Unnecessary Car Shopping with DaftRyosuke: I Know My Own Needs...

"DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!" (daft-ryosuke) 05/02/2018 at 21:45 • Filed to: unnecessary car shopping with daftryosuke

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As some of you more keen-eyed viewers of Oppoship may know already, I am quite a fan of the Malaise-era of automobiles. For those who don’t know, the malaise era is best defined as the era of automaking that began in the 1970s around the era of the fuel-crisis, leading up until 1996 when OBDII became the standard for the market. These are the unloved, forgotten cars that are described by many as slow and underwhelming, especially by way of the American automobiles made by scandal-ridden GM, Ford, Chrysler, and AMC.

And do I love them, there’s just something so ultra cool about this era of cars. Maybe I’m just taking pity on them? I do know there’s a colossal fandom of this era of automaking, so I’m not alone. However, there are some cars that fit this definition more than others, and I think that my feature for the first episode of Unnecessary Car Shopping with DaftRyosuke is definitely one of them

The Chrysler Cordoba is a car that was a direct result of the oil crisis, it’s a car built purely for this era, and no other. Chrysler took notice of the struggles of the American market, and immediately set out to create a car that was smaller than their usual lineup, while still retaining the luxury that many buyers had come to expect from Chrysler. So, they ended up building a seventeen-feet long personal luxury coupe, and they promoted this beautiful naivety with the commercial.

Ahhhhh...the Khan references are endless.

So, now, 40 years on, if you weren’t already sold by Ricardo Montalban’s deep, sultry voice, or the prospect of such opulence that makes a contemporary Mercedes shudder in comparison, then let me bring you the real kicker here...these things are cheap as hell.

Right now, you can pick up that gorgeous deep blue 1977 Cordoba, fitted with all the rich, Corinthian leather you could ask for, for only $5k. It’s located in Illinois !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , just waiting for someone to pick it up.

Buy why am I pressing this on you fine Oppo-denizens? Well, I just want it, plain and simple. I don’t need it, it’s probably not the most reliable thing in the world, but I would love a project car to work on and something to show off at shows and such. I was recently looking down my favorite Malaise-centric Facebook group, which held a “Malaise Daze” car show in California, and I’ve got to say, I’ve been bitten by the bug. I don’t usually go for Chryslers, but everything about the Cordoba ticks my boxes...and who can really argue with Khan?

And if $5k is a bit steep, you can pick one up !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! near me, which needs a little TLC for only $3k.

Will I buy it now, probably not. But I could see myself wafting down the roadways in this fine machine one day.

Chariotoflove > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! 05/02/2018 at 22:10

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I love this car. Also, Ricardo did the driving serenely down the highway thing better than Mathew McConnaughey in his Lincolns.

Axial > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! 05/02/2018 at 22:13

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Malaise was definitely over by 1990, and beyond a shadow of a doubt by 1993. The era of the ZR-1, Viper, Supra Mk. III and IV, and 300Z is not malaise.

I’d even say malaise was over by 1987 or 1988.

DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! > Chariotoflove 05/02/2018 at 22:19

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He also actually owned one. Jury’s still out as to whether McConaughey rides in a Lincoln outside of the commercial or not.

DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! > Axial 05/02/2018 at 22:21

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Just because some cars that did not meet the Malaise requirement were on sale, does not necessarily mean the era as a whole was over. We still had big-ass boats on sale at the time that were designed as a whole in the 70s. It’s when these went off the market, or stopped taking up such a huge part of the market, that’s when the Malaise era truly ended.

Chariotoflove > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! 05/02/2018 at 22:37

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They likely gave him one with the deal. Not the same as DDing one though. Although I sure would. Those cars are great.  

Chariotoflove > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! 05/02/2018 at 22:42

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You certainly do what you Khan to promote your brand.

Figured you were owed a pun for your effort.

shop-teacher > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! 05/02/2018 at 22:42

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I’d rock it.

You may appreciate this tail end of malaise era car that I spotted the other day.

I’m guessing from the age of the owner, that he bought it new.

DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! > shop-teacher 05/02/2018 at 22:56

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I’d love an Achieva with the Quad 4. Tons of possibilities.

DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! > Chariotoflove 05/02/2018 at 22:58

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I’ve heard stories through the Hollywood grapevine that he could be seen driving his Cordoba down Rodeo even in his later years before he lost his legs completely.

Montalban was pure class.

WilliamsSW > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! 05/03/2018 at 00:07

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I grew up around these cars, because I’m old. Not really a fan of them, but I get the nostalgia, and many of them are pretty interesting in their own way.

Plus, the early malaise cars retained the big displacement V8s, they were just strangled with smog equipment. Get rid of that, make a few tweaks so the motor can breathe, and performance isn’t so bad.

The wheels on this one have GOT to go, but looks like a NP, especially if Fantasy Island was your favorite show as a kid.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > Axial 05/03/2018 at 00:30

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I was going to say that malaise didn’t have a clean year cutoff, but a fade into the following bubble era. Some cars were malaise well into the 90s, while some weren’t by the late 80s...

