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Beyond The DeLorean: Marty McFly’s Ultimate 1980s Car Wish List

Cameron Eittreim July 5, 2023

The 1980s were a unique, one-of-a-kind time for the automotive industry because things were changing at a rapid pace. Automakers ditched the oversized land yachts of yesteryear for more fuel-efficient imports. Compact pickup trucks made a splash as well. The Toyota Hilux was one of these trucks and happened to be a focal point of the hit movie, ‘Back to The Future.’ But the Toyota Hilux was just one of many cool cars that hit the road during the 1980s. Today, a lot of these vehicles are more popular than ever. So we looked back at the cars that 1980s icon Marty McFly would be proud to own.

There’s no denying that these are some of the most iconic cars that hit the road during that decade. When today’s drivers get behind the wheel of some of these rides, they experience instant nostalgia. Most of us remember a time when these cars were all too common on the roads, and now many of them have spiked in value and become classics. Buckle up as we look at several cool cars from the 1980s that Marty McFly would be proud to own.

Ford Mustang SVO

Nobody considered a four-cylinder Mustang fun to drive until the Mustang SVO hit the scene. The SVO was a turbocharged beast of a Mustang that took the 5.0 Fox Body platform to new heights. The car was everything an enthusiast wanted in a Mustang from this era. The four-cylinder engine was fuel-efficient and reliable, and the car had a monstrous amount of pep in its step when drivers got behind the wheel (via Ford Performance).

The Mustang SVO was a car that redefined what affordable performance could be. Its great price tag coupled with its fuel-efficient performance was the right recipe for the time. Consumers didn’t want oversized, inefficient gas guzzlers anymore, and the SVO was a completely different type of car. Not to mention its radical styling, meaning it was definitely a car Marty McFly would enjoy driving.

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1982 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am

1982 was the last year for the second-generation Firebird model, and it offered quite a bit for the price. The second-generation Firebird wasn’t much of an improvement over the first-generation model. The fuel crisis of the 1970s certainly didn’t help. But by the early 1980s, a lot of the design and performance flaws had been ironed out, and the car was a lot more modern. The final years for this generation are among the least common models you’ll come across (via CarFax).

But it was cool because it had that distinct 1970s flare with a mixture of the ’80s too. There’s no doubt that a young Marty McFly would have been enthusiastic about this car because an entire generation of young people were as well. The second-generation Firebird was an iconic car that had many flaws, but they didn’t take away from the fun factor. The Firebird is the quintessential 1980s car, but a lot of people don’t equate the early 1982 model with the decade.

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Dodge Omni GLH/GLHS

The Dodge Omni was everywhere in the 1980s as it was one of the best-selling cars for Chrysler. But there was a slick black version of the Omni that Marty McFly would have gone for, the Shelby GLH/GLHS. The paint job was just like that of his Toyota dream truck, and it wasn’t your father’s Dodge Omni. The turbocharged engine and AWD design gave the car a serious amount of horsepower at the wheels (via Car & Driver).

The car was rare, and therefore, there aren’t a lot of them on the market. As previously stated, this was a serious piece of automotive performance power. There weren’t a lot of cars that were in this Omni’s league at this point. And a lot of consumers don’t remember seeing this version of the Omni because it wasn’t a common car, but those who were in the know remember this car fondly.

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1983-84 Oldsmobile Hurst/Olds

Oldsmobile was one of the best-selling car brands in the world in the 1980s. As hard as that is to believe nowadays, the Cutlass was the most popular model in America. But there was something even better than your average Cutlass, and that was the Hurst/Olds. This model had a serious amount of performance behind it, as well as a trademark black and red paint scheme. The noteworthiness of the car was carried on into the interior (via Hemmings).

The removable T-Tops gave it a mean, dedicated look, but that wasn’t the end of it. The rally wheels were all too common on Oldsmobile models from this decade, and the performance under the hood of the car is the first thing that Marty McFly would notice. The Oldsmobile Hurst was one of the most iconic GM G-Body cars from the 1980s, and it was one of the most iconic cars for young people at the time.

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1983-88 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS

How do you ignore the Monte Carlo SS? You can’t, because this car was quintessential ’80s. It was one of the most popular cars in the NASCAR circuit at the time and was a great-selling car for GM as well. The performance of the Monte Carlo SS was groundbreaking at the time, and buyers still got the comfort of a large interior. The Monte Carlo SS was the car that redefined what GM was doing in the 1980s (via Hagerty).

The car provided years of fun driving to an entire generation of people and was one of the best-selling cars of its period. Likewise, the Monte Carlo SS did everything that the Camaro couldn’t or wouldn’t, appealing to a different class of driver. When you think of iconic cars from the 1980s that would have been in the same world as ‘Back to The Future,’ the Monte Carlo SS is that car in every way possible.

