[pixl97]

An AMC Gremlin came out in the 1970s, and you don't see almost any at all because they were complete crap.

Especially the 70s US cars and somewhat later were complete shit and lead to the meteoric rise of Japanese cars in the US. Almost nothing US built those days got close to 100k miles without massive amounts of rebuilding.

[fipar]

The Gremlin is probably too extreme an example (and as someone not from the US, I’m only aware of it because it became the Butt of jokes in US TV and movies), but I still agree with your larger point.

In my country the closest example for those years would be the Alfa Romeo, which led to a popular saying here in the 80s that an Alfa made you happy twice: when you bought it, and when you sold it!