The GM "X-Body" and the U.S. Automotive "Malaise."

foreign [Music] the 1970s represented significant headwinds for the American automotive industry as ongoing fuel crises and new government standards for safety and fuel efficiency challenged some of the features that have been the stalwarts of American Automotive manufacturing offering opportunities for small fuel-efficient Imports to steal a large share of the market in 1979 General Motors announced an ambitious attempt to take these Imports head on with what would be the first All-American built front-wheel drive platform for the mass market and this attempt to right the ship of American Automotive Manufacturing nearly sync it some people might prefer that we forget what some see to be the most dismal examples of the most dismal era in American Automotive Manufacturing but if there's a cautionary tale or as a way to correct the record or merely a way to nostalgically look at the cars that were on the road when I was learning to drive the utter mess that was the General Motors front-wheel drive x-body embodied in models like the Buick Skylark and the Chevy citation deserve to be remembered automakers use car platforms to maximize return on development and Engineering costs an automotive platform will use a similar set of design engineering and production efforts as well as major components across what outwardly appears to be distinct car models Motor Trend Magazine explained in 2021 that American automakers classically defined platform as a set of critical shared Dimensions between the front axle Centerline the cowl and the driver's hit point architecture connoted the hardware place within those Dimensions chassis floor plan powertrain Etc while the brands and models that share a platform might be familiar the platforms themselves often have fairly cryptic names often letters in the alphabet some platform types can last for decades and thus make for surprising connections for example the 1925 Buick model 50 and the 1996 Buick Roadmaster Estate Wagon are both built on the GMB rear-wheel drive platform starting with the 1962 model year General Motors introduced the X platform or x-body a rear-wheel drive platform used for compact cars the platform which was just the designation the frame didn't look like an X or anything was used on popular models such as the Chevy Nova the Buick Skylark the Pontiac Phoenix the Oldsmobile Omega and in Canada is the Acadia the ex-bodies were intended to be more conventional than the Chevy Corvair which used the Y platform x-body cars sold well and were well regarded as sensible reliable and affordable cars Millions were sold then came 1973 and the cars that had built the American Auto industry suddenly had to deal with a new America Hagerty media explained in 2013 the comment that ended the days of horsepower driven fund was the Arab oil embargo in the fall of 1973. suddenly Americans were more worried about miles per gallon than horsepower American auto manufacturers were caught largely unprepared for the shift and smaller more fuel-efficient Foreign imports gained a foothold in the American Market the response was an era of Automotive Manufacturing in the United States that Hagerty calls the malaise era the term itself was derived from reactions to a speech by U.S President Jimmy Carter on July 15 1979 addressing issues such as a further energy crisis and ongoing recession and proposing a new National energy policy he never used the term malaise instead referring to a crisis of confidence resulting in the loss of unity of purpose for our nation setting aside the politics of the speech and it still engenders divisive reactions today the Press characterize the speeches having to find a general malaise or a feeling of Decline and uneasiness in America Automotive journalist Merle Martin then applied the term to the state of American Automotive manufacturing largely the result of the energy crisis that was the Crux of the president's speech Martin writes in a 2021 edition of the truth about cars the malays era of American Automotive History refers to the period of model year 1973 through model year 1983 when the Saudis finally figuring out that they were the push men feeding the West oil Jones and that withholding the sweet black horse gave them power and Southern California is getting sick of several hundred shelter in place stage one smog alerts per year meant that by the early 1970s the era of cheap horsepower Chrome and naugahyde slathered luxury and general Automotive optimism was deader than Jimi Hendrix it wasn't just the high gas prices or the energy crisis that drove the change in U.S cars Hagerty continues not unlike the dinosaurs near the end of their time the muscle car population had been under stress from various directions citing government regulations from stricter requirements for bumpers to corporate average fuel economy or Cafe regulations to the 55 mile per hour speed limit is all contributing factors and there was simply well the general malaise of the nation Hagerty rights either the cars reflected the times or the times came to mirror the cars in any event it was hardly an era of optimism with Vietnam still an open wound the Iranian hostage crisis and the impossibility of inflation and stagnation at the same time it really shouldn't come as a surprise that some models with very dubious reputations that we've talked about here in the history guy like the Ford Pinto and the Chevy Vega were also products of the malays era but they might not have been the worst examples as Hagerty writes it was the x-car however that was GM's Prime Contender for the malaysiaist car in history no not the same rear wheel drive x-body that had propelled the Chevy Nova of the 60s and 70s but yet another X platform the x-body front wheel drive Hagerty explains the x-cars were GM's bid to build a modern front-wheel drive compact the website of Advanced Auto Parts explains that this all came along at a time when GM in particular was still offering the Stone Age 60s technology of the x-platform family of cars Nova Omega Ventura Apollo and note how those first letters spelled out Nova the company's full-size offerings were just as outdated being 70s designs