Cars, Gas Crisis, EPA & the 1970s: What's it mean?

self ^ | August 17, 2005 | self

[nicollo]

Asking freepers for advice: 1970s & cars... what's it mean?

I'm researching for an article that will be the final of a series of four on "Motoring in Tough Times," on automobiles and economic trouble. We started with WWI and the 1920 depression, went from there to the 1930s, on to WWII & its aftermath, and now heading into the 1970s. The articles are being published by the best automotive and automotive history magazine out there, a hard-bound quarterly, which you will know if you know it.

I go to Freepers for advice because the 1970s marks such a complicated, wild moment in history that we have yet to understand, and that is yet is playing out upon us. In that it's so recent, as history goes, it's difficult to separate it from the present tense. I'll do my best, anyway.

Some topics are:

Vietnam, Interstates, Nixon, Muscle Cars, NASCAR, Gas Crisis, OPEC, Small cars, Pimp mobiles, UAW, EPA, NHTSA, Ralph Nader, Jimmy Carter, Bugs, Honda, Ferrari, Really Bad Colors, Stagflation, Front Wheel Drive, & etc.

[nicollo]

Any thoughts?

[ElCapusto]

Yes.

We're screwed.

[Cobra64]

Jimmy Carter has all the answers in a free market economy. /sarcasm

[brbethke]

Could you ask some actual questions?

[mc6809e]

Nixon used price controls to try and keep the price of oil down.

It only created shortages and long lines.

What happened in the rest of the world? Prices went up, but there were no shortages because there we no price controls.

[brbethke]

Okay, here's a suggested topic for you: "How the American EPA Killed the British Automobile Industry."

[nicollo]

Thanks, brbethke. Here's where I'm heading:

What I discovered from the first three articles is that politics do matter: the bad times don't exist unto themselves, they come from somewhere, and things affect them one way or another, good and bad. Coming out of WWI, for example, the Wilson economic policies were disastrous upon the automobile industry. Or, FDR set in place not only Big Labor but the Big Three, which prior to the 1930s had not existed, or was not a set deal. (This observation, btw, goes against much of the established history on entry/exit and the growth of the automobile industry; I do not believe that the Big Three came about as a pre-ordained affair, as most economists treat it.) Studying WWII I was stunned to find that in his hyperactive anti-inflation measures Truman really screwed the auto industry and furthered the supremacy of the Big Three and Big Labor.

My questions are simple: what happened during the 1970s, and why? ....lol! The period is complicated: politics, economics, social trends all converged upon the automobile in a period of turbulence and change. I've got 3,000 words to figure it out...! I'll be pouring through the contemporaneous publications. What I'm interested in from Freepers is some direction, what to look for and why.

Here are two questions, brbethke: Did the small car triumph in the 1970s, or did the government just want it to? And what did consumers really want, and did Detroit give it to them?

[nicollo]

"How the American EPA Killed the British Automobile Industry."

... please say.

[operation clinton cleanup]

Gremlin, Pinto, and Pacer were the answer.... what was the question?

[nicollo]

Nixon used price controls to try and keep the price of oil down.

What'd Detroit do about it, if anything?

[operation clinton cleanup]

OPEC Embargo played a small role as well.

[nicollo]

LOL!

(Unfortunately those answers will play heavily in the article... Thanks!)

Oh, as for Gremlin and Pacer, those were AMC products, which, aside from Jeep, were the final gasps of the last homemade competition to the Big Three. Clearly the consumer was not satisfied with what was being offered. Too bad, though, that domestic politics/economics killed any competition. Imports filled in. And off we go...

[LisaFab]

Try a search on the United Auto Worker's Union.

[LibLieSlayer]

"Gremlin, Pinto, and Pacer were the answer.... what was the question"?

Hey, don't forget about my POS Vega!!! ;-)

LLS

[nicollo]

OPEC Embargo played a small role as well.

...and to get to the embargo we have to go to the '73 War, and the Cold War, and, and...

Would you say that the embargo played a defining role in the period? That is, without it, would autos have gone the way they did? Or, and if so, was the reaction to it the greater factor, as mc6809e suggests?

[mc6809e]

OPEC Embargo played a small role as well.

Sure, but price controls greatly increased the severity of that embargo by making it uneconomical to pump a lot of oil in the USA. When the government says that oil will be priced at no more than $20/barrel, and you make money when you pump at $25/barrel, then you cap your well -- and that's right when demand for that oil is great.

