Posted On: Friday - November 7th 2025 5:48PM MST
In Topics: History Cars Economics Liberty/Libertarianism US Feral Government
(Title is a work in progress. You know, like at the new car lot these days?)
It was 50 years ago today,To be clear here, this is not an exact anniversary post to the day this time. Putting in Sergeant Peppers lyrics is just a Peak Stupidity tradition.
the US House and Senate passed CAFE.
Land yachts, they were goin' out of style,
Cause they burned a pint of gas per mile.
So let me introduce to you,
the car you knew from all those years.
It's Iacocca's K-car plaaaaannnn...
Your Peak Stupidity staff requires solid transportation for our road shows and daily trips to town for material. It's a fleet, with vehicles built cira 1980s to the 10's. Recently, our mechanic has admonished us regarding upkeep, "C'mon guys! Whaddya' need a referesher course? It's ALL crank position sensors these days!"*
What I did think about just the other day is that, as much as I enjoy and value the vehicles, most of them get pretty poor gas mileage. That is, even and older 4-banger truck - it gets less than 17 mpg in town - can't figure this out, but as long as she runs... It's only our less-than-10 y/o Korean Crossover that gets something halfway decent - 22-25 mpg in town and 32-34 mpg on the highway.** We're pefectly OK with all of them, as miles driven is fairly low for all combined.
However, back 50 years ago +2 / -4, the years of the 2 OPEC "oil crises", people would have been shocked to learn that's how much the vehicles running in 2025 still burn of that precious fossil fuel. It was a scene back then, with gas lines, odd/even days for purshase, and with the pervasive feeling that we were plain running out of that black gold (some call it "Texas Tea"). So, of course the US Feral Gov't just had to get involved to "fix" the oil crisis (the 1st one).
The free marketplace, where perhaps auto buyers might, like, DECIDE or something, to buy smaller and/or more fuel efficient cars based on their individual budgets, was apparently not trustworthy enough. The closer we were to come to running out of fuel, the higher the gas prices would get, and wouldn't consumers switch tinny 4-bangers, then, even to scooters (that fit a family of 4, as in China), and never mind the DUI stigma attached. ("I am George Jones!" "No, I am George Jones!" )
Basic free market economics with price signals couldn't be trusted though. This was TOO important! Instead, CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) Standards were passed by Congress in 1975. The onus was put on auto manufacturers, with the American market still largely American, to bring up fuel economy... on the average.
Hence, whether you liked it or not, AMC Pacers were made.
If you see one of these outside of Rockford Files reruns, it's your lucky day!
Mandami's coming, pack your stuff, girl...♪ ♫ ♬
It didn't start with the mid-1970s Pacers though - they were just advertised as "if you need a smaller car, why not make it wide... and get some sun?" or something. (Actually, these are pretty cool, along with the old Gremlins. I'm only picking on American Motors Corporation because they're not around to sue us.) There were the Chrysler "K-cars" and the Japanese were already building small cars for their crowded cities, with better quality too, so they had a real break into the American market.
CAFE window stickers were issued. They are still on new car windows at the dealers today, as far as I know. It WAS a big thing that EPA-rated milage number, way, way before the whole Climate Calamity™, carbon footprint, biggest con job in World history. In the 1970s it really did seem like Americans had better change their ways before the oil was completely drained. This was less of a con job, scam, or hoax, IMO, than just a misunderstanding of economics by a lot of people, many of them Economists.
The cars got smaller and lighter, and maybe even cheesier ... on average. However, gasoline got cheaper again a couple of years into the '80s.*** Fuel efficient cars were not what everyone wanted. So, ahhhhaaa, there was a loophole. Light trucks produced (and heavy trucks I'm sure) were not part of that CAFE law, so, "hey, these Chevy Suburbans are now trucks." (Officialy based on the frame or what-have-you.) There'd been Sport Utility Vehicles around, your Chevy Blazers and Ford Broncos, but the SUV craze cranked up in the late 80's and we haven't looked back since. (That's partly because rear visibility has gone completely to shit.)
Some guy named Joe Isuzu introduced his Trooper, there was some even top-heavier and boxier Jap machine I barely recall, and then the American Suburban, Expedition, and Cherokee big SUVs took the market by storm... the rest is (more recent, hence, trivial) history. Over the last 2 decades the "Crossovers" - a cross of a car and an SUV arrived - whether each is burdened by CAFE is dependent on its drive train and the wiliness of its manufacturer. (There's some good discussion here.)
My point with all this is, after all these years, why don't ALL these vehicles get lots better mileage than cars did at least just after the oil crises, say by the early 1980's? A guy who answered this for me some years ago is one Eric Peters. It's been quite a while, but I'd regularly read Libertarian politics combined with automotive info on his site - Eric Peters Automotive. Other than by increasing engine efficiency, definitely a big thing*****, decreasing the vehicle weight is obviously important. Vehicles got a lot lighter... for a while, but, as Mr. Peters explained, at some point safety concerns and mandated features to relieve them brought weights back up.
At this point, those who want nothing to do with EV's are not demanding higher fuel mileage out of their vehicles, or you wouldn't see this:
The Lincoln Navigator is a huge machine. Obviously the fuel mileage is not important to consumers of these behemoths. Additionally, it's still a truck, so CAFE has no Feral-mandated say in the matter. That all said, if you want your high-gas-mileage car, you can KEEP your high-gas-mileage car. I know a couple of guys with GEO Metros, and they swear by 'em. If you can find an old Honda CRX, they'll get you 38 mpg combined city/highway - highly recommended.
The graph above has a projection from '16 on, but does anyone really care anymore about CAFE, even the Government? Is the Oil Crisis over?
PS: From wiki, I see CAFE standards have gotten lots more complicated, cause... footprints. (Not carbon footprints either):
Starting in 2011, the CAFE standards are newly expressed as mathematical functions depending on vehicle footprint, a measure of vehicle size determined by multiplying the vehicle's wheelbase by its average track width. A complicated 2011 mathematical formula was replaced starting in 2012 with a simpler inverse-linear formula with cutoff values. CAFE footprint requirements are set up such that a vehicle with a larger footprint has a lower fuel economy requirement than a vehicle with a smaller footprint.Note that latest specification. It's almost as if the required gas mileage for each vehicle model will be set to the gas mileage it will likely get. That works - thank you, US Government, and... MOAR stickers!
* Actually, that was the case with only one - for the other, we were both SO SURE it was that too early today, but it looks like it's the Engine Computer after all. Yes, "THE" engine computer - this is one of the
** It goes down above 70 mph, which seems to be the sweet spot. BTW, there are SO MANY of these crossovers now! I saw about 6 in a row black ones, then a black pick-up, then more black crossovers at the stop light today.
*** Peak Stupidity has noticed the gas prices over recent (1/2 century) history and effects thereof**** better than most people, I must brag here. See our series Recent history of gasoline prices - Part 1 and Part 2, along with Gasoline prices update.
**** For example, I distinctly noticed the big switch to pre-pay at almost all gas stations right as prices peaked around the summer of '08. Filling up using cash has been more of a PITA ever since...
***** See this example of a really desperate attempt at that.
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[UPDATED 11/08:] Made a few minor additions and changed mid-1980's - wut??- Pacer to mid-1970s. I knew that.
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