Never Forget the Malaise Era of Automobiles!

1973. George Steinbrenner bought the Yankees. The Sears Tower becomes the world's tallest building. Richard Nixon gets caught recording phone calls. OPEC creates an oil embargo triggering an energy crisis.

While 1973 wasn't exactly a banner year for the United States, it did kick off one of the biggest changes in the automotive industry. A period most people would wish to forget. However, this period would end up changing what we know as personal cars forever.

"That's what's wrong with this country; nobody asks questions anymore!" -Rob Reiner - "All In The Family"

It's always good to look at history before delving into the details. While there are many speculative reasons changes came about, many of them are still disputed to this day. The most agreed upon cause was the 1973 Oil Crisis. Similar to the unrest still found in the Middle East today compiled with the ongoing Cold War (at the time) caused countries to take sides. As the United States was a supporter of Israel, this created even more tension with the Soviet Union and its supporters (Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, and Qatar). During the time of the Yom Kippur war where the US aided Israel, the previously mentioned countries raised oil prices by 17% and announced production cuts. Three days later, Libya announced an oil embargo to the US with Saudi Arabia and other Arab oil producers to follow suit the next day. Following this, the US decided to engage in fuel rationing which resulted in lines at gas stations.

Another more speculative reason was the 1973-74 stock market crash. In the period from the beginning of 1973 and the end of 1974, the New York Stock Exchange lost over 45% of its value which came after 1972's 15% increase. With this crash, also came a 2.1% drop in the US's GDP growth, and a 12.3% increase on inflation.

"Big cars mean big profits!"

1973 was a time where American automakers offered anything from a a 1.6L I4 found in the Ford Pinto, all the way up to an 8.2L (yes, that's right) found in the Cadillac Eldorado. The idea of big cars mean big profits was a common mantra among the big four Detroit Automakers, and previous failed attempts of small cars made the Motor City nervous from straying away from their proven method of making full sized cars.

However, once the oil embargo took place, Americans realized they couldn't stand by cars which got 15mpg at best, and ended up flocking to the Japanese automakers and Volkswagen which had already set a foot stateside with small efficient cars. The American automakers immediately reacted, but the damage was already done. Unable to shed the big cars mean big profits idea, and having no foresight into the impact of the oil embargo, the foreign automakers took market share away from the Americans who were scrambling to come up with something to compete.

"This is a massive 'Oh cock!' " -James May

We can look back now and ask ourselves: What the hell were we thinking? And rightly so. In response to the Asian invasion, the Americans came up with some very, very, very questionable decisions.

From AMC came the Pacer. Ford unveiled the Mustang II. From GM came the Chevette. And from Chrysler was a plethora of rebadged Mitsubishi products.

*mega facepalm*

With the surge to buy small cars, automakers had to make their midsize and full size cars more appealing by offering: sport packages, unique paint schemes, faux-luxury trim in base model cars (read Brougham and Landau packages), and other unique features which the competition didn't have. But the poor fuel economy and poor performance, due to new emissions legislation (Thanks Obama Nixon) did very little to attract former customers.


"Things that make you go hmm..."

But was this all bad?

When people typically think of malaise-era cars, it's typically towards the effects on the muscle cars: Mustang, Challenger, Javelin, Corvette, Camaro, Trans Am, etc.

The idea of a Mustang with 130hp out of a 5.0L isn't steller. Period.

But there were three groups which changed the face of the auto industry in this time.

Muscle cars. Big cars. Small cars.


"Hey Little Cobra, don't you know you're gonna shut 'em down!"

Ford pulled off fast with the offering of the Mustang II. As much as the car is poo-poo'd today, it ended up as an amazing seller for the Dearborn automaker. Just under 300,000 ponies were sold in 1974. A feat which has only been beat once (1979) since then.

GM followed with a more aerodynamic muscle car lineup across the board.

Lesson learned? For all of the American automakers, it forced engineers to look at a new approach for high performance engines. Anything under 10mpg was no longer acceptable. While it took quite a while (1985 to be exact) for them to get the formula somewhat right and offer performance cars which put out over 200 hp, but still get semi-respectable fuel economy. This is one of the industry's strongest lesson learned as it's still a mission to get maximum power and fuel economy. (Yes, legislation has a large part to do with this as well)

"This isn't your father's Oldsmobile"

Ford LTD. Chevrolet Impala. Dodge Monaco.
Mercury Grand Marquis. Oldsmobile 98. Some Chrysler Corp. variant.
Lincoln Continental. Cadillac DeVille. Chrysler New Yorker.

