Tape decks. Tape decks everywhere.

If you ever owned a car from the '80s, you had a tape deck. And it was probably the least bad thing about your automobile.

"The '80s was not a good time," says Jay Leno, host of "Jay Leno's Garage" on CNBC. "The cars had not caught up to the regulations. The government said, 'You must be able to do this.' Well, they just jury-rigged whatever they had to do."

So, in terms of mileage, for example, auto makers simply leaned out the fuel, which is to say that inside the engine, they added more air to the mix.

Up until the late '80s and early '90s, many cars also used carburetors, so engines often became hot and then overheated. In modern cars, carburetors have been replaced by fuel injection systems.

For those looking to get into older cars, Leno suggests trying other decades: "You're better off going early '70s or '60s for reliability."