1980s

Throughout the years, concept vehicles have been bestowed with a variety of futuristic interiors, highlighted by high-tech dashboards with innovative and unusual control schemes. In this post, we’ll take a look at some of the most unconventional dashboard designs we’ve come across over the years.…

Lamborghini isn’t exactly known for making family-friendly vehicles. Sure, there’s the Urus, but that’s more of a tall sports car than a typical SUV. In 1988, the automaker teamed up with famed Italian coachbuilder Bertone to create an MPV, aka Multi-Purpose Vehicle, aka minivan, called the Bertone Genesis Concept.…

Say the name “Oldsmobile,” and it doesn’t exactly conjure images of powerful sports cars. But back in 1987, the company stamped its name on this futuristic-looking hypercar, dubbed the Aerotech.…

The classic Toyota Celica is still beloved by car enthusiasts today. The sports coupe went through many iterations during its 45-year run, but all of them were desireable in one way or another.…

The 1980s and 1990s weren’t exactly my favorite era for automotive design, but the period did give us some interesting vehicles nonetheless. Among the more compelling ideas to arrive in 1987 was the Mazda Pair – which combined a tiny van and trailer and is one of the cutest concept car designs I’ve ever seen.…

To celebrate 40 years of production and more than 4 million cumulative sales, Toyota has announced a special edition of the 4Runner SUV highlighted by retro graphics and bronze wheels.…

One of the most iconic cars of the 1980s was the Ferrari Testarossa. Its iconic stature was thanks largely to the popular TV series Miami Vice and a plethora of posters plastered on bedroom walls all around the world.…

It’s been a long time since you could purchase a new Peugeot here in America, but back in the 1980s you still could. During that period, the French automaker built the Quasar, a boldly styled concept vehicle that turned up at the 1984 Paris Motor Show.…

No matter where you looked in the 1980s, there were F-150 pickups with two-tone paint jobs running all over the place. Two different people in my family owned Ford trucks of the vintage, and one of them was red and white two-tone, with the other being a strange red and maroon combo.…

Many children of the ’80s will have vivid memories of Saturday morning cartoons and watching commercials that seem to be mostly for cereals and toys. One of those iconic toys of the era was a remote control car from Tamiya called the Wild One.…

Back in 1983, Nissan challenged itself to look forward to what their cars might look like in the 21st century. The concept car they came up with not only had an unusual design, but an unconventional drivetrain to go with.…

There’s no question that the Pontiac Firebird Trans Am is one of the most iconic cars of the 1970s and 1980s. After all, it was the car that Burt Reynolds and Sally Field used to evade the fuzz in Smokey and the Bandit.…

Long before Kia put the name to good use, Pontiac took us to the “excitement edge” with its futuristic Stinger. The 1989 Stinger Concept was created as a sporty, recreational vehicle, and revealed just one year after the Pontiac Banshee concept.…

The 1980s were an odd decade. While they produced many iconic objects and styles which are still appreciated to this day, they also produced a boatload of bad cars.…

MMMMM… Mustang! It’s interesting to see how Ford was positioning the Ford Mustang back in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Instead of touting power and masculinity, the car was marketed as having high mileage and economical pricing.…