The sheer variety of GM vehicles on this car carrier is noteworthy. Of course it’s still just a fraction of all the brands and models GM was cranking out in the ’80s, but there’s something here likely to appeal to a GM loyalist. What appeals to you?
Car Carrier of the Day: A Very Mixed Load of GM’s Finest In the Mid-’80s – Something For (Almost) Everyone
– Posted on April 12, 2021
So much of how nice your GM car was in 1982 (83?) depended on which options you ticked. I’d be happiest with that Omega Brougham if it had a V6 and four-speed, which it probably doesn’t (the infamous X body bugs had been mostly worked out by this time). Either Firenza would be nice with the V6/manual too, which is even less likely. Those Camaros look base – could have an Iron Duke! The S-10 Blazer (or Jimmy) would make me wish I had a Jeep Cherokee instead. I’m not a truck guy, so that leaves the LeSabres as best bets.
My parents had an ’83 LeSabre Limited coupe in the same dusk rose color as the car on the lower deck. They bought it new; it was a nice looking car but a complete lemon that eventually needed a new engine (Olds 307). The camshaft bores were apparently machined on a slight angle, and it was constantly eating distributors. It took the dealer and the reps nearly two years to figure it out, and it ruined something like seven distributors in the meantime. We were stranded on a Canadian expressway once, and my dad went off with a truck driver to get help…I remember my dad being pretty patient about the whole thing, but it must have been stressful when your brand new car might strand your family at any time.
I think I’d take one of the Camaros, although I liked my 2000 S10 Blazer two-door.
Definitely the crew-cab pickup with the 8-foot bed. These were rare even in the day, and could bring big coin on Bring A Trailer, which seems to have gone crazy for ’80s trucks.
Everything else is typical GM ’80s Deadly Sin crap.
I wonder whether there was a huge market for short-bed crew cab pickups in the 1980s that went untapped, or whether the market truly changed in such a way since then that made that configuration hugely popular today. Certainly, nobody seemed to imagine crew-cab (not mere extended-cab) pickups had any appeal except for actual work crews.
The market hadn’t changed enough. Trucks were fashionable, but fashion/novelty buyers wanted more traditional trucks.
The cars that this generation of trucks and that little S10 Blazer killed were the sporty variants, like those Camaros in the middle of the rack. 50 years ago, my farm kid uncles had bucket seat coupes, which they drove slowly and carefully over rutted roads to go hunting and fishing. Today, their college age granddaughters have Wranglers and lifted pickups, and they don’t slow down.
The next step after replacing the sport models was to expand the new fashion leaders to replace the bread and butter stuff. So put a back door on the Blazer to make it utilitarian, and put a back seat in a half ton pickup.
Also, trucks still were REALLY rough by modern standards. Even a short box half ton version of the truck on the top rack would be a terrible substitute for the Le Sabres on the bottom. A modern F150 crew would be plenty comfortable, once you climb up into it.
Then and now, probably the S-10 Blazer in what looks like a decent trim level. Flawed to be sure, especially in hindsight, but it looked good back then and the ones I’ve ridden in (none even remotely recently, the last in probably 1991 IIRC) seemed to do the job.
2 door ’84 LeSabre! I had one in 2 tone blue and it drove like a dream.
I like to think I’d take the Blazer, short BOF 4X4 with clean styling and great wheels.
But long term my back would enjoy a LeSabre more over our pee-pee poor roads. I’m not as cool as I (probably never) was.
I’ll be the outlier here and choose the Firenza wagon. Or is it a Skyhawk? Who can tell the difference? Regardless, I do have an affection for those little wagons, and when on earth was the last time I’d seen one?
Wraparound front side market lamp indicates a Firenza – an 84, not 83.
I too would take the J-car wagon. The fact that it’s either a Buick or Olds means the interior trim is probably a step up from the very basic Cavalier and the sometimes embarrassing Pontiac styling flourishes are absent. These wagons were useful little critters and competed better against key imports, many of which lacked a wagon in their model lineups of the time.
I was thinking the same thing. (It looks like an Oldsmobile Firenza to me.)
A well-optioned Firenza – deluxe interior, styled wheels, upgraded engine – could be a nice small car.
I have pleasant memories of this generation of GM full size cars, despite many flaws in execution.
I would enjoy the Z28, til the paint peels off and the doors won’t close with a simple push.
The S10 Blazer was a market leader when it was on this truck, but it sure didn’t age well (either as a design or in the metal).
With what I know now, I wouldn’t bother with these GM FWDs.
This car carrier is the walking dead. GM’s decline had started in the 1981…as America recovered from recession and car sales slowly grew, GM’s grew more slowly than everyone else. The reason was pretty simple: in the early 1980s, GM cars cost a little more and offered a little less; their newer “import fighters” were overweight, slow, and overpriced. By the late 1980s, GM cars looked outdated.
Very sad for GM.
Still, I’d take that 2-door Skylark. I don’t care for the landau roof, but by this time, the kinks were worked out, and with the 3-spd auto (97% likely), it covered the sins of the 2.5 Iron Duke, and was a pleasant car. It should have been like that in 1980, but better late than never. Deceptively roomy.
The two-door Omega or the two-door LeSabre
Maybe take the Camaro if it is spec’d decent.
The crew cab is probably a fleet purchase, very few people bought a crewcab back then, boy has that changed!
Is there a mighty Turbo 6V-92 under the hood of the truck or a wheezier 6-71?
The pickup is the only one that interests me.
The pickup is a reverse CC effect. A week or so ago I saw one driving towing a large tractor on a trailer.
Thought to myself I can’t remember the last time I saw one of those. Open CC tonight and lo and behold one in all it’s shiny new glory.
Seein’ how there isn’t a burnt umber Cutlass Ciera in that load, I would take the Brigadier.
Now Ive read the comments I know what that load consists of I”ll pass and wait untill a better load comes along, whens the Ford guy due in?
No game changers on the Ford hauler, exc that the big Ford truck probably is better.
The big Buicks are better than the equivalent LTD Crown Vic and Grand Marquis.
The Camaros aren’t worse than the equivalent Mustangs.
The Fox based Ford LTDs probably are a little better than the Ciera.
The Tempo and Escort aren’t better than the various other FWD GM cars.
I’d rather have the S10 Blazer than a Bronco II.
My choice, from this offering would be the Olds Ciera. Nothing, else, really lights it up, for me…maybe, the Skylark, as number two.