10 Vintage Cars That Define The 1980s

It is no surprise that the DeLorean is at the top of this 80s vintage cars list. Catapulted into popularity thanks to the success of the movie Back to the Future, this car was one of the most recognizable vehicles in the 1980s. In fact, it remains one of the most recognizable vehicles of all-time. Sure, the movie helped boost that popularity, but the design choices were unique enough for it to stand on its own later. To make it even more impressive, there weren’t many of these vehicles made, with about 6,500 reported to be in existence. The DeLorean is a perfect example of the 1980s and the type of world that was being lived in.

The Ford Escort was another one of the most popular vehicles of the 1980s. Ford itself just knew what they were doing in that decade, having three of the fourth best-selling cars in that era, but none were more known than the Escort. It sold 1.6 million vehicles over the 1980s, and the vehicle is a front-wheel drive hatchback. It was a family car that could work for anybody regardless of their situation. Many believe that this vehicle is a performance gem given the price and style, while also being used by other famous icons in the world at the time, such as Princess Diana. 

While it’s not every day that you see a supercar in the 1980s, the Ferrari F40 was iconic in this era for a different reason than just the design. This vehicle was created for Ferrari’s 40^th anniversary at the time and was the final car that was unveiled with Enzo Ferrari in attendance before he passed away in 1988. This was further a reason for the demand for this car to skyrocket. It is an absolutely beautiful vehicle that was a staple of the 1980s and influenced a number of people to get into cars as a hobby as well. The Ferrari F40 was also only supposed to have around 450 total builds, but with the demand so high, they wound up making around 1,300 instead.

One of the reasons why this vintage car defines the 1980s is due to the design choice that was made to put wood panels on the side of the vehicle. The Ford Country Squire station wagons chose to put wood paneling down the sides of each car, and given the popularity of the vehicle overall, tons of people remember this style and put it together with the 1980s. In fact, just seeing a picture of this car can bring people back to the 1980s. It’s also even better that this type of wood paneling design choice hasn’t been used much since that era, which further brings you back to a different point in time.

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Once again, Ford was crushing it during the 1980s, and the Ford Sierra was another vehicle that emerged as outrageously popular during that era. There were almost one million Sierra’s sold in the 1980s, ranking it inside the top five best-selling cars in that stretch, even with a slow start in the first couple of years. Once the sales started to pick up, they didn’t stop, and everybody began to fall in love with the type of “jellymould” styling that pushed people away from the car initially. 

Volkswagen Golf GTI has to be included in the list of vintage cars that defined the 80s. This car fell into the hot hatch category of vehicle and was a Mk2 version of the Mk1 Golf GTI that previously popularized the style. The Mk2 capitalized on the success that was already established and even had new commercials being created to drive sales through the roof. Many people still remember the iconic advertisement involving Paula Hamilton that promoted this vehicle. This Volkswagen was faster, more exciting, had better appeal, and overall was just a superior product compared to the majority of other cars that were around in the 1980s.

Audi was one of the first companies to mass-produce a four-wheel drive vehicle and they were able to capitalize on that success by creating the Audi 100 in 1982. When this car was created, it was revealed that the Audi 100 had the best aerodynamics when compared to any other production car at the time. It had lightweight construction and a design that set it apart from other vehicles. In today’s day and age, seeing a car with this type of long design would take you back to a better time. What do I mean by long design? Well, it’s one of those cars that looks as if it stretched horizontally. We don’t usually see designs like this anymore, though it was unbelievably popular in the 1980s. 

The Nissan 200SX is another vehicle that you just look at and know which era it comes from. This car was unbelievably popular during the 1980s thanks to how attainable it was to the people. It had an optional T-top, large and oversized panel lights, and a type of boxy frame that became super popular in the 80s. We’ve seen these types of cars in a number of different colors, but it doesn’t matter. You can always find a way to recognize what type of car this is from afar, and the design choices just set it apart from how cars are made today.

The Pontiac Firebird was a classic vehicle used in the movie Billy Madison, with Adam Sandler driving this car. The movie was created in 1995, yet when you saw this vehicle appear on the screen, you could immediately tell that this was from the 80s era. The model used in the movie was actually produced in 1979, but these late 70s models definitely became 80s classics deserving a spot on our list. There might not be many vehicles that can pull on that same feeling, but the Firebird was one. It’s a type of classic American muscle that was one of the fastest and most powerful cars from Pontiac. The Firebird was released with a very specific shape as well, which was quickly and easily recognized by anybody who had seen one before.

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Looking back at the 1980s, there were few cars that people loved more than the Porsche 911. This era was filled with people dreaming about owning one of these vehicles, with posters hanging all over the walls of people across the globe. Sports cars weren’t always attainable, though the Porsche remained ridiculously successful despite that. There were multiple different versions that Porsche released before the 1980s, but the 911 was able to strike a different chord in the eyes of enjoyers. It had a type of style that looked like it was from the 1980s, though at the same time, it still found a way to appear expensive with a type of supercar feel to it.

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