A CLEANER, MORE EFFICIENT CAR: AMERICAN AUTOMOBILES

Business as Usual

American car manufacturers in the early 1970s continued to produce the large sedans and the popular hot rod muscle cars that they had been perfecting since the 1950s and 1960s. The muscle cars—Pontiac's GTO, Ford's Mustang, and Oldsmobile's 442—were small, modestly priced automobiles with souped-up engines that gave the driver a feeling of power and speed. The gas-guzzling muscle cars were fun but dangerous unless equipped with fully functional high-speed brakes. Detroit's large sedans—the Lincoln Continental, Cadillac, and Buick—also paid little heed to fuel efficiency. Comfortable as the traditional force in the United States automobile market, American manufacturers entered the 1970s with a sense of business—and profits—as usual.

Energy Crisis

Detroit's peace of mind was shattered, along with its business strategy, when on 16 October 1973 the Arab-dominated Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cut off the flow of oil to the United States, Western Europe, and Japan in retaliation for their support of Israel in the Yom Kippur War. Within weeks the nation confronted what President Nixon called "a very stark fact: We are heading toward the most acute shortage of energy since World War II." Lasting until 18 March 1974, the energy crisis made Americans confront, for the first time, their dependence on foreign oil.

Gas Shortages

The oil crisis spawned gas shortages across the country and began to exert pressure on Detroit to make cars more fuel efficient. Suddenly Americans found themselves in long lines at gas pumps. A gas line in New Jersey stretched out to four miles. Frustrated at the pumps, drivers vented their anger on service-station attendants and on each other—fighting, stealing, and threatening violence as they waited in endless lines for a few gallons of gas. Some states closed gas stations on Sundays to discourage driving, while others introduced rationing programs. Overnight, it seemed, Americans wanted their automobiles small and energy efficient.

Government Interventions

In response to the oil embargo and gas shortages, the federal government introduced a series of new regulations on automobile production that mandated American auto manufacturers redesign their cars. New mile-per-gallon standards were set as well as new emissions standards in an effort to make American cars more fuel efficient. The oil crisis gave added weight to the growing environmental movement in the early 1970s. Consumers as well as the government were demanding cleaner cars that used less fuel and had less impact on the environment.

Imported Cars Challenge Detroit

However, American automobile producers had more to contend with than just the energy crisis in 1973 and 1974. They were also engaged in a battle against new smaller and more efficient imports gaining a foothold in the domestic car market. The Toyota Corolla subcompact, the Renault sedan, the Datsun 1200, and the Volkswagen Rabbit presented a serious challenge to Detroit in the economy-car competition. In 1977 import car sales broke all U.S. records. Nearly 1.5 million imports were sold in the January-August period, double the amount sold for the comparable period in 1976. By 1978 the Honda Civic and the diesel-engine Volkswagen Rabbit were the fastest-selling imports in the United States. Detroit needed to change that fact quickly.

New Designs

In the name of ecology, energy efficiency, and good business, Detroit introduced a variety of four-cylinder subcompact cars to fight off German and Japanese minicars. The American Motors Gremlin was the first in the fray in 1970, followed by Ford with its Pinto and Chevrolet with its Vega. U.S. automobile producers also began the long process of downsizing their formerly big and heavy classic cars. By 1977 new models of large-size Buicks, Oldsmobiles, Pontiacs, and Cadillacs had lost approximately eleven inches in length and nearly seven hundred pounds in weight.

Best-Sellers

The muscle cars of Detroit continued to hold their own against the threat of minicars and fuel efficiency. The restyled Pontiac Grand Prix and Firebird models were big sellers in 1973, along with the Ford Mustang and the Chevrolet Camaro. Yet even the leader of the pony car category, the Mustang, faced downsizing in its 1974 model. In 1976 Ford introduced the sporty yet efficient Granada that included a sports steering wheel and trimmer seats. It became one of the year's most popular models.