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| Re: The (Not So Good) Old Days (731657) | |||
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Re: The (Not So Good) Old Days |
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Posted by Mitch45 on Tue Feb 8 12:34:35 2011, in response to Re: The (Not So Good) Old Days, posted by Fred G on Tue Feb 8 11:06:05 2011. Actually, American cars of the '70s were pretty good up until 1973 or so. That was when a couple of things happened:1) the federal government and insurance industry started to horn in, first requiring 5-mph bumpers and then catalytic converters so that cars could use unleaded fuel to reduce pollution. The insurance industry was also fed up about paying injury claims so they lobbied the auto manufacturers to produce less powerful engines overall. The result was that cars became uglier because of the bumpers and less powerful. By the time my 1975 Pontiac Grand Prix was built in November 1974, its 400 inch V8 was choked down to 180 hp, whereas the same engine produced 230 hp for the 1972 models. 2) The Arab oil embargo of 1974 caused long lines at gas stations and made people start to think about smaller, more efficient cars. Enter the Toyota Corolla and the Datsun B-210. Thanks to doses of both of these events, we got monstrosities like the 1974-78 Ford Mustang II, the Chevy Monza and the Chevette. Hot cars like the Corvette, Trans Am and Z-28 were dumbed down to shells of their former glories. |
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