Neon, Synth, And Horsepower: Five Star Performance Cars From The 1980s

Ah, the 1980s. What do you remember of them? Great action movies like Predator, They Live, and Terminator? The melodious tunes brought to us by Michael Jackson, Tears For Fears, Cyndi Lauper, and GNR? The decade has never been an easy sell to fans of American cars. This was the period where horsepower and engine size shrank with constricting emissions standards. However, it is not a decade that we should write off completely. There were good cars released back then, produced both in the US and abroad. If we’re going to do justice to our cars’ histories, we need to rid them of sweeping generalizations. In this article, we’re going to give a few select 80s cars their due, and recognize them for what they were, and what they mean to this day.

Chevrolet Corvette C4

As we mentioned earlier, muscle cars of the 80s seemed to experience sweeping cutbacks in power and performance in comparison to their 70s siblings. However, while the Corvette C4 may only produce around 230 horsepower, it is still a wonderful car. The car was a new, fresh design for the Corvette, for the first time in its history. The C2 had grown from the C1, the C3 had continued on, but they were all pretty similar to look at. Then the C4 comes along and with it, a distinctly 80s look. At the time, it looked like a car of the future, and even now, it maintains a retro-futuristic look which is very aesthetically pleasing.

If you’re looking for a more powerful version of this car, may I draw your attention to the Callaway Sledgehammer? This car is a C4 on…not even steroids, it’s like it’s had its genome hacked into and meddled with. The Sledgehammer fit two huge turbos to the C4, which gave it a top speed of 254.76 mph. That makes it, to this day, one of the fastest cars in history. Not bad for something that first hit that speed almost 30 years ago, right?

Ferrari F40

While emissions restrictions were biting into American power, Europe was running away with a huge advantage. One of the fruits of this time? The Ferrari F40. The last Ferrari personally approved by old man Enzo, the F40 is a powerhouse in a large, monstrously bespoilered body. At the time, it was Ferrari’s most powerful car, produced to mark their 40th anniversary in 1987, with an MSRP to match at $400K. It’s a race car that is somehow road legal. Rear visibility is shoddy, the car flexes like a kart, and driving it at speed can feel like certain death is just inches away.

All that being said, it’s an incredible car. These flaws that I’ve listed take nothing away from how raw and exciting a car it is. Acceleration was blistering, taking 3.7 seconds to hit 60 mph. The top speed was 201 mph. It’s a car that doesn’t give a damn about anything other than the pleasure of driving at terrifying speeds. The cabin is bare and spartan, with the interior door panels made of plain, uncoated carbon fiber. It stands shoulder to shoulder with the McLaren F1 as a car that has the aesthetics and spartan nature of a fighter jet’s cockpit. When you’re traveling at 200 inside it, it damn sure feels like one too.

Buick Grand National GNX

Buick aren’t as highly regarded these days, but they’ve produced some mean motors. This car was a drag racer’s dream. It may have only rocked a 3.8 liter V6, but it absolutely knew how to use it. The car put out 300 horsepower and 420 ft-lbs of torque. As a result, it could knock out 60 in just 4.8 seconds. A quarter-mile could be conquered in about 13.6 seconds. A Corvette would be left in the dust by the Grand National GNX, taking 14.2 seconds to complete a quarter-mile.

In addition to its speed, the Grand National GNX has the looks to match. It looks evil, like it should be driven by henchmen in a James Bond flick. While it may not have had a V8, it had more than enough power to compensate, and was, without a doubt, the best muscle car of the 1980s.

BMW M3 E30

When it comes to cars that are legendary on the circuit and on the street, they don’t come much more legendary than the BMW M3. The magic of these cars was that they were extremely close to the cars that won multiple touring car races. As part of the rules for the series, at least 5000 cars that were close to the race car had to be sold. As it turns out, selling the M3 was far from the difficult and expensive task BMW thought it might have been. Instead, they created a legend.

Its body has been painstakingly designed, maximizing airflow to the rear spoiler with its raked rear windshield, while the wheel arches are cathedral-like, for the racers’ bigger tires. Its cornering is as sharp as a knife, with handling that would embarrass some modern supercars. The M3 isn’t outrageously fast. It outputs up to 235 horsepower, and 0-60 takes six seconds. That doesn’t really matter though. It is the polar opposite of the Buick Natty. This car might not be a drag racer, but if you want a car that could take the sharpest corner in the world like it was a cul-de-sac? The M3 is what you need.

Porsche 959

The Porsche 959 is diametrically opposed to the Ferrari F40. While the F40 took a no-frills approach to car design, the 959 was rather more advanced. Powered by a 2.8 liter flat-six, the Porsche took just 3.6 seconds to hit 60 mph, a figure that’s still remarkable to this day. The engine utilized a pair of sequential turbos that allowed for smooth power delivery. A new body was created by Porsche, made from a composite of aluminum and Kevlar, while the floor was made from Nomex.

The car featured exceptional aerodynamics, while, on the road-going version, a computer controlled its ride height. Featuring all-wheel drive and a whole host of advanced electronics, the 959 was, by far, the most advanced car of the 1980s. Between 1986-88, 337 were made. If you want to get your hands on one now, it’ll easily set you back a few million.