[nicollo]

Try a search on the United Auto Worker's Union.

Did the UAW do anything different in the 1970s from before, or did it all fall upon Detroit when the competition finally got fierce? I'm inclined to see the '70s as an effect as much as a cause in this regard.

One thing I'm having trouble nailing down is quality control issues from Detroit. It's hard to find the origin, and while it truly manifested itself in the 1980s, it certainly came of the 70s. For all his hyperbole, Ralph Nader was on to something in the arrogance of Detroit towards its consumers. That said, the car Nader went after, the Corvair, was innovative and a direct reply to consumer demand. GM from its origins through to the 1960s was truly customer-oriented. For example, in the 1930s, GM President Alfred Sloan wanted nothing to do with safety glass, but he quickly changed course when he realized it was a core consumer demand. Indeed, the company's rise in the 1920s that Sloan presided over was built entirely on meeting customer preferences.

Where did the Unions come into this? In the Seventies?

[operation clinton cleanup]

I was 5 at the beginning of the 70's, most of my memories were forged in the late Jimmy Carter era. I remember when gas pumps had to put a $1 sticker in front of the price because they only went up to two digit 99cents per gallon.

What year did the Pinto Pony MPG come out?

[x]

There's a recent big picture book about American automotive history. The chapter about the Seventies is entitled something like "Government Gets Involved" -- a reference to the Chrysler bail-out. And of course, government was more generally involved in the automotive industry in the 1970s -- what with smog and safety and fuel efficiency -- than it had been at any time in the postwar period.

The oil shocks had a lot to do with the downfall of the big cars, though. The big gas guzzlers looked like dinosaurs lined up at the pump.

The general decline in quality also helped. If big cars were really well-built -- as people believed Mercedes and BMWs were -- people would have remained loyal to them, but if the big whales were poorly engineered and unreliable, then smaller cars made sense.

Detroit was slow to adapt to the fuel economy or safety, so foreign companies which thought small, influenced the market more than people could have predicted before the oil shocks of the 1970s. Perhaps, a more responsive American industry could have retained control and weathered the storm better.

Maybe the two car family had something to do with it. If you bought a second car in the Seventies, chances are it would be something small and economical. It was probably more likely to be foreign as well. Add those second car sales to compact purchases by young people buying their first cheap car and it must have meant a big rise in compact sales.

People's hearts may have stayed with the big cars, but in an age of high gas prices it made sense to make their second car a little one. If they liked it enough, they'd eventually trade the whale in for a minnow.

You could look at the other end as well: Why did SUV's become so popular in the Nineties? Laxer government fuel standards had something to do with it. So did soccer moms wanting a bigger family vehicle. The supposed greater safety of SUV's also had something to do with it. But if you told people in the eighties what their family car would look like ten years later they wouldn't have believed you.

[wizr]

Many were trying to push small cars in the early '60's. The Chevy II, Tempest, Falcon and and Valiant and Duster were tries at econocars by the US manufacturers.

We would have nothing of it. The Nova SS, Camaro SS, The GTO, Mustang Cobra, Roadrunner and Super Bee grew out of these econo boxes.

The gas shortages of the '70's killed the Muscle Car mania, for a while. Many still hold these cars dear, the value they still hold proves it.

Now, US manufacturers are trying to bring back the GTO. But, many feel they are just a shadow of the past glories.

[LS]

Let me comment only on government's role in creating the "Big Three": government had harassed and persecuted not only Preston Tucker but also (on unrelated matters) Henry Kaiser. Now, even though the attacks on Kaiser were not related to his Kaiser-Frazer, but his airplane work, still one has to wonder if the government wasn't undermining his company behind the scenes. On the other hand, there is no question K-F was vastly underfunded (as was Tucker). However, the Fair Labor Standards Act had become ensconced by then, making it almost impossible for a smaller manufacturer to compete with a company that had more flexibility in its overhead.

[LS]

On the small car, it wasn't "smallness" per se: government's assault on the "muscle cars" drove them out of production---the combo of EPA that took away their power and the CAFE requirements, along with the EPA requirements, that penalized them vs. a smaller car.