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Buick GNX

Buick had a lot of hits in the 1980s as the brand was going through a transitional period, but then the GNX hit the road and changed the world. The GNX was a GM G-Body car, but instead of a hulking V8 engine, this one used a turbocharged variant. The GNX was the culmination of excellent brand quality and design, which is why the car was so highly sought after and continues to be a rarity on the road today (via Hot Cars).

The engine technology that was under the hood was later used in the GMC Typhoon and the Syclone. GM went away from turbocharged V6 engines shortly after those two models, but it was the GNX that set the period in motion. The performance and the design of the mean black-looking car were enough to appeal to a plethora of different drivers. The GNX is still one of the most iconic and well-known Buick models on the road today.

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Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS Aerocoupe

The Aero Coupe was the Monte Carlo model that was based on the NASCAR circuit. It was so popular that GM decided to bring it to the market as a production model. The SS Aerocoupe was a much more aerodynamic car in every sense. The back window was sloped, and the design of the car was lower to the ground, but the performance was the same. The new aerodynamic design appealed to a lot of NASCAR fans (via Silodrome).

The Monte Carlo Aero Coupe SS was one of the most well-known GM cars from the decade. It had the unique styling that the world was seeing on the racetrack and everything that made the Monte Carlo great. These GM G-Body cars were the epiphany of the brand back then, and the Aero Coupe was the perfect road-ready NASCAR model. And the unique styling is unlike anything else that came out during the era.

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1985-90 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z

The Camaro IROC-Z was one of the most influential cars on the road, and it proved to be a popular model. The 305 V8 and then the 350 were both very good power plants, and the styling of the car stood out from the crowd. The low-slung body panels and ground effects gave the car a mean look, and the wheels became so iconic that you can buy them nowadays for other makes and models (via Motor Trend).

Not to mention the T-Tops, which were an instrumental part of the IROC-Z’s styling and mystique. There was also a convertible version of the car, but it was much rarer, and you don’t see them very often. Looking at what Marty McFly enjoyed driving, it would be the T-Top model that he’d go for. And with the kind of unique styling that it had and the performance under the hood of it, he couldn’t go wrong.

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Oldsmobile 4-4-2

Another important car from the 1980s was the 4-4-2, another powerful Oldsmobile offering. The 4-4-2 took that iconic name from the 1960s and slapped it onto a modern G-Body car. But the improvements under the hood were also very noticeable, and the 4-4-2 proved to be a success for the brand. From its outside appearance, there wasn’t a whole lot that was different from ordinary Oldsmobile Cutlass models (via Hemmings).

The Oldsmobile Cutlass 4-4-2 was one of the most iconic models that came out during the 1980s, and it was one of the least known. Since it was a trim package on the Cutlass models, a lot of people didn’t know about it. Nowadays, the 4-4-2 is the epiphany of 1980s Oldsmobile performance, and it does the job right. There aren’t a lot of G-Body cars that offered the kind of sheer performance that the 4-4-2 brought to the table.

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1983 Ford Mustang GT 5.0

The Ford Mustang 5.0 was one of the most iconic Mustang models of the decade. It had one of the lightest weight designs in the sports car world and it packed a V8 engine. The car was one of the best-selling Mustang models of all time and the convertible model was especially iconic. The Mustang 5.0 did a great job of introducing new drivers into the Mustang brand and it had the performance behind it to appeal to everyone (via Car and Driver).

When you think about the iconic 1980s car, the Mustang 5.0 is one of the most iconic. Everything about the car was the quintessential 1980s ride that someone was looking for. The slick design coupled with the powerful V8 engine made the car an icon in the industry. And it offered a lot of performance and versatility that the Camaro just didn’t. Marty McFly was no doubt a fan of what the 5.0 Mustang brought to the table.

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1985 Toyota SR5 Pickup

If you’ve ever watched the original Back To The Future, then you remember Marty McFly’s dream truck. It was a black 1985 Toyota SR5 Pickup that he saw on the back of a dealership delivery truck. Shortly after that, he had dreams about the truck. Finally, he was the proud owner of one at the end of the first movie. This truck was everything back then and was one of the most popular Toyota models on the road (via Motor Trend).

The truck was also one of the most durable and reliable pickup trucks on the road. The lifted body with the black paint job and the KC lights on the top only added to the unique look of the truck. The oversized wheels gave it that off-road appearance. These trucks were built with all of the best features and its black paint job only made it cooler. These days, purchasing any Toyota SR5 is an expensive proposition. Obviously, Marty was on to something with this one.

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