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 and his friends were very into Japanese stuff and Japan back in the 60’s and 70’s which paid off in the 80’s when everyone was trying to copy them. We had a '78 Corolla growing up and an '85 Camry.
The story with the Corolla that I remember most was that my dad and his friends literally organized a group buy for the Corolla. They were just cheap little things back then and he got like two of his friends to also buy one at the same time at a steep discount since they were agreeing to buy three cars at once.
Notably, i grew up in Boston. I think there was a lot more hate for foreign cars in the midwest, closer to where the big 3 were headquartered.