that were downsized with truncated bodies in short-wheel bases but not much else that was updated compacts like the Vega and Monza Sunfire were inefficient and had a reputation for poor build quality it was time to move on from the body on frame rear wheel drive cars so the second generation x platform was created this time in front wheel drive Advanced Auto Parts notes that these would not be the first front-wheel drive cars manufactured by General Motors General Motors have been building front-wheel drive cars for a long time and the iterations of the Cadillac Eldorado and Olds Toronado neither of those sleds were fuel efficient or compact though motor biscuit noted in 2020 both were done for what seemed more like a novelty than for anything gained and these were massive cars Advanced Auto Parts continues and so in the mid 70s the company started in all new design motor biscuit rights GM began losing vast market share as it entered into the 1970s so it developed a more Universal front-wheel drive package as a response although motor biscuit seems to question whether the shift was necessary from a manufacturing perspective writing that when GM converted over to front-wheel drive for the majority of its cars in the 1970s to 90s it was because of perception GM and all us car manufacturers as well as a lot of European manufacturers as well had developed rear wheel drive to high levels but GM felt that there was a perception that its products were old school because of rear-wheel drive all the Japanese cars everyone was abandoning gm4 had it so GM presumed that it needed it too Advanced Auto Parts note that it was particularly difficult design task it was a huge undertaking as the new design would be the first ever GM product with all season radial tires and onboard computer uh transverse Engine with front-wheel drive and rack and pinion steering the development tasks were actually spread across different divisions with Buick handling powertrain design Pontiac in charge of rear suspension Chevrolet tackling front suspension and Oldsmobile charged with fuel and exhaust predictably this led to Turf Wars between divisions that required the GM project Center to step in and arbitrate think for a moment about the sort of problems that would come up when things are delegated this way generally then think about it for an entire vehicle that has to be designed from the ground up the design was part of a massive shift for General Motors truth about cars.com explained in 2011 make no mistake this Mammoth undertaking that would result in the 1977 Caprice and the rest of the full-size lineup the 1978 Malibu and the other midsize cars and the 1980 citation in friends was no less than the biggest single corporate industrial reinvestment ever up to that time and GM did not skimp on marketing the change Popular Mechanics wrote in 2008 it's hard to imagine the hoopla that surrounded the introduction of the all-new 1980 Buick Skylark Chevrolet citation Oldsmobile Omega and Pontiac Phoenix in April of 1979. these four awkwardly proportioned x-body front drivers directly replaced GM's rear drive compacts and promised a revolution in how the corporation designed and built cars initially the result gained industry praise is Advanced Auto Parts explains the ex-family of cars made their debut in 1980 with a huge Splash and a marketing push and initially they were well received they offered roomy Interiors with no interior driveshaft hump and crisp angular styling that was immediately compared to European cars it was truly a big departure from what GM had previously fielded and an enormous step forward from the old Nova style platform the Chevy citation in particular was seen as being so Innovative that Motor Trend named it the car of the year for 1980. hotcars.com notes that the car was raved about all over the media and seemed to be the greatest thing since sliced bread at least in the world of automobiles and the public responded hotcars.com continues the citation sold in droves in fact it easily outsold the Chevy Vega in the beginning more than 800 000 units were sold in its debut year alone and by the second year more than 1.2 million units of the citation had found homes but there were problems the process had been rushed as hot cars.com notes the head honchos at GM decided to let the cars go to the assembly line straight from the drawing board in a bid to curb the Newfound enthusiasm Americans had for Japanese front-wheel drive wonders instead they should have taken the time to iron out the wrinkles motor biscuit was a tadmor blunt because it was getting its ass kicked by Toyota Nissan and the rest of the Japanese Onslaught testing was abbreviated which also contributed to the x-car being junk Popular Mechanics writes that the problem wasn't so much the basic engineering of the x-body cars as it was that no one apparently spent any time doing the detailed engineering that determines a car's success thetruth about cars.com notes the two-barrel carb on the V6 was the most complicated and expensive fuel mixing device Rube Goldberg was ever commissioned to design in fact the design process was at times downright comic Advanced Auto Parts rights for example one common complaint was the mushiness of the motor mounts which were designed to counter the vibration noise and roughness from the engine bay this resulted in another problem though on rough or uneven roads the entire drivetrain would wallow and bounce putting a lot of stress in components like the CV joints and transmission during testing and overweight GM chassis engineer would drive and passengers would observe how his belly jiggled when it barely jiggled at all that was considered good enough in addition General Motors was facing labor issues and low employee morale Advanced Auto Parts notes that one internal audit concluded that GM's Willow Run x-car plant in ipsilanti was building the poorest Quality Cars of any GM Factory during the week ending March 6th the report said GM rated the plant's Bodywork at 38 on a scale of zero to 145. these issues had largely been hidden when The Cars first went on sale motor biscuit writes part of what helped sell it was the press it got Advanced examples to