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! 05/03/2018 at 00:34

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I didn’t know that malaise lasted until the mid 90s. I knew some cars still on sale were the product of the era, but I thought some cars transitioned to the 90s bubble by the late 80s and many were fully transitioned by the time OBDII was mandated.

Also, that’s an odd cutoff when many cars had OBDII before the mandate.

Apparently there is debate, but I suspect the early 80s claim is correct.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaise_era

I just want a name for all the eras.

Axial > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! 05/03/2018 at 00:58

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Some? Most. I’m just mentioning the halo models. By 1990, it was the big-ass boats which were in the minority; everybody else had moved on to compacts and minivans and that only accelerated through the decade. And that’s not even what matters; what matters is that, by the late ‘80s, automakers had figured out and implemented methods of building more powerful, more efficient cars. That is when malaise ended.

Axial > Eric @ opposite-lock.com 05/03/2018 at 01:29

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I suppose, but what defines malaise is two things:

1. Onset of new efficiency standards

2. Previous decades of protectionist policies resulting in domestic makers building sloppy product and lacking sophisticated solutions to new problems

By 1990, the standards were not new, the protectionist policies were gone, and automakers had already spent the last 20 years figuring out solutions. Even models that started off as thoroughly malaise...were no longer malaise. When automakers are no longer operating under malaise conditions, malaise is over. There were shitboxes in the bubble era, but that doesn’t make them malaise.

DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! > Eric @ opposite-lock.com 05/03/2018 at 02:00

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I go by the rules set in place by Malaise Motors, the aforementioned Facebook group in my post. They run a pretty tight ship and it’s full of workers and owners from the era, and they claim the era runs from 1973-1995. Some cars, of course, are exempt, such as the GNX, Ferrari F40, etc. But otherwise, it’s free reign.

RT > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! 05/03/2018 at 04:59

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The “malaise era” ended in the mid 90s?

Umm, no.

No.

Was this a typo? I honestly don’t know how these cars count as ‘malaise era’.

RT > Axial 05/03/2018 at 05:04

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This is especially funny when you consider that some big-ass boats continued to be made way after 1995 - some of them were even resurrected (looking at you Buick Riviera).

shop-teacher > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! 05/03/2018 at 07:17

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Yeah, a quad 4 and a 5-speed would be a fun little car. I believe Olds actually raced them in SCCA.

Long-Voyager > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! 05/03/2018 at 07:24

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Like:

A blown head gasket.

Wiring issues.

Broken interior pieces.

Another blown head gasket.

An oil pump failure grenading the engine.

I owned one for a couple months a long time ago, it was a complete riot to drive, when it worked. I only owned it a couple months because it spent more time in the garage in pieces than it did on the road. It was one of these beauties:

Long-Voyager > RT 05/03/2018 at 07:26

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There was definitely still malaise still going as well as “fun” cars:

Long-Voyager > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! 05/03/2018 at 07:30

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My grandparents had it’s counterpart:

Behold the 1979 Dodge Magnum. I loved this car to death. It was and extremely efficient (24mpg hwy), comfortable (plush burgundy velour), reliable cruiser.

I’ve actually been looking at them and their counterparts lately as well.

DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! > RT 05/03/2018 at 10:31

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I explained it in one of my other comments.

I get this information from the Malaise community, who believes that the era truly ended in 1996, even though it was on the downfall starting in the late 80s. We of course do not count supercars and other technological marvels as Malaise. We even argue as to whether things like the GNX count or not.

But just because some brilliant supercars were built, doesn’t mean the rest of the industry wasn’t still stuck in the darkness.

DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! > Long-Voyager 05/03/2018 at 10:32

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Let people enjoy things.

Chariotoflove > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! 05/03/2018 at 10:40

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Truth.

Long-Voyager > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! 05/03/2018 at 12:13

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I enjoyed the hell out of it, just giving you fair warning so you know what you’re in for. I even went back for 2nds when I bought one of these:

It’s like that one girl in high school, you were always fucking or fighting, you never stayed with her long, but somehow you always wanted more.

RT > Long-Voyager 05/05/2018 at 12:11

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This ticks most of the malaise boxes, yet it’s a 2011 model.

Besides - every automotive era, “malaise” or not, had its fun cars anyway.

RT > DaftRyosuke - So Long and Thanks for All the Fish! 05/05/2018 at 12:27

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Stuck in darkness? This was a golden age for the mechanical car.

Ignoring supercars outright, this was the era that gave us the Miata.

Pretty much every “JDM icon” originated from this time period. It also gave us the hot-hatch, ended the reign of carburettors and finally forced innovation in areas which were previously neglected - safety and efficiency.

Yet this was all before we got a glut of crossovers, by-wire throttle and electric power steering. Best of all, you could still perform maintenance on your own car without being forced to take it to the dealer too.

With that in mind, this era was the perfect mix of classic and modern cars. Calling it all “malaise” seems misrepresentative of all the progress made.