Malaise Era
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Malaise era is a term describing U.S.-market cars from roughly 1973 to 1983. The U.S. federal government released several mandates to reduce pollution and improve the fuel efficiency and safety of cars in this era, which while successful, ultimately resulted in the death of the 1960s-style American
muscle car Muscle car is a description according to '' Merriam-Webster Dictionary'' that came to use in 1966 for "a group of American-made two-door sports coupes with powerful engines designed for high-performance driving." The '' Britannica Dictionary'' ...
, a marked drop in performance in most American vehicles, and a change in visual styling away from 1960s design cues to generally less popular stylings in the 1970s.


Origin of the term

The term "malaise era", coined by journalist Murilee Martin, refers to U.S. President
Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
's
malaise speech Jimmy Carter's tenure as the 39th president of the United States began with his inauguration on January 20, 1977, and ended on January 20, 1981. A  Democrat from Georgia, Carter took office after defeating incumbent Republican President ...
in which he discussed America's failure to deal with the
1979 oil crisis The 1979 oil crisis, also known as the 1979 Oil Shock or Second Oil Crisis, was an energy crisis caused by a drop in oil production in the wake of the Iranian Revolution. Although the global oil supply only decreased by approximately four per ...
. Martin claimed the era began in 1973, when the U.S. government released new crash bumper regulations, and ended in 1983, when the
Ford Mustang The Ford Mustang is a series of American automobiles manufactured by Ford. In continuous production since 1964, the Mustang is currently the longest-produced Ford car nameplate. Currently in its sixth generation, it is the fifth-best selli ...
saw a significant performance increase after almost a decade of low performance. The term has since entered wider use, being seen in numerous automotive blogs as well as works by professional organizations such as
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, Consumer Guide, Hagerty,
Hemmings Motor News ''Hemmings Motor News'' (HMN) is a monthly magazine catering to traders and collectors of antique, classic, and exotic sports cars. It is the largest and oldest publication of its type in the United States, with sales of 215,000 copies per mont ...
,
Motor Trend ''MotorTrend'' is an American automobile magazine. It first appeared in September 1949, and designated the first Car of the Year, also in 1949. Petersen Publishing Company in Los Angeles published ''MotorTrend'' until 1998, when it was sold to ...
,
Popular Mechanics ''Popular Mechanics'' (sometimes PM or PopMech) is a magazine of popular science and technology, featuring automotive, home, outdoor, electronics, science, do-it-yourself, and technology topics. Military topics, aviation and transportation o ...
,
Road & Track ''Road & Track'' (stylized as ''R&T'') is an American automotive enthusiast magazine. It is owned by Hearst Magazines and is published 6 times per year. The editorial offices are located in New York, New York. History ''Road & Track'' (often ...
, and the
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.


Pre-malaise

Until this time the
automotive industry in the United States The automotive industry in the United States began in the 1890s and, as a result of the size of the domestic market and the use of mass production, rapidly evolved into the largest in the world. The United States was the first country in the w ...
had relied on powerful but inefficient engines using a
carburetor A carburetor (also spelled carburettor) is a device used by an internal combustion engine to control and mix air and fuel entering the engine. The primary method of adding fuel to the intake air is through the venturi tube in the main meteri ...
to drive the typically large and heavy vehicles. Cars from before the malaise era were fast and powerful, with muscle cars in particular being extremely popular. For example, in 1971 the popular base model
Chevrolet Caprice The Chevrolet Caprice is a full-sized automobile produced by Chevrolet in North America for the 1965 to 1996 model years. Full-size Chevrolet sales peaked in 1965 with over a million sold. It was the most popular car in the U.S. in the 1960s ...
’s standard engine was a V8, with which it attained a fuel efficiency rating of and a top speed of . The average fuel economy across passenger cars from 1969-1974 was .