However, Detroit played a part in its own demise: remember that the Thunderbird was a small two-seater . . . until Ford's engineers made it into a big luxury car. Compare a '68 Mustang with a 73-75 Mustang---there is no comparison. One is a small car, one is a boat. Ditto the GTO. Only the Camaro remained about the same size---the Chevelle got really big. I think Detroit's engineers got obsessed with bigness just as many Americans favored smaller cars, but that did not mean they opposed POWER, just size.

[nicollo]

"Government Gets Involved"

That's a title that should have been used from the beginning of the Motor Age... I guess it's applicable to the 1970s more than before, although it's a matter of degree, not kind.

I'm a little dubious on your description of big cars as "dinosaurs" -- from what I can tell into the 1980s -- and today -- the consumer preference was for the larger car. Honda and Toyota, for example, progressively moved towards larger cars. I think you are more right on matters of quality than size. Government policy, certainly, turned anti-large car, with CAFE.

Many thanks for your good thoughts, which I knew you'd have!

[nicollo]

Here for a Pinto Pony MPG!

I was 16 in '79, and just got my license. I made a bundle that summer by driving the neighbors' cars to the gas stations and sitting in the lines for them.

[operation clinton cleanup]

I made a bundle that summer by driving the neighbors' cars to the gas stations and sitting in the lines for them.

Wow! A dream job compared to mowing lawns. My first car was a 78 or 79 2-door Honda Civic. Not only was it rough being 6'3", but people used to carry it and place it in front of the High School main entrance doors.... good times!

[nicollo]

Many were trying to push small cars in the early '60's. The Chevy II, Tempest, Falcon and and Valiant and Duster were tries at econocars by the US manufacturers.

Actually, the "small car" thing goes waaay back to the beginnings of the automobile. There has ever been this twisted, populist notion that "the people" want a small car. Here's an early example, from 1908:

Hattfield Buggyabout

This was the "small car" of its day -- a populist reply to the wasteful, luxurious autos that dominated the day. What folks don't know about the Model T is that its success came not as a small car but as a cheaper big car. The Model T succeeded because it was all car -- 4 cylinders, three speeds, etc. -- for an amazing price ($950 in 1908, and downward to >$250 in the early 19320s).

In the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s/70s, as you say, there were "small car" alternatives. They've never caught on, as we know today. The "small car" has ever been a solution to a problem the American consumer never shared with reformers and idealists. I have no doubt that the 1970s were NOT about the small car. Something else was going on.

[nicollo]

I'm not sure that the Government was much a direct problem for Kaiser, as he used Government subsidies for his project. (The Government was never directly against him -- its policies, as you say, screwed him.) Tucker, the comman man's hero, ironically, was brought down by the common man's other hero, FDR: it was FDR's SEC that went after him, and not without reason. Tucker never had a legitimate project.

Kaiser, though, had the real thing. From what I can understand, what did in Kaiser was Truman's anti-inflation measures, which screwed innovation by raising taxes, wages, and limiting capital investment. That is, as you say, the Fair Labor Standards Act and its offspring, especially Truman's stupid post-WWII economic interventions, brought Kaiser down. He almost pulled it off. But for the Korean War, he may well have gotten away with it. What a glorious thing that would have been!

Thanks for your thoughts. Anything on the 1970s?

[nicollo]

Oops, your post no. 22 is all about the 70's -- thanks!

I think you and I are of the same mind on the small car. I am struck by late 70s/ early 80's GM ads which depict large cars in photos and sell small, efficient cars in the descriptions. Marketers may sell crap, but they aren't dumb.

[nicollo]

Sitting in the gas lines was NOT a dream job. I distinctly remember it being a huge bore. And I made far more money cutting grass -- the gas crisis never cut into my lawn mowing adventures...

My first car was a '77 Toyota Corolla. My friends called it the "Golden Bullet," with all the sarcasm implied. It was, truly, a P.O.S. The clutch never worked, and it was small, heavy, and got shitty mileage. I guess had I bought a Buick instead it would have been just as bad, or worse. I'm thinking that the perceptions of the 1970s were at least as strong as the realities.

[operation clinton cleanup]

My first self bought car ($1,200 in 1983) was a 1976 Monte Carlo. Had more space between the radiator and the front grill than the Civic (family 3rd car) had trunk space.

One angle you could include is all the 70 mpg carb devices that the big three were keeping of the market conspiracies. (They were conspiracies, right?)

