1982 Volkswagen Rabbit

It took 30 years for Volkswagen the rethink its basic car. Up to the mid 70s, it was all Beetles and variations on the Beetle. The Golf ("Gulf" in German), called the Rabbit in the US, was one of the first small front-wheel drive cars you could buy.
* In the 80s these were made in Pennsylvania.
* I understand that in the 70s, if you wanted a Rabbit you had to order it at the dealership and take whatever color of car showed up.
* General Motors responded to the front-wheel drive small car challenge by cynically warming-over one of its German models, creating the rear-drive Chevy Chevette; a car with mechanics mostly out of the dark ages. In the 80s GM didn't even try and sold imports to small-car buyers.

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1982 Delorean DMC-12

I guess it really is a time machine. An apparently unrestored DeLorean sitting in rush hour traffic? These cars were so unreliable that they could barely be kept running when they were new. This must be a visitor from the 80s.

Update, 9/15/2020:
So when I first posted this, I got beat up in the comments by DeLorean fans for suggesting that this car was unreliable. Let's see what some automotive enthusiasts said:

Motor-vision.co.uk: "only 9,200 were made in total made by employees that were poorly trained in the assembling of cars, which led to the well-known quality control issues of the famous car. Failing electrical systems, sticking throttles, suspension issues, instruments playing up, batteries dying prematurely, leaky doors as mentioned before, incorrect wheel alignments."

hotcars.com:
* "it wasn't uncommon for a DeLorean to get an electrical or fuel fire. Electrical fires were usually contained to the fuse box area. DeLorean's were known to have fuse box to meltdowns." "Fuel leaks near the engine fuel distributor or fuel accumulator under the car... have led to massive fuel fires" "Fuse boxes are notorious for melting down in these cars as well as some of the relays"
* "A series of chassis grounds that run in both the front and rear of the car can be a source of major headaches for DeLorean owners. Over time these grounds become corroded and this causes all kinds of electrical gremlins. These gremlins have been known to produce all kinds of fun stuff. From overcharging alternators blowing up batteries (which are behind the passenger seat) to cars dying in the middle of traffic. If you don't know much about electronics, it's best to have it checked by a professional."
* "When it came time for DeLorean to buy his version of the PRV, he specced out the cheapest version he could. The Aluminum alloy for the engine block has the most amount of filler PRV would allow in order to cut down on the price of aluminum. This, unfortunately, would lead to "block rot" in later years whereas the degraded purity of an aluminum alloy will oxidize and eventually rot. Other cost-cutting, included paper gaskets at the bottom of the cylinder liners where Volvo specified steel in the exact same location in their engine."

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1982 Plymouth Horizon

When I was kid, these things were everywhere. Chrysler sold nearly one million Horizons and identical Dodge Omnis between 1978 and 1990. Yet unlike older low-cost cars from Japan, how long has it been since I've seen one? Maybe ten years?

This car was a breakthrough for Chrysler in 1978. Designed by Chrysler Europe, it was a space-efficient front-wheel drive design introduced at a time when Detroit was still trying to sell small cars that were really just downsized versions of their big rear-wheel drive vehicles. Those cars, such as the Chevy Vega and Ford Pinto, had very cramped interiors and little cargo room (and a lot of other shortcomings).

This car probably cost less than $4,000 new; that would be less than $10,000 today. And man is it bare-bones. Low-cost cars made today are orders of magnitude more comfortable than those made in the 20th century. Final observation: this car was sold virtually unchanged for 13 years. That would become something of a theme for Chrysler: if it ain't broke, don't fix it. The PT Cruiser was sold from 2000 to 2010 with no significant changes, and the Chrysler 300 being sold today is little different from the model introduced in 2004.

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