test and write about and what they received were hand-built cars with the fit and finish far above what consumers would receive once it went into production Advanced Auto Parts writes that magazine staffers were shocked later when they drove bone stock Factory versions of those same cars but it didn't take long for the problems to emerge with the public hotcars.com writes frankly the citation and other x-body GM cars have problems right from the very beginning rust was a major issue not just on the Chevrolet citation but on all the x-body gym cars purchasing a brand new car only to have it begin rusting almost immediately once it was out of the showroom became a massive issue and then came the problem with the Interiors it seems GM used a particularly weak adhesive to fit stuff into the cabins and things tended to get loose and fall off without any warning whatsoever and these cars had so many problems including poor handling short-lived air conditioning radios that quit after the first month of ownership window motors that broke frequently odd size tires poor brakes emissions equipment that actually made the car pollute more than an earlier model and other Follies Popular Mechanics note that customers complained of disintegrating Transmissions suspension systems that seem to wobble on their own mounts and brakes that would make the whole car shutter every time they were applied and hotcars.com writes that the carburetors were defecting from their Inception this was the first series of cars that guaranteed that the hood cylinders would require replacement in under 30 000 miles but perhaps worse the cars became plagued by recalls Advance Auto Parts writes that and the recalls continued steering fuel systems suspension transmission body Integrity seats electrical and more drivers encounter more problems like suspension parts that would suddenly become detached or steering gear that would loosen up and become disconnected but motor biscuit rights none of these issues match the problems with the x-carb brakes the rear tires would lock up under normal braking has caused an avalanche of accidents and complaints exponent.com writes that in 1979 the national highway traffic safety administration or Nitsa opened an investigation after receiving complaints at some x-car rear brakes locked up on Lower friction surfaces while the front tires were still rolling in January 1983 Nitsa made a finding of defect in 320 000 of the 1980 X cars then came a standoff as Nitza requested a voluntary recall DM responded by recalling far fewer cars than it's a requested motor biscuit rights only 47 731 received adjustments to proportioning valves to decrease locked up rear brakes the brake problems persisted GM resisted eventually it recalled another 240 000 X cars across all GM divisions in 1983 but the feds weren't impressed exponent.com writes that in February bypassing normal procedure of the national highway traffic safety act the Nitsa Satan ordered directly from the court take X cars off the road however in the end a federal judge ruled against Nitza robbing that there is simply no engineering evidence of any peculiar property of x-cars generally that renders them in any way exceptional insofar as having a predisposition to yaw and that GM during the trial showed that the x-cars exhibited a relevant accident rate no worse than and in most instances better than the rate for not only peer car groups but also all 1980 models but the lawsuit of the brakes only put more Spotlight on the troubled platform autobiscuit notes regardless the damage was done sales of the citation fell by half and its second model year and despite the rebranding is the citation 2 continued to fall until the entire line of cars was discontinued in 1985 to this day the NTSB lists the citation and its siblings as some of the most recalled cars in history what started out as the best-selling car in America went out with a whimper after only a five-year model run and perhaps worse Popular Mechanics rights still through 1985 a few million escaped to the public souring hundreds of thousands on General Motors and if these x-cars were no more likely to be in accidents and other cars of their era they were certainly more likely to annoy their owners a 1988 article by the Associated Press noted that a consumer guide called the car book tallied the number of consumer complaints per million cars for all important car models and determined that the x-cars got by far the most complaints prompting the author of the book a man named Jack Gillis to opine that the x-cars were probably the worst cars ever manufactured in the United States the malaysiaist of cars in an era that Hagerty calls the decade without quality control but if I seem too harsh on GM which was dealing with unprecedented challenges Advanced Auto Parts notes that as problematic as those cars were they're worth remembering because they represented a distinct break with the past at General Motors they were some of the first vehicles to take on Imports on their own terms with a modern design they also note that this was the tail end of the era of blueprints and clay models with Cad and computer design about to revolutionize the automotive industry and Hagerty notes said the changes in technology like improvements in fuel injectors and oxygen sensors and three-way catalysts allowed manufacturers finally to meet fuel efficiency standards while at the same time not completely giving up on performance in fact they argued that 1985 was a watershed year an American Automotive Manufacturing if the malays era proves anything they write it's the truth of the old saying it's always darkest before the dawn I hope you enjoyed this episode of the history guide check out our community on the history guide guild.locals.com our webpage at thehistoryguy.com and our merchandise at teespring.com or book a special message from the history guy on Cameo and if you'd like more episodes of Forgotten history all you have to do is subscribe foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 306,552

Keywords: history, history guy, the history guy

Id: oF1iwk7vigE

Length: 19min 8sec (1148 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 22 2023