By Murilee Martin, 11:00 AM on Wed Jan 16 2008, 5,160 views (Edit, to draft, Top, Slurp)

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With the Malaisetastic '80 Plymouth Fire Arrow that we saw yesterday on my mind, I got to thinking about the meaning of the Malaise Era, specifically about the American-built vehicles sold during that period. Not captive imports like the Fire Arrow or quasi-domestics like the Capri, but real Detroit (or Kenosha) machinery. And, yes, I know that Jimmy Carter never actually uttered the word "Malaise" in his so-called Crisis of Confidence speech in 1979; what started as a joke term for the cars of the 1973-1983 period has now hardwired itself into my brain). Then I realized that I've forgotten the quasi-tradition of having a Friday poll for the readers to vote on their favorite DOTS machine of the week, so I owe you some DOTS poll action. That means it's time to jump like the late-70s inflation rate to pick your favorite of Alameda's Malaisewagons!

Looking at these cars, I realize that I've been remiss in not photographing early-80s Detroit iron on Alameda's streets; we have a fair sampling of such cars, so I'll be paying more attention to them in the future. If everyone has a good time with this poll, I might do a Favorite Import DOTS Malaisemobile poll later on.