My car's a 94 Lebaron Convertible... If you ever can get a 1990's (or very late 1980's with the 6 Cyl. engine) LeBaron, go for it. They're amazingly durable, well built cars. The body, the engine, etc. They aren't 100% american made though, the engines are Mitsubishi, but they're built solid top to bottom. They're good though if you can find one in good shape... The bodies rust is all, all in the same spot (bottom of the door and behind the mudflaps on the front). If you can nip that in the bud early though you have a long lasting vehicle that'll not give you much problem, and it's got balls to spare.
Hey, if it was good enough for Mr. Jon Voight, it's good enough for me. I'm sold.
All you would need are "Assman" plates for the ultimate Kramer-mobile.
Actually Ruiner, if everyone took good care of their US cars, they'd last... These days most cars have so many foreign parts on them, they're not really "American" anyway. Like I said, my LeBaron's got a 3.0 Mitsubishi V6 in it... But it's a Chrysler LeBaron. People's views that "All American cars are junk", is mostly a bull**** think they've been fed to believe. My 1986 Caravelle went to 235,000 miles and beyond (Odometer broke at that point). I'd say it got close to 300 before the body wasn't salvageable. It has a 4 cylinder American engine, and beyond the head gaskets blowing and needing replaced every other year or so, it was fine... Grand Prix, Thunderbirds, etc. There's lots of great American cars that if you took care of them they lasted. Like I said, I'd like an AMC Eagle as they're an outstanding car, and 4WD.
Some specific cars, both foreign and domestic, suck... They're specific though. For the most part if you took good care of a car, it lasted. Ford Probes are a good example. They're fairly cheap/disposable cars, and they're easily found in good shape used even though they've not been made for a while now. If you find one that was well taken care of, and you need a daily driver, I say pick it up if the price is right. Same with Ford EScort, it was a very good car and the one with Turbo is outstandingly powerful... base model mustangs through the 90's and early 00's are equally great cars, and the base modesl are easily had for a good price used.
I'd not be opposed to buying a foreign car, but ultimately when things do go wrong I prefer something I can work on myself and foreign is usually tougher to deal with in that regard. I've fixed many a Corolla or Civic or whatnot for girls I dated in my younger days, and if I hadn't learned it already, they taught me that I'd rather have an American (mostly) car I can work on easier... Those Corollas and Civics had just as many problems as my car did. OF course my Caravelle was very lame looking though, and that couldn't be helped I guess.
