brochure shows a pic of the 2-door hatch from an angle at the rear and you can see the latch for the side window to open. I think the only way you could do that would be if you opened the hatch because it would be a very long reach from the back seat.
Chevy really monkeyed around with various equipment additions/deletions on the Citation over the course of its run. One thing I noticed from the brochure was that the hatch models came with color-keyed belts in '83 at least, while the poor coupe had black ones unless you bought color as an extra. Also in 1980 if you got a front bench seat it had a full-width bottom cushion but starting in '81 they did away with the idea of 3-across in front and the center of the seat bottom had a plastic tray divider in the middle.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
I also don't think it was that much of a deterrent to sales, as they continued to sell fairly well, despite more updated competitors coming to the market. I was always impressed that Olds kept the Cutlass Supreme sedan in their lineup through 1987! It was down to about 38,700 units that final year, but at that point it probably had a hefty profit margin.
I think Olds tried to spur sales by mimicking Saturn with no haggle pricing while providing decent content level. When dad bought his 95 Ciera the only thing negotiable was his trade in. I think the no haggle pricing wasn't successful for Olds and was dropped when the 98 Intrigue was introduced or somewhere in that time frame.
2021 VW Arteon SEL 4-motion, 2018 VW Passat SE w/tech, 2016 Audi Q5 Premium Plus w/tech
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