Falun/Getty Images Following 1970's Clean Air Act and the oil crisis of 1973-'74, U.S. automakers were struggling with engine performance. And in 1975, arguably the worst iteration of the iconic Chevy Corvette came along, with the base model only pushing out 165 horsepower, despite being a V8. This translated to a quarter mile just over 16 seconds. Why was this particular Corvette such a disappointment? The 1955 C1 Corvette, released two decades prior, featured a V8 that outperformed the '75 model, putting out an extra 30 horsepower. Looking at other comparisons, the 1975 Pontiac Trans Am (standard configuration) offered a 400-cubic inch V8, making 185 horses, 20 more than the base Corvette, GM's legendary sports car. It doesn't help that prior to releasing its 1975 lineup, General Motors raised prices 9.5%, meaning drivers were getting less performance for more money. In addition, Zora Arkus-Duntov, one of the men behind the Corvette and someone intent on adding performance power, had been increasingly butting heads with GM, culminated in his mandatory retirement in early 1975. Arkus-Duntov was pushing for a mid-engine version of the Corvette, which was rejected at the time but would later come to fruition. Across the industry, the first power sacrifice came in the form of compulsory catalytic converters, which greatly reduced airflow. In addition, cars switched from leaded to unleaded fuel, as lead was found to damage the catalytic converters, mandates required lower amounts of it, and more gas stations began carrying unleaded. Chevy also reduced the 350's compression ratio, further reducing power. Still, while the '75 Corvette was underpowered, it wasn't the only model suffering a performance pinch. When examining the malaise era, the 1975 Corvette was hardly the only victim Gestalt Imagery/Shutterstock Some of the most revered muscle car monsters from the late '60s were reduced to a shadow of their former selves come 1975. For example, compare the 1968 Dodge Charger R/T, which sported a 426-cubic-inch (7.0-liter) Hemi V8, pushing out nearly 420 horsepower (425 bhp), with the vastly weaker mid-'70s model. Dodge moved the Charger into the luxury genre, and despite its largest engine option being a 7.2-liter V8, it produced barely over 212 horsepower. Thankfully, it's a different story altogether for the 2026 Dodge Charger Sixpack R/T, which can produce well over 400 horsepower from a much smaller 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged inline-six. Another sad example of the time was fall of the Mustang. Among memorable model years, the 1968 GT 500 Shelby had a 428-cubic-inch V8 under the hood, putting down an official 335 horsepower that was really nearer to 435. Fast-forward to the 1975 Mustang II, and you had a smaller 302-cubic-inch V8 that only made a pathetic 122 horsepower. Even more egregious was an option for a four-cylinder version, which reduced output to just over 81 horsepower. For context, the 2017 Smart Fortwo Pure Coupe, a tiny two-seater with a 1.0-liter engine, offered more output at 89 horsepower. Suffice it to say, while the 1975 Corvette was certainly a grave disappointment, it certainly wasn't alone. All the iconic performance models from the classic muscle car era made embarrassing amounts of power at the time, but would begin to recover as technology advanced. How long did the malaise era last, and what helped pull automobiles out of it? Josie's Auto Sales in Gilbertsville PA/YouTube While at the time it seemed that performance was to become a thing of the past, it turned out that technology just needed a bit of time to catch up. Running from around 1973 to the mid-'80s, the malaise era produced plenty of blemishes marking automotive history. However, there were also some bright spots as highlighted by your favorite cars from the 1970s, which include gems like the 1976 Pontiac Trans Am Special Edition and '76 Lotus Espirit. In the early '80s, the lackluster performance from the latter '70s began to reverse course. In 1981, a Computer Command Control unit factored in more data than before, optimizing things under the hood. And the 1982 Corvette debuted with "Cross fire" injection systems (electronic fuel injection), which improved performance and efficiency over carburetion. The first catalytic converters were terrible in terms of how fervently they fought against performance. GM used units filled with metal pellets, requiring the car to work hard to move air through, which sapped output tremendously. But the bead design was on its way out by the early '80s, in favor of the much less restrictive honeycomb or monolithic design. (This catalytic converter deep dive explains how today's devices work to reduce emissions.)
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