Government mandates

At the close of 1970, President
Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
signed a series of amendments to the Clean Air Act into law. The amendments established the
National Ambient Air Quality Standards The U.S. National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS, pronounced ) are limits on atmospheric concentration of six pollutants that cause smog, acid rain, and other health hazards. Established by the United States Environmental Protection Agenc ...
(NAAQS), New Source Performance Standards (NSPS); and
National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants The National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) are air pollution standards issued by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The standards, authorized by the Clean Air Act, are for pollutants not covered by ...
(NESHAPs), and overall significantly strengthened federal enforcement authority, all toward achieving aggressive air pollution reduction goals. The amendments mandated a 90% reduction in
hydrocarbons In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and hydrophobic, and their odors are usually weak or ...
,
carbon monoxide Carbon monoxide ( chemical formula CO) is a colorless, poisonous, odorless, tasteless, flammable gas that is slightly less dense than air. Carbon monoxide consists of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom connected by a triple bond. It is the simpl ...
, and
nitrogen oxides Nitrogen oxide may refer to a binary compound of oxygen and nitrogen, or a mixture of such compounds: Charge-neutral *Nitric oxide (NO), nitrogen(II) oxide, or nitrogen monoxide *Nitrogen dioxide (), nitrogen(IV) oxide * Nitrogen trioxide (), or ...
by 1975, relative to the 1970 standards, and instructed the
Environmental Protection Agency A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...
—formally founded just that month—to implement these standards. The technology did not exist to meet these requirements in a fashion that would also allow practical engines to continue making the same horsepower. The simplest way for manufacturers to meet these highly ambitious emission cuts was to reduce power outputs in their vehicles: beginning in 1971, horsepower ratings for many American automobiles began to markedly drop. It is important to note that some of these drops were merely on paper, caused by a concurrent shifting in the manner in which horsepower was measured (from gross to net, which resulted in lower values even when there were no changes made to a vehicle). For example, the 350 cu in (5.7 L) L48 engine of a 1971
Chevrolet Corvette The Chevrolet Corvette is a two-door, two-passenger luxury sports car manufactured and marketed by Chevrolet since 1953. With eight design generations, noted sequentially from C1 to C8, the Corvette is noted for its performance and distinctive ...
was rated at 270 (gross) horsepower, but the identical engine was rated at 200 (net) horsepower in 1972. However, emission-based cuts resulted in notable real power losses starting in the 1971
model year The model year (sometimes abbreviated "MY") is a method of describing the version of a product which has been produced over multiple years. The model year may or may not be the same as the calendar year in which the product was manufactured. ...
. These changes initially were due to a reduction in compression ratios to allow engines to run on lower
octane Octane is a hydrocarbon and an alkane with the chemical formula , and the condensed structural formula . Octane has many structural isomers that differ by the amount and location of branching in the carbon chain. One of these isomers, 2,2,4-Tri ...
unleaded
gasoline Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic co ...
rather than fuel using dangerous and polluting lead additives (a move taken initially by GM, but which all other major American automotive manufacturers adopted). More significant power reduction effects were caused by the adoption or increased use of emissions control procedures such as secondary air injectors (often called "smog pumps"),
exhaust gas recirculation In internal combustion engines, exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) is a nitrogen oxide () emissions reduction technique used in petrol/gasoline, diesel engines and some hydrogen engines. EGR works by recirculating a portion of an engine's exhaust ...
, retarded ignition, and thermal reactors. For example, Pontiac’s 455 cu. in. V8 peaked at 310 net horsepower in 1973, but was down to 200 net hp in its last year of use, in 1976. As such changes were legislative in nature rather than the result of voluntary developments by American car companies, as well as aggressive in scope and with a rapid deadline, the technologies used were hastily implemented and initially resulted in reliability issues, creating stalls and reducing fuel economy over and above power drops. The new emission standards also spurred the deployment of the
catalytic converter A catalytic converter is an exhaust emission control device that converts toxic gases and pollutants in exhaust gas from an internal combustion engine into less-toxic pollutants by catalyzing a redox reaction. Catalytic converters are usually ...
, added to almost all new vehicles from the 1975 model year onward, which in turn resulted in the increasing adoption of unleaded gasoline, as the converters could not function if leaded gasoline was used. In addition to new environmental standards, new safety standards had a significant effect as well. Starting in 1971, the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA ) is an agency of the U.S. federal government, part of the Department of Transportation. It describes its mission as "Save lives, prevent injuries, reduce vehicle-related crashes" rela ...
(NHTSA) promulgated bumper regulations requiring specific bumper performance requirements in collisions at certain speeds and angles—which increased bumper size and weight beginning with the 1973 model year; these standards were further tightened for the 1974 model year. The regulations specified bumper performance; they did not prescribe any particular bumper design. Nevertheless, similar to how emissions standards were tackled, automotive manufacturers often at first took the simplest path, in this case equipping their cars with bulky, unsightly, protruding bumpers to be compliant. This often meant additional vehicle length and greater weight.


