1980s & earlier Family Car / Name of one ?

Chrysler New Yorker. We had a 1985 model in the 90s. Ok car.
Don't know how they would compare. Not big on cars myself.

If they were three drivers but only one car, I'd think "poorer family." My parents were blue collar and we always had two cars, Chevrolets, and maybe a third, an old VW for the teens to battle over.

The 1980 Pontiac Phoenix was, I think, the first front-wheel-drive Pontiac.

If you want foreign-built, maybe the Toyota Cressida?

Any European car would have had extra cachet for being European. A Lotus, a Bentley, a BMW?

Thankfully, it's easy to research all these including original prices on-line. Ain't the net great?

I'll offer what my parents had: an Oldsmobile 98

Google something like:
Top selling car 1975 US

And you will get some good answers. You can change the date based on the age and financial status of the characters. I just did something similar recently and was surprised to find out how much information is out there.

Ford Fairlane station wagon

High income family - Cadillac Sedan deVille or Fleetwood Brougham or Lincoln Towncar or Continential

Next step down - Buick Electra or LeSabre, Olds 98 or 88, Chrysler Imperial or New Yorker

Next Pontiac Gran Prix or Bonneville, Chevy Impala, Ford Crown Victoria, Mercury Grand Marquis, Chrysler Newport or 300

Below that would be the smaller cars in the big three lines. Puma

I was on a school team at that age and remember what the moms drove to pick up their girls. Many of them were the same cars the girls themselves drove in a couple of years.

Station wagons, definitely (and we had two, lol! Ford all the way there). Mostly Mercedes sedans - the 'mom car' for richer folks. Some Volvos and Peugots. Many VW models, but not bugs for moms. Some Hondas and Toyotas already.

I don't know that this is still done, but it was very common for dad to have a very sporty car that was not a good family car. We piled in the back of Dad's tiny Jag and later his Corvettes as kids and sang to The Carpenters on family Sunday drives! Good times I can't believe three kids fit in the back of those

Ford Maverick. Small and sporty. We had a pale or powder blue one. (It was actually my mother's.) We got more turns of the head in that little car, and people honking (their approval), boys making sounds out the window at us, etc. The two colors which were seen everywhere were the powder blue and the lime green.

So it was a smallish, popular sporty car.

My dad drove a Torino, aqua with a black top. My gf drove a Torino, yellow with a black top. My grandfather, who always had a little more money than the rest of us, always drove a Cadillac.

I guess it depends on where you are as well - some of the cars named above would be WAY out of the price range of the average family here at the time.

Also, in the 80's a lot of folks didn't have a car at all, and families generally had only one car.

In the 80's we variously had Ford Escorts, a Cortina, there was a VW Polo at one stage as well (the awful box shaped ones). I used to have a Mazda 323 which was new in 1988, and more recently I've owned a Toyota Corrolla which was new in about 89/90.

Here almost everyone had a Ford though, Japanese cars were more expensive and usually owned by the better off. Folks bought a VW for reliability.

One of the other things, Ken, when you get into cars back in that period was the engines. Each of the big three had engines that were known for reliability and performance. The Chrysler 383 engine, GM 454 (can't remember at the moment what the next one down was), Ford 350 - and most of those frequently had 4 barrel carburetors. There was a distinctive sound when the second two carbs kicked in when you goosed the engine. I had a 1975 Olds 98 with the 454 and a 4 barrel - that car would fly. I'm not sure what the data was on how fast the acceleration was, but, never any problems merging onto freeways. And comfort - lap of luxury - roomy and all the bells and whistles. Puma

Speaking of engines:

We had a teacher whose dad drove a station wagon (baby blue at that). He wrecked it and told said teacher (who was 17 at this point) that if he'd pay to replace the engine, he could have the car. So teacher pays for a rebuilt engine - out of a police car - and proceeds to clean up at weekend drag races for 2 months before word got around about the "ringer" in the baby blue station wagon.



(Not sure if that'll help, but it's the kind of story that belongs in a book somewhere.)

Here it'd be a Volvo. It's been considered the generic family car for generations. In the 80's, it'd likely be a Volvo 240.

Being from that era, we had a '72 Chrysler Town and Country wagon (did my driver's test in that one. Twice.), a '74 Plymouth Newport (Hemi 440), a '77 Pinto wagon, an '80 Dodge Omni, a '76 Ford Econoline van (yes, bed, refrigerator and 8-track...), a '74 Ford LTD wagon (460), a '78 Pacer, a '78 Subaru Brat, a '74 Plymouth Duster (6 cylinder), a '74 Plymouth Valiant, a '76 Oldsmobile 98 (454), an '81 Cadillac Fleetwood Broughm, an '84 Dodge 600 (Reliant K-car clone), an '86 Mercury Marquis, an '84 Ford Escort and a '72 Jeepster Commando.

A '68 Ford Mustang fastback (302 overbored, 4:11 gears, 11:1 compression and 290 HP), a '77 El Camino, an '80 F-150 and a '76 Chevy LUV were the non-family types of vehicles.

Never got my '76 Trans Am Screaming Chicken in Smokey and the Bandit trim, or my Triumph TR 7, but my friend got a Datsun 280Z that we should have died in. Multiple times. It and my rebuilt '68 Mustang would crack 120 MPH. At night. Side by side on a two lane road.

Jeff

Not sure what the family in your story is like, but maybe this will be useful: Back in the 80's I had a relative who worked at a General Motors plant--had been there for years, started off on the assembly line. His dream was to own a Cadillac. In the 80's he finally was able to purchase a used one, and I think he, his wife, and their teenage daughter were all plenty proud as they drove about town in it.

Ken said:

The irony: that his get away car had a police engine in it, or something of the sort.

Click to expand...

Then you want a late 70's Dodge Monaco or Plymouth Fury. Both were comfortable 120 MPH + vehicles that would do 0-60 in under nine seconds. The police engines were available in civilian models and represented the last of the big-block engines.

Jeff

Oh, I should mention that many of the Mercedes, etc, were old compared to how often folks buy new cars nowadays. The parents said they were very reliable cars. They'd drive an old Mercedes sedan, old enough that I don't know how much they'd cost, you know?

Dunno. That's just what I saw

We had a 1976 Mercury Cougar when I was a young teen. At some point the latch mechanism for the passenger door failed so my dad used a length of chain to keep it closed. I remember having to climb over the chain when getting in and out of the backseat.

I come from a comfortably middle-class family, but I think people of my parents' generation were more money-conscious and apt to repair and make do because they grew up during the Depression or just after. I know we drove that car for a couple of years with that chain across the back.

Oh, another tidbit from that time: seatbelts didn't exist in all cars (depending on age) and a lot of people didn't use them. I know I never did as a kid. It wasn't until I started driving that I started to use one.

Aerial

These probably won't have much power under the hood, but a Volkswagon Van (pumpkin or chocolate colored) or a Volkswagon Rabbit.

1973 Plymouth Satellite. Back when I was young and there was virtually no traffic on the interstate at night, I used to drive it home from work (2nd shift) at 100mph....