I'm not a mechanic by any stretch of the imagination, and the only Ford I've ever owned was one my wife brought into the household when we married. Frankly, it (a Taurus) was probably the worst car I've ever owned. Other than that, I've owned 4 Chevy's, a Honda, and a Datsun. But I stand by what I said: for a good part of the '80s, Ford had the better overall engine lineup. And, there are many Ford owners that can say the exact same thing about Ford that you said about Chevy (and vice versa) -- that they've never had a serious engine problem, or that you couldn't kill the engine. The Chevy 350 and the Ford 302, in no particular order, are the best engines I've ever driven.
However, I will say this: if I searched long and hard, I could find multiple consumer complaints and/or lawsuits that the Chevette and Corsica were the basis of. I don't know how many people had your experience with either, but plenty had bad experiences with one or the other (or both). Not saying that Ford's non-V8 lineup was any better (and you couldn't give me a Chrysler), but you won't convince me that either were anything other than below-average vehicles.
I have no interest in a domestic vehicle without a V8.
"However, I will say this: if I searched long and hard, I could find multiple consumer complaints and/or lawsuits that the Chevette and Corsica..."
Defending Ford, the company that brought us the Pinto (rolling blowtorch) and the Crown Victoria (rolling time bomb), by bringing up GM's failures? Occasionally, you might have a GM product with a defective shift lock (86-87 Chevette), or a bad suspension (late -80's Corsica), but at least they don't catch fire and incinerate you just because you turned the air conditioning on.
That doesn't even count the Ford products rigged to explode by Dateline NBC or 60 Minutes, either.
As for engines, I'm not a real horsepower and foot-pounds-of-torque kinda guy. I can't discuss the in's and outs of engine details. Not my bag. I was never relaly interested in it. I can, however, speak from experience and based upon the advice my grandfather (a superb mechanic) gave me: ALWAYS buy a GM product because they are more reliable. He was right.
I've driven Fords, Nissans and other vehicles from time to time, but except for the wife's '03 Altima (which even though it's a good car, feels tinny to me), I can't find anything that feels and runs like a GM products, especially a Chevy.
Then again, the use to which the vehicle is put has a lot to do with it to. The Chevette was a great car for what it was: basic transportation. Sure, it did 0-60 in 48 hours (even going downhill, slightly longer with a headwind), but it would get you from A to B with a minimum of fuss, economically and reliably. Heck, I MOVED twice in my Chevette. It never got stuck in snow because it was so light (2440 pounds soaking wet) that even with that little engine power, you could still drive through a good 6-8" of snow. I never got stuck in that vehicle, no matter what the conditions were.
People laugh, but I still recall my Chevette with fondness. It was a really good little car, provided you didn't try to treat it like a street rod (which it never could be).
I'd still put any GM product head to head with it's competitor's equivalent and come out on top, I think.