Oil crises

The
1973 oil crisis The 1973 oil crisis or first oil crisis began in October 1973 when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), led by Saudi Arabia, proclaimed an oil embargo. The embargo was targeted at nations that had supp ...
caused a sudden and marked increase in the cost of oil and, by extension, gasoline. By the end of the crisis, in March 1974, the
price of oil The price of oil, or the oil price, generally refers to the spot price of a barrel () of benchmark crude oil—a reference price for buyers and sellers of crude oil such as West Texas Intermediate (WTI), Brent Crude, Dubai Crude, OPEC Ref ...
had nearly quadrupled, from U.S. $3 per barrel ($ in dollars) to nearly $12 globally ($ in dollars); U.S. prices were significantly higher. The result was a sudden switch in consumer taste from traditional domestic
gas-guzzler The fuel economy of an automobile relates distance traveled by a vehicle and the amount of fuel consumed. Consumption can be expressed in terms of volume of fuel to travel a distance, or the distance traveled per unit volume of fuel consumed. S ...
s to more efficient compact cars.The shift towards smaller, more efficient vehicles benefitted foreign manufacturers, who produced more of such vehicles. By 1975, 18.3% of U.S. sales were imported cars. American brands had their slowest year since 1962, selling just 7,050,120 cars in 1975. By comparison, they sold 9.6 million cars in 1973. The success of Japanese brands can be traced to the greater selection of compact cars and the development of technologies to improve fuel efficiency. For example, Honda’s
CVCC CVCC, or , is an internal combustion engine technology developed and trademarked by the Honda Motor Company. The technology's name refers to its primary features: Compound refers to the use of two combustion chambers; Vortex refers to the vor ...
technology allowed its cars to pass emission standards without a catalytic converter. Sales of larger domestic cars would rebound, but the
1979 oil crisis The 1979 oil crisis, also known as the 1979 Oil Shock or Second Oil Crisis, was an energy crisis caused by a drop in oil production in the wake of the Iranian Revolution. Although the global oil supply only decreased by approximately four per ...
caused oil and gas prices to again increase significantly, doubling over 12 months, and there was a further shift in customer preference to smaller, more efficient vehicles. The EPA began regulating for
fuel efficiency Fuel efficiency is a form of thermal efficiency, meaning the ratio of effort to result of a process that converts chemical potential energy contained in a carrier (fuel) into kinetic energy or work. Overall fuel efficiency may vary per device, wh ...
in this period. The Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standard was passed into law in 1975, requiring that the fuel economy of a manufacturer’s entire output of passenger car and light truck models be averaged into a miles-per-gallon fuel economy standard, which was then in turn used as the basis for further legislation. For example, in 1978
Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...
mandated that manufacturers achieve a fleet average of 18 mpg by 1978, 19 mpg by 1979, and 20 mpg by 1980, rising to 27.5 mpg by 1985. Similarly, the
Energy Tax Act The Energy Tax Act (, , enacted November 9, 1978) is a law passed by the U.S. Congress as part of the National Energy Act. The objective of this law was to shift from oil and gas supply toward energy conservation; thus, to promote fuel efficiency a ...
levied fees on the sale of vehicles that failed to meet CAFE standards, as an attempt to discourage the sale of new inefficient vehicles. By the approximate close of the malaise era in 1983, average fuel efficiency for passenger cars had not met these targets, but had risen to .


Effects on brands

The cumulative effect of these changes on the car lineups of American manufacturers was a series of redesigns and discontinuations of engine types and vehicle models and an overall lowering of performance. The first-generation Mustang was cancelled after the 1973 model year, replaced with the well-selling but now oft-derided Mustang II, a platform which in its first year (1974) was over a foot shorter in length and some 800 pounds lighter but also peaked at 105 net horsepower compared to the previous years' (already emission-reduced) maximum of 266 net horsepower. Some cars were redesigned to fit in entirely different automotive categories: the
Mercury Cougar Mercury Cougar is a nameplate applied to a diverse series of automobiles sold by the Mercury division of Ford from 1967 to 1997 and from 1999 to 2002. While the nameplate is most commonly associated with two-door coupes, at various times during ...
and the
Dodge Charger The Dodge Charger is a model of automobile marketed by Dodge in various forms over seven generations since 1966. The first Charger was a show car in 1964. A 1965 Charger II concept car resembled the 1966 production version. The Charger has ...
were transformed from muscle cars to
personal luxury cars Personal luxury car is a North American car classification describing somewhat sporty, sophisticated mass-market coupés that emphasized comfort over performance. The North American manufacturers most often combined engineering, design, and mark ...
for the 1974 and 1975 model years, respectively—while the
Chevrolet Nova A nova (plural novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", which is Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. Causes of the dramat ...
became a luxury-oriented
compact Compact as used in politics may refer broadly to a pact or treaty; in more specific cases it may refer to: * Interstate compact * Blood compact, an ancient ritual of the Philippines * Compact government, a type of colonial rule utilized in British ...
. The
Chevrolet Chevelle The Chevrolet Chevelle is a mid-sized automobile that was produced by Chevrolet in three generations for the 1964 through 1978 model years. Part of the General Motors (GM) A-body platform, the Chevelle was one of Chevrolet's most successful ...
continued to be built, but its SS performance option was ended after the 1973 model year, while the
AMC Javelin The AMC Javelin is an American front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, two-door hardtop automobile manufactured by American Motors Corporation (AMC) across two generations, 1968 through 1970 and 1971 through 1974 model years. The car was positioned an ...
,
Dodge Challenger The Dodge Challenger is the name of three different generations of automobiles (two of those being pony cars) produced by American automobile manufacturer Dodge. However, the first use of the Challenger name by Dodge was in 1959 for marketing a ...
,
Plymouth Barracuda The Plymouth Barracuda is a two-door pony car that was manufactured by Plymouth (automobile), Plymouth from 1964 to 1974. The first-generation Barracuda was based on the Chrysler A platform, Chrysler A-body and was offered from 1964 to 1966. A ...
, and
Pontiac GTO The Pontiac GTO is an automobile that was manufactured by American automaker Pontiac from 1963 to 1974 for the 1964 to 1974 model years, and by GM's subsidiary Holden in Australia for the 2004 to 2006 model years. The first generation of the G ...
were all cancelled entirely after the 1974 model year. American automakers began introducing smaller, less powerful but more fuel efficient models to compete against foreign manufacturers, particularly the Japanese offerings. Regardless, the sales of imports continued to climb. In 1978, GM sold over 5 million cars, but by 1982 they sold about 3.5 million, a decrease of 34.2%. Other American manufacturers saw similar losses; Ford sales fell 47% and Chrysler sales dropped 27% from 1978 to 1982. In the same years, Toyota sales increased from 441,800 cars to 527,128 cars, a 19.3% increase. Japanese brands Honda and
Datsun Datsun (, ) was an automobile brand owned by Nissan. Datsun's original production run began in 1931. From 1958 to 1986, only vehicles exported by Nissan were identified as Datsun. Nissan phased out the Datsun brand in March 1986, but relaunche ...
saw increases of 33.1% and 39.1% respectively. A year after the onset of the 1979 oil crisis, Japanese manufacturers surpassed Detroit's production totals, becoming first in the world. Indeed, the share of Japanese cars in U.S. auto purchases rose from 9 percent in 1976 to 21 percent in 1980.


