The International Crisis that Changed the Way Americans Lived Their Lives

It's the international crisis that changed the way Americans lived their lives. It's the reason people lined up for miles in front of gas stations, literally fist fighting each other in the streets just for a drop of that sweet, sweet Texas tea. But what caused it? How did it change cars forever?

We've asked for this information a million freaking times, we're finally giving it to you. This is everything you need to know to get up to speed on the gas crisis. I like cars. You like cars. We like cars. Celebrate your love of cars with the new jewelry of cars t-shirt and get in an natural, also vintage black. Get it for the low, low price of $29.98. Only at DonutMedia.com. Check it out. It's my favorite shirt to date.

But before we get into this story, hit that like button, because it really helps us out with the algorithm. You want to help us out with the algorithm don't you? The early 70s were pretty good times for American car companies and the drivers who loved them. Cars were big. V8s were big. Gas was cheap, like 36 cents a gallon cheap. So cheap. Everyone had muscle cars and no one gave a (bleep) it was great.

It would've been an awesome time to be alive, but then came the crisis. Suddenly, the massive American cars of the 70s, the cars that people relied on to get to work or go to school or pick up a box of puppies, they were way less practical than before. It was a brutal reality check. People actually had to choose between going to work or picking up a box of puppies. That's a decision that no American should ever have to face.

Gas prices went up, nearly doubling and the Middle East proved their point. They won the breakup. They're already dating someone else. Europe fared a bit better than the US probably because they already had a bunch of tiny cars. Now if your Mini Cooper gets 30 miles to the gallon going from $2.50 a gallon to $4.50 a gallon sucks, but you can deal with it, right? But if you're floating back and forth to work in an eight mile per gallon land yacht with a 27 gallon tank, you are going to feel that price hike.

Even if you could afford it, there just literally wasn't enough gas to go around. Now remember 2020, the summer of no toilet paper? Well, that same sort of panic happened, instead of at the dumps, it was at the pumps. As you can imagine, there were some pretty sketchy scenes going down around gas stations in 1973. There were lines for gas, lines went on for multiple blocks. People would wait in them for hours only for the gas station to run dry. There was a lot of yelling and a lot of straight up street fights, just like with the toilet paper in 2020, it was not humanity at its best.

OPEC's embargo didn't last for very long. They lifted it in early 1974, but the fresh horrors America experienced at the gas pumps had changed the country. The US government saw how crazy things got when OPEC turned off the taps, to them, going back to chugging gas like nothing ever happened seemed like a national security risk. And to the government's credit, they decided to actually do something about it.

They formed CAFE, and no I'm not talking about place where open mics live and die. Talking about the corporate average fuel economy. Something that played a big part in the changes to the American auto industry over the next dozen years. In 1973, the average American car got a whopping 11.9 miles per gallon. Through CAFE, the government mandated that the average had to rise to at least 27.5 miles per gallon by 1985. Seems like a good idea, but American car companies obviously were not stoked.

But still, they figured ten years, that's a pretty long time, and they had a lot of money, money that had helped sway politicians in the past. And as long as they started to work on making their cars more efficient, making it look like they were doing their best, they wouldn't get in trouble. Plus, they were pretty confident the new standard wouldn't last long. They were wrong, dead wrong.

Average fuel economy drifted up from 11.9 miles per gallon in 1973 to 14 miles per gallon in '77. So, you know, baby steps. As long as another gas crisis didn't come along everything would be fine, right? But the eyes of the American public have been pried open much like that scene from

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- It's the international crisisthat changed the wayAmericans lived their lives.It's the reason people lined upfor miles in front of gas stationsliterally fist fightingeach other in the streetsjust for a drop of thatsweet, sweet Texas tea.What caused it?How did it change cars forever?You've asked for it amillion freaking times,we're finally giving it to you.This is everything you need to knowto get up to speed on the gas crisis.(upbeat music)- I like cars.You like cars.We like cars.Celebrate your love of cars with the newjewelry of cars t-shirtand get in an naturale,also vintage black.Get it for the low, low price of $29.98.Only at donutmedia.com. Check it out.It's my favorite shirt to date.- This episode's gonnabe a little different.There are no sick cars, noheroes, no obvious villains,but this story is just as important,maybe even more important for the historyof cars than any storywe've ever done before.But before we get intoit, hit that like button,because it really helpsus out with the algorithm.You want to help us out withthe algorithm don't you?The early 70s were pretty good timesfor American car companies andthe drivers who loved them.Cars were big.V8s were big.Gas was cheap, like 36cents a gallon cheap.So cheap.Everyone had muscle carsand no one gave a (bleep)it was great.It would've been anawesome time to be alive,but good things don't last forever.And soon there were EPA restrictionsin place that sucked the powerstraight from the muscles.The solution American carcompanies came up with was simple.Just make the engines bigger, dumbass.So that's what they did,but it didn't really work.All right.This is a 1973 Cadillac El Dorado,and as an eight liter V8and it takes all eightof those liters to make 235 horsepower.That's like almost three Faygosand that's a pitiful amount of power.Now, as you can imagine,Detroit's inefficient power creatorsweren't exactly fuel efficient either.That caddy got eight miles to the gallon.That's one mile per liter,but because the US stillproduced a ton of oilat the time and gas was,say it with me again, cheap,it didn't really matter.Until it did, in the 1950s,the government putrestrictions on the amountof foreign oil that couldbe imported into the US.Restrictions that helpedpromote Texas oil.Thanks Eisenhower.Think you're cool, becauseyou're on a fricking dime?Yeah, right. Not fooling me, pal.By 1970 uncle Sam's oilfields hit peak production.What does that mean?Well, they produced themost that they ever wouldand it was all downhill from there.America's domestic oilsupply was in decline.Luckily there were plentyof other countries that hada bunch of oil and theywere more than willingto sell it for cheap.And because of that,Americans didn't noticeany difference at all.And oil demand kept climbingand climbing and climbing.Now thanks to the US's oil price controls,gas prices couldn't go up,which is why that no one reallynoticed that America's oilsupply was already dwindling.That demand just kept risingand much like my take on bananas foster,this was a recipe for disaster.You can't sub beer for brandy.It started with a minorfuel shortage in 1971then another one in 1972.And that was enough toconvince everyone's favoritehuge piece of (bleep) Nixonthat it was time to ditch the oilimport quotas put in placeby Eisenhower years earlier.Why not import what we needfrom our buddies in placeslike Egypt?Syria?Saudi Arabia?They have gobs of oil and they like money.We have gobs of money and we like oil.It's a match made in heaven,the middle east plus America forever.Things were going great for a while.But then something happened in 1973 thatpoured sugar in the gastank of this relationship.And that sugar was the Yom-Kippur war.Now to make a long, complicatedstory short and car focused,the US and some WesternEuropean countries cameto Israel's aid during the Yom-Kippur war.A ceasefire was eventually signedbut the oil producingcountries weren't happyabout which side the Americans chose.They were all members ofthe Organization of PetroleumExