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From the Archives #15, May 2023

In looking through the Sandscript issues in 1984, we came across a fascinating letter to the Editor, bemoaning the terrible situation that driving and automobiles were in. The writer claimed that the 1980s of driving was the first era in auto history that was slower than the previous one. He complained about the terrible effects of emission controls on drivability, the increased weight due to crashworthiness requirements, and the general total lack of pizazz in cars. He was worried that the age of automobile fun was over, and that things would only get worse.

He was half right. For those of you who aren’t old enough (like over 60) to remember the dark ages of the car, let me educate you. For those of you that are, I’ll refresh your memories.

The smog and general air quality in big cities across the US had deteriorated from the late 1940s to the mid-1960s to the point that visibility was seriously restricted in some places (like Los Angeles), and adverse health effects of bad air were no longer being denied by anyone.

The Federal Guvmint stepped in, and as they tend to do, imposed regulations. Took them until the mid-1970s to get the rules in place.

The emission limits led immediately to catalytic converters, lower compression ratios, exhaust gas recirculation, air pumps, retarded ignition timing, and other things. Crash protection regulations came along too. First was the requirement for giant ugly bumpers, although the rules didn’t phrase it that way. Then collapsible steering columns. Then steel beams in the doors.

The “cats” increased exhaust back pressure, like sticking a rag into the exhaust pipe. As you might think, this did wonders for performance. The largest mail-order car parts store in the country at the time, J.C. Whitney (and their wholesale outlet, located in exactly the same store in Chicago, Warshawsky and Co.) actually sold a “Catalytic Converter Test Pipe.” This was a length of exhaust tubing that, if you unclamped and removed the cat, filled the gap left in the exhaust pipe perfectly, thus eliminating the back pressure caused by the cat and restoring the car’s performance. The idea was that you could “test” the situation and see just how much the cat was reducing the car’s power and acceleration. Then, after the “test,” you put the cat back in. (Sure you did.)

The air pumps, running off a belt driven by the crankshaft just like an alternator or air conditioner, pumped fresh air into each exhaust port just outside the engine block for the purpose of providing air to complete the combustion of the fuel that escaped the actual combustion process, eliminating unburned hydrocarbon pollution.

The exhaust gas recirculation system took some of the car exhaust and ran it through a pipe and dumped it into the intake manifold to dilute the fuel/air intake charge so the combustion process in the cylinders wouldn’t be so hot. Real hot combustion produced another flavor of pollution, called “Nox,” or oxides of nitrogen. And again, assuming that there actually was a combustion process going on in the engine’s cylinders, mixing in already-burned exhaust gas made a really great contribution to power.

And so on. Your historian (me) bought a new Corvette in 1982. It had a 350 cubic inch (5.7 liter) fuel injected V-8 that developed all of 150 horsepower. And it did this at a staggering 3600 rpm! (Don’t the new Porsche GT-somethings idle at about 3600 rpm?)

And that svelte Corvette tipped the scales at about 3800 lbs., partly due to front and rear bumpers that probably weighed 1000 pounds themselves. But it was really safe in a 5-mph crash.

So the old letter-writer was correct, the late 1970s and early 1980s were truly the dark ages of automobile driving fun and performance.

But the LA air cleared up… you can see the mountains almost every day now from your parked position on the 405 freeway.

And he was also wrong. The days of performance are back; the dark ages of lousy drivability are gone. Power is back. If you can find somewhere to use it.

And make sure your radar detector is turned on.