[LisaFab]

LOL! My brothers used to pay me to sit in the gas lines for them. My cousin and I would buy a six-pack and flirt with all the guys in line...heaven!

[operation clinton cleanup]

Perhaps the car was not the focus of ad campaigns in the 70's.

[LisaFab]

The unions were always in it. But, IMHO they went out of control in the 60s and 70s, pricing Detroit out of business when compared to what Japanese workers were paid and how they worked.

See the movie, "Gung Ho."

[operation clinton cleanup]

Check this out for 70's era car advertising:
http://www.rareads.com/rareads/webauto.html

[nicollo]

Simply put, once again, that wonderful bastion of liberal theory 'free trade' began in earnest during the 1970's after the massive reductions in tariffs due to the Kennedy Round of Trade Deals. Japan and Germany roared, Americans soured hurting the Auto Industry and my state which lost 600,000 jobs in that decade alone.

I'm not so sure that it was free trade that was the problem so much as free trade, as expressed in imports, addressed an existing problem. That is, Detroit didn't suffer from imports so much as imports took advantage of Detroit. I believe that had viable domestic independent auto mfgs survived the New Deal and the 1950s, imports never would have had their day as they did. That is, it's not international free trade that was the problem so much as unfair trade back home.

I dunno. I'm just exploring it all here and now. I appreciate your thoughts.

[nicollo]

carburetor conspiracies.

YES!!! Thanks for bringing that up!

[nicollo]

My cousin and I would buy a six-pack and flirt with all the guys in line...heaven!

Any photos? I want this in my article!

[nicollo]

Thanks for that link to the ads site... Great stuff!

Distracting the buyer with pretty girls was nothing new to the 1970s. It's a day-one thing. This 1923 ad, however, is the most famous for starting the so-called "lifestyle" ads, the back-bone of modern Madison Ave:



The Jordan Playboy

[nicollo]

re. GungHo

Thanks for the info and link!

[Freedom4US]

Part of the problem - depending on how far you want to go back - the U.S. didn't have all our manufacturing capacity blown to smithereens during the war as did Japan and Germany. Anyway, by the 1970's our factories were outmoded and relatively inefficient. Too, EPA and smog devices were mandated, along with higher MPG requirements, first starting in the early 60's with the EGR valve - routing a portion of blow-back gases from the crankcase back through the carburetor and the engine to be burned. It got a lot worse later on - "detuned" lean-burning engines. Quality control was very poor on some models as well, no doubt about it. Too, the steel wasn't very good during those years either - though the imports would at least keep running, though the body was gone.

[operation clinton cleanup]

And don't forget...

In 1973, the federal government mandated the 55-mph speed limit at the behest of President Nixon, who proposed it as a way to conserve fuel during the Arab oil embargo. States, which had always set the speed limits on their highways, suddenly found they had lost their authority.

[nicollo]

...first starting in the early 60's with the EGR valve

Was this government mandated?

[nicollo]

Ah, yes, the 55... thanks!

[nicollo]

Yes, we'll disagree on this. I don't believe that protection could have solved the problems of the 1970s. On the contrary, as with a highly-protected economy such as Brazil's, it would have made things far worse.

I'll be glad to listen to you, though, so please don't hold back.

Speaking of Brazil: what say you of its reaction to the 1970s in the alcohol fuel conversion?

[operation clinton cleanup]

The 55mph speed limits would save enough people from traffic accidents to = the population of Grinell Iowa, If I remember the PSA correctly.

[LS]

Well, of course, the "large" car in the 1980s---which caught everyone (including the Japanese) by surprise---was the minivan and the revival of the pickup.

[operation clinton cleanup]

Clean air act and EPA played big role in direction of developement also.

The U.S. car market was at the time undergoing dramatic change due to increased environmental concern. Along with a shift from leaded to unleaded gasoline, carmakers began designing models with fuel systems that did not accommodate leaded gasoline.

http://world.honda.com/history/challenge/1972announcingthecivic/text07/

[operation clinton cleanup]

Clean air act and EPA played big role in direction of developement also.

The U.S. car market was at the time undergoing dramatic change due to increased environmental concern. Along with a shift from leaded to unleaded gasoline, carmakers began designing models with fuel systems that did not accommodate leaded gasoline.

http://world.honda.com/history/challenge/1972announcingthecivic/text07/