All full sized cars which were changed big time by the malaise era.

By the end of the 70's, the full size car was no longer 19 feet long with a gas chugging V8. By 1979, no automaker offered an engine larger than 400 in³ as standard equipment, and rarely anything larger than a 425 in³ as an option.

TIME magazine called it "an amazing shrinking act", an article which Ford used in 1978 touting the size of the LTD, before shrinking the car 15 inches the following year.

Lesson learned? Similar to the muscle cars, consumers shouted for better fuel economy as well as better drive-ability. Into the 80's, full sized cars averaged a length of 209 inches. Compared to 227 inches just a couple years earlier. Along with the smaller size, automakers also introduced smaller yet more powerful engines, which were still V8's. Automakers also stopped including uniquely 70's options such as retractable headlight covers, multiple interior colors, fender skirts, and landau roofs. Trim levels were also reduced to two or three per vehicle.

What does the future hold? For a full sized car, the future isn't too pretty. Ford produced the last true full sized car (body on frame) in 2011. With consumer desire for better fuel economy, and the growing acceptance of smaller cars and crossovers, the demand for full sized cars is waning, and could be extinct within the next decade.

"It's a Yugo. It's built for economy, not speed." -Samuel L. Jackson - Die Hard With A Vengeance

Small cars the biggest change to the American auto industry since the assembly line. Seriously. By the beginning of the 1980's into the 90's, The Big Four Three (RIP AMC) finally started figuring out the recipe for a successful small and compact car.

After experiences with Honda, Toyota, Datsun, and Volkswagen, American consumers started coming around again to the Americans.

Small and compact cars exploded (literally in some cases, Ford Pinto) onto the streets from all automakers.

Ford had the Escort and Tempo. GM had the Chevette and introduced the Geo brand for economy cars. Chrysler had the K-Car party. All of the automakers had more compact and subcompact offerings than ever before. Despite a recession in the early 80's and economic tension towards the end of the decade, Americans started buying small cars, much to the happiness of the automakers.

Lesson learned? Offer something for everyone. Not everyone can own or wants to own a full sized car for a daily commute in downtown city traffic. Just because a compact doesn't offer as much profit as a pick up truck, doesn't mean it's not worth the effort. The other lesson learned in this category (which would catch on everywhere), particularly from the Japanese was the idea of platform sharing and being able to share components across multiple vehicles.


"What we're about to do is about as dangerous as... inviting your mum over for an evening on ChatRoulette" -Jeremy Clarkson

The malaise-era cars should never be forgot. There is a plethora of lessons learned which shouldn't be repeated ever again. Ever.

Appreciate these cars, as tacky and ridiculous as some may be. Drive one. Own one. Wonder why you bought one, and smile.

Love the cheesy yellow, orange, and brown stripe paint theme.

Adore the landau roof. Extra points if it's padded.

Appreciate the wall-to-wall porno red interior. Bonus for Naugahyde.

Lust over the absolutely unnecessary use of fake wood grain paneling, both on the interior and exterior.

Enjoy the precise handling comparative only to an ocean liner.

Hanker over the knowledge that the seatbelt is your only safety device, but feel reassured you're surrounded by two tons of steel.

Relish the anemic engine. Regardless of size, it's under-powered.

Cherish the abundant use of chrome. Everywhere. Again, unnecessarily.

Create a fondness for the ability to fix six adults in a car without someone shouting "move your damn seat up!"

Delight over the absolutely horrible build quality.

And respect these cars. For without them, we would still accept 9 mpg, everything would have a V8, quality would be worse than what comes out of China, and we'd still be looking as boxy as a UPS van.

Is Subaru Losing Their Fanbase?

Say the word "Subaru" What comes to your mind? All-wheel-drive rally cars? The end of Paul Hogan's career? Women in comfortable shoes who are kayaking enthusiasts? While all of those are true, is Subaru severing its roots with its die-hard owners to go for sales? 2013 marked record sales for Subaru in the US for all time.

But to first understand Subaru, you have to do a quick look into its American history. Established in 1968 by an entrepreneur by the name of Malcolm Bricklin. If that name sounds familiar, he's the guy who was responsible for bringing Yugo stateside, and the production of his own safety obsessed Bricklin SV1. Apparently Bricklin was only shooting 1/3 on his success. But Bricklin had the foresight in being able to ship over the half-ton microcar stateside and avoid federal standards due to its weight and its 0.36L engine. At this time, Nissan had a 20% stake in Subaru. Throughout much of the life of Subaru, Nissan components can be found in most Subaru vehicles; particularly automatic (non-CVT) transmissions.

