It is 1970's all over again...

[bnjny]

While stuck in traffic downtown, I was thinking how what we are experiencing with high gas prices is so reminecent of the 1970's...


Large fuel ineffiecent cars vs. Large ineffiecent SUV's.

The Big Three and a half scrambling to improve MPG's and reduce pollution vs. The small one and the medium two and heavier cars and trucks with low emissions but stagnent EPA figures.

HRM articles on performance with economy vs. EFI articles, with improvement in economy.

I guess what I'm trying to get across, is that we did not learn from our own history. Or did we just ignore the past?

[squirrel]

Re: It is 1970's all over again...

We're humans...what did you expect? ;)

[BangShift McT]

Re: It is 1970's all over again...

We did...look at the 80's. Small, lightweight cars, decent figures. Early 90's, we got the engines to become more efficient. Then we got stupid...we want trucks! We want 20 tons of crap in our cars! We want big-ass rims for no reason! Hey, I got an idea--let's put all that crap together!

Take the following three ideas and tell me you couldn't see improved MPG figures:

Cobalt 4-cyl in a '84 Cavalier Z24
GM 3800s/c V6 in a '88 Grand Prix
GM LS4 5.3 V8, with cylinder shutoff, mounted north-south, in a '80 Caprice coupe.

No extra crap involved. Bet anything you'd see a decent improvement!

[tiresmoke!]

Re: It is 1970's all over again...

Well.........

Lots of luck finding an old Z24 Cavalier in good enough shape to fool with.

The S/C 3800 in the FWD GP is cool....front-drive is wrong on so many levels, but the car did look cool.

The 5.3 in a Caprice coupe.....meh. Make it a 9C1 quadra-door, and then we'll be talkin'....LOL


Here's one geared towards YOU in particular, Remy.......a 5.7 "modern" Hemi in that Dipomat?

[HillbillySailor]

Re: It is 1970's all over again...

Yeah, the 70's cars were inefficient, but wouldnt one of these look real nice with a modern 5.3?

[Brian Lohnes]

Re: It is 1970's all over again...

I'm still trying to like the Colonnade styling era cars.

Lagunas are not my thing, but I'd be all over a Pontiac Can-Am like a cheap suit.

Brian

[SpiderGearsMan]

Re: It is 1970's all over again...

suvees are very efficent
and still popular
gas is 2.50 a gallon today
jeep sales are up

[tiresmoke!]

Re: It is 1970's all over again...

suvees are very efficient

Hitting the sauce, or sarcasm, Spidey? LMAO

That Laguna could use all the motor-vation it can get...the 5 MPH bumpers still look ugly 30+years on.

The Can-Ams are just HUGE.....a friend of my father had one brand-new, and it seemed HUGE inside.

Not as big as the '70 Kingswood wagon Dad had at the time, but you get the picture.....

[Monster]

Re: It is 1970's all over again...

I just saw an add for the Ford Flex, ".. a crossover SUV that gets 24 MPG" !

.. big deal, I get that on my '01 Tacoma pick-up truck in city traffic with the A/C on.

[Woodward_Dreams]

Re: It is 1970's all over again...

I just saw an add for the Ford Flex, ".. a crossover SUV that gets 24 MPG" !

.. big deal, I get that on my '01 Tacoma pick-up truck in city traffic with the A/C on.

Not to mention it looks like a toaster. Can't you imagine 2 giant pieces of bread sticking out the top of it?

[Woodward_Dreams]

Re: It is 1970's all over again...

Just look at it:

[tiresmoke!]

Re: It is 1970's all over again...

Damn...and the toast is BURNT!!!

That'll fall under the "no thanks" category.....right next to the Aztek.

[joebogey]

Re: It is 1970's all over again...

See the thing is we really didn't learn in the 70's. Instead of building more efficient engines, we just started cutting down on the cars. Put in more plastic save weight. Keep cutting down the size to save weight. The reason lot's of people started going to SUV's (myself included) is because other than the Caprice and Crown Vic how many truly full-size cars were there? But hey, I can get a truck with some space in it. Now realize I grew up with mom having a '70 Impala for the everyday car. You could pack all the neighborhood kids in the trunk if you needed to with space to spare. I've been saying for the last 20 years that somebody needs to come up with a cool ass station wagon, since that's what most really wanted without knowing it. Although the Flex isn't my cup of tea, it's a step in the right direction. From the 70's up until about 10 years ago there wasn't any real efficiency progress made. The next 5 years should be interesting.

[73zed]

Re: It is 1970's all over again...

I miss the 70's---Just pray disco doesn't make a comeback, (platform shoes, gold chains, hair spray for men, leisure suits .....hot pants? etc.......................)

[DanStokes]

Re: It is 1970's all over again...

Slow down a bit on the hot pants. I'm OK if THEY make a comeback.

Dan

I miss the 70's---Just pray disco doesn't make a comeback, (platform shoes, gold chains, hair spray for men, leisure suits .....hot pants? etc.......................)