[Lou_Dorchen]

My last post was about the future I'm worried about as an automobile entusiast. Here is the past I fear we may repeat. Some here may be too young to remember how bad it really was.

The Camaro's Z28 option was discontinued for 1975 despite an increase in sales to over 13,000 units in 1974 and similar popularity of Pontiac's Firebird Trans Am. Chevy dropped the Z28 due to ever-tightening emission standards that spelled the end of the higher-output versions of the 350 cubic-inch V8, rated at 245 horsepower in 1973 and 1974. Engines that were offered in 1975 continued to reflect the impact of these regulations in their declining horsepower ratings. Two 350 cid (5.7 L) V8s produced 145 hp and 155 hp.

Ford discontinued the V8 option in the Mustang in 1974 for the first (and so far only) time. They brought it back in 1975, but were limited to a 2-barrel carb resulting in a 140hp 302 V8.

In 1974 Chrysler discontinued the Barracuda and Dodge Challenger, American Motors discontinued the Javelin.


I sure as heck don't want to repeat that again. Do you? How about we just let the consumers decide what we want to drive instead of letting the Government tell us what we are allowed to drive. Our founding documents gave us the right to the "pursuit of happiness". Does that not apply to those of us who derive happiness from driving automobiles that exhilerate us?