I guess that's because you were changing it with the engine sitting on your garage floor, no?
The ones I speak of that are aptly labelled EMPHH (heh) are more time consuming because of their location clear at the rear of the engine, which you cannot reach with your feet on the ground unless you're about 8 feet tall. Someone on the 80s Cool list (if you're here please take a bow) had a great idea to make it simpler though.
Lay some wood across the fenders after padding them. Then you can be atop the engine on your knees and get to them better where they lurk at the firewall. Still took me a couple hours to get to the 4(?) back there, including moving the wiring harness and associated holders. An excellent time to refresh the heat insulation there. I seem to recall that it took me most of a day to do every hose except that tiny one inside the intake runners (haven't managed to figure that one out, yet - may need a trip to Eric's to get it).
Having said this, I don't think the 80 has hoses that are any less or more difficult to get to than many other vehicles, or any more or less prone to failure. It's just that some of us work our rigs fairly hard, and often these same folks are rabid DIY'ers so the rest of you hear about them. Many "normal" vehicles go their entire lives of about 120,000 miles with most or all hoses unchanged simply because by the time they're at that mileage they're on the 3rd owner and considered throwaway vehicles. At 130,000 miles, my 80 is just broken in and fully ready for another 10 years of service.
As for replacing the hoses one at a time, consider the pain of draining and refilling the coolant several times. I elected to do them all at once since all the tools are out, and the great idea of the wood popped up. Plus it was time for fresh coolant, so a bonus.