End

As a subjective label, there is no universally agreed upon date for when the malaise era ended. During the 1980s, the fuel crisis receded and vehicle performance began to increase again, and new technologies such as
onboard computers This list of ship directions provides succinct definitions for terms applying to spatial orientation in a marine environment or location on a vessel, such as ''fore'', ''aft'', ''astern'', ''aboard'', or ''topside''. Terms * Abaft (preposition ...
,
electronic fuel injection Manifold injection is a mixture formation system for internal combustion engines with external mixture formation. It is commonly used in engines with spark ignition that use petrol as fuel, such as the Otto engine, and the Wankel engine. In a mani ...
, the three-way
catalytic converter A catalytic converter is an exhaust emission control device that converts toxic gases and pollutants in exhaust gas from an internal combustion engine into less-toxic pollutants by catalyzing a redox reaction. Catalytic converters are usually ...
and modern oxygen sensors began increasingly appearing in cars, enabling greater raw performance and less hobbling emission controls. The journalist who coined the term, Murilee Martin, argues the era ended in 1983, when the Mustang gained a 175 hp V8 engine (more power than it had had since 1973). Writing for Hagerty, Rob Sass argues that the era ended between 1985—when American commercial sports cars such as the Mustang and
Buick Regal The Buick Regal is a line of mid-size cars marketed by Buick since 1973. For nearly its entire production, the Regal has served as the premium mid-size/intermediate offering of the Buick product range. Introduced as a submodel of the Buick Cent ...
reached the 200 hp mark again—and 1987, when the U.S.
national speed limit A speed limit is the limit of speed allowed by law for road vehicles, usually the maximum speed allowed. Occasionally, there is a minimum speed limit. Advisory speed limits also exist, which are recommended but not mandatory speeds. Speed limit ...
was raised from (a fuel-saving measure enacted in 1974) to .


Views on era

The combination of the oil crises and government regulations has led numerous journalists to reflect on the reduced performance and perceived aesthetic deficiencies of cars offered to Americans in this era. One journalist described this period of automotive history as the "worst era in car design". Another journalist wrote that cars of this era were "bloated, underpowered, and uninspired". Despite complaints against cars from this era and claims that they would never appreciate in value, select vehicles from the 1970s and 1980s started becoming more popular in the late 2010s. Their increase in popularity led to the creation of car shows dedicated only to cars from this era. According to the Hagerty Price Guide, these cars have recently seen the greatest increase in value when compared to other used cars: 82% of used cars saw no increase in price in 2018, but cars from the 1970s and 1980s increased in value by 24% and 38% respectively in the same year.


See also

* Corporate average fuel economy


References

{{Reflist Automotive industry in the United States Cars by period Conservation and restoration of vehicles