Subaru's sales remained weak until the introduction of the BRAT, which was the first Subaru purposely built for the American market. The BRAT proved to be so popular, later US president Ronald Regan owned one.

In 1986, Fuji Heavy Industry (the owning company of Subaru) took full control of all North American operations from Bricklin. Three years later, Subaru opened its first, and only, plant in the US in Lafayette Indiana. The plant was a joint venture with Isuzu (who had ownership in FHI) where the Subaru Legacy and the Isuzu Rodeo were produced.

In 1999, Renault purchased Nissan, who in turn sold its stake in Subaru to General Motors. This lead to a large refresh in the Subaru lineup. Legacy in 2000, Impreza in 2000, Outback in 2000, and Traviq in 2001. GM's partnership also lead to a revival of the BRAT called the Baja in 2003. But GM's interaction with Subaru also went the other way, with the badge engineered Saab 9-2X which was a rebadged Impreza.

However, GM's ties with Subaru barely lasted a decade. GM sold 8.7% of Subaru ownership to Toyota, penning a deal which allowed GM to operate the Lafayette plant until 2007, where then Toyota would take control of the plant and global operations. The remaining 11.4% stake that GM owned was released into the public market.

This pretty much brings us today. Toyota still has their stake in Subaru, and still uses the Lafayette plant to produce the Subaru Legacy, Subaru Outback, and the Toyota Camry. But this is also where our story takes a hard left into a field of weirdness.

Since 2008, Subaru sales in the United States are up 127%. Granted, that little economic crisis may have had a major affect on the industry. But in that time, the changes in Subaru has been obvious and glaring to a rather obsessive and passionate group known as current owners.

Since Toyota has started having its hands in the Subaru lineup, we have seen a full update of the lineup, with the addition of two new vehicles: BRZ and XV Crosstrek. And this is where long term Subaru owners are getting the feeling of concern with the company of their much beloved cars.

Subaru cars are known for four things: flat-4 or -6 engines, full-time all wheel drive, their legendary longevity, and the ability to attract fans of flannel. However, one of those quite important things has changed. Unlike Subaru cars of the past, the full-time all wheel drive doesn't exist anymore. While the cars do still have all wheel drive, it's been changed to the front-drive/rear-reserve system found in more common vehicles such as the Ford Escape or Honda CR-V. This change and the change of the driving feel has put off some die-hard Subaru owners from trading in their 400,000 mile-strong Legacy.

The anticipation for the new WRX and WRX-STI for the 2015 model year had been massive. People had been expecting a wonderful new performance go-getter from the Far East. But there has been one major problem, and people are not exactly happy about it. 2015 also marks the end of the hatchback. One of Subaru's largest previous best sellers doesn't exist anymore. Could this be a continuation of the "American's don't like hatchbacks" myth? Possibly. But is it a sign Subaru has stopped listening to their customers? Yes.

One of the big Toyota/Subaru joint ventures has been the Subaru BRZ/Toyota 86/Scion FR-S. A unique car for the Subaru lineup as this doesn't come with all wheel drive. For the past two years, Subaru has been selling these cars along side Scion in the US, selling 56,327 since it's debut. But the one thing consumers has been clammoring about is a performance model. Or at the very least; an available turbocharged engine. The corporate response has been lukewarm with promises of an upgraded model which end up falling off the table for one reason or another.

Then there's the general feel of the new Subaru vehicles. To quote Hamlet, "Something is wrong in the state of Denmark." In this case, I guess I should say Japan. Something has been lost with newer Subaru vehicles. The joy and passion of driving seems to have been thrown out the window. In the past, it didn't matter if you had the WRX-STI or a base model Legacy, you could still have some fun with the car. You felt connected to the road in all conditions, and didn't get thrown around in your seat like SS Minnow in its third hour.

While Subaru's sales are up, their lack of keeping that warm and fuzzy feeling to its existing customers is waning to the feeling someone would get from one of the American Big 3 or Japanese Big 3. Opposite of the sales is the repeat customer rate, which for years scored Subaru a top four spot, which is now at 36% behind Kia, Ford, Chevrolet, Hyundai, Toyota, and Honda, according to a study by Experian. Worse yet, this puts them in company with Mercedes and BMW who aren't exactly known for their high quality anymore. An obvious sign, that Subaru is now at the point of selling cars to sell cars, instead of selling cars for their customers.