The Malaise Era is an infamous period in automotive history that was not kind to General Motors or its customers, for that matter. A few famous flops occurred in the late 1970s and 1980s ...

Thus, in 1984, the plastic-bodied Pontiac Fiero, which means "very proud" in Italian and "fierce" in Spanish, was released for $7,999, and by the end of the year, nearly 137,000 were on the road.