For those of you who drove a Japanese import in the 60’s/70’s/early 80’s, did you get any heat from family/friends/coworkers/general public about your choice of car? How bad was it? What were some of the consequences and what was the most extreme example you’ve seen or heard of?
This question applies to americans as well as some western europeans, whose auto industries were also in decline with the exception of germany.
This discussion might also be a good predictor of what will await the first owners of chinese cars when they do arrive in north america.
My dad bought a new Honda Civic in 1976. This was in the gas crisis times, and he went from a car that got 12 MPG to 50 MPG - nobody said anything. His father bought another Civic in 1979 (still in the family). Seemed to be accepted just fine, but I wasn’t born yet. Only a few distant memories of that car from when I was real little in the early 80s.