I had a Ford Tempo for a few months. I bought it and sold it after I repaired it. It only had 70k miles on it. It had a carburation problem that I traced to a warped carb bowl (vacuum leaks). It was an automatic that never shifted correctly (even after the vacuum leak was fixed)...harsh at times, slippery at other times. The headliner had fallen off the cardboard carrier. The exhaust pipe fell off the at the converter coupling (broken bolt and lost the spring).
I used to help my Dad at his garage after school. I had just finished a tune-up on a 2.3L Pinto and was out for a road test. When the auto would shift into second, the engine would bog down. Pressing the accelerator further would make it bog even more. After a few hours of scratching my head, Dad comes over to see why I'm taking all day on a tune-up. I tell him what's going on. His reply, "Oh, yeah. That car has always done that since it was new." Sheeez.
A few months after the Pinto fiasco, I replaced a leaking clutch slave cylinder on an AMC Eagle. When I went to fill the clutch master cylinder, I couldn't find one. Instead of a reservoir, I found a clear, plastic tube (like large diameter aquarium tubing) attached to the pedal cylinder. On the side of the tube it was marked "FULL" with a line. The tube wasn't even capped. It was opened to the atmosphere.
The Matador....I remember an episode of Adam-12. The Pete Malloy charater just bought a new Matador and all the other cops were green with envy. IIRC, someone side-swiped it while it was parked...LOL. BOO-HOO....
In defense of 80's GM cars, I bought an '82 Bonneville that jumped its timing chain and the owner then let it sit for 5 years. I bought it for $200 and replaced the chain. It had 108k miles and I put another 100k on it with a nasty rod knock before I donated it. It was dented and the vinyl top would peel off as I drove down the road. The interior was perfect but it had that nasty GM BO smell. Everything worked...A/C, power antenna, etc. Even the trunk was cherry.