Auto Pollution

[RonDawg]

Crude emissions control devices started somewhat earlier than that; the '63 Buick Special wagon I learned to drive in had a valve that routed some emissions back to the intake manifold, although I can't remember what it was called.

Exhaust gas recirculation. Though I don't think it was mandated until the early 70s, perhaps late 60s.

In my opinion, the California air quality regulations and vehicle emissions standards have been an outstanding success: the greater LA basin would be unfit for human habitation without them. Not that it is all that pleasant in Riverside even today on smoggy days.

No doubt it was successful for our air quality. I remember as a kid in the 70s how frequently we would get "first stage" and "second-stage" smog alerts, the latter of which would mean we wouldn't be allowed to play outside at school. Now I can't remember the last time we had "second stage" alerts and even "first stage" ones are rather rare. It's remarkable when you consider our population explosion in that 40 year period.

For the auto industry and auto enthusiasts though it has been a rocky road. Net HP dropped significantly starting in the early 70s and wouldn't rebound again until the late 80s or early 90s. Reliability suffered as well, and although illegal, people often disconnected the early systems in order for the engines to run properly. My high school car, a Honda Accord CVCC, had a mass of vacuum lines all over the engine compartment and was temperamental under certain conditions. The only car in our family that ran decently from that era was my mother's VW Rabbit with fuel injection.

 

[dgpcolorado]

...The only car in our family that ran decently from that era was my mother's VW Rabbit with fuel injection.

Yes, fuel injection was a major advance over carburetors. The car my LEAF replaced was an '86 VW Golf, the Rabbit successor (built in Pennsylvania in those days), and one nice thing about the fuel injection system was that it was immune to large altitude changes, save for somewhat reduced power as it compensated for reduced oxygen levels at high altitude. The engine ran about the same at sea level as at 12,000 feet without adjustment. And I never once had a single problem with the fuel injectors in 230,000+ miles. I was very glad to see carburetors go away.

 

[camasleaf]

http://www.nature.com/srep/2013/131003/srep02779/full/srep02779.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Another reason to drive EVs and reduce burning oil all over the place.