The 1980's, Part I, American automakers cling for survival, Imported cars surge in popularity.

Where do I start? The American car companies were in peril.  Poor quality, A race to get smaller more fuel efficient cars to the showroom to compete with the Japanese cars, The American car companies had a draconian mess on their hands.

With everything I showcased in the last paragraph, The world was moving towards front wheel drive cars. No more transferring the power to the rear axle, front wheel drive was the wave of the future. GM had limited experience with front wheel drive, The Oldsmobile Toranado in the late '60's had front wheel drive, but Detroit was Hell-bent on making most of it's cars FWD. This really muddied the already muddy water.

I entered the automotive industry right out of high school in 1977. First as a retail salesperson in a locally family owned automotive parts store, selling tires, auto parts, automotive accessories etc. After about seven months, I deceided  the retail business just wasn't for me. I went to work at the local Volkswagen dealership prepping & detailing cars. It wasn't long until an entry-level position opened up in the Parts Dept., and the rest is history, In August of '79, I went to work at a local Buick dealership, working at the parts counter.

There's a reason I gave you my background into how I became involved in the automotive parts business. I watched (GM) cars evolve from having one on-board computer in 1979, (actually some Chrysler products had them in 1975,) to having close to a dozen computers onboard today. The 1980's had so much history packed into it, I'm breaking it down into two segments. Part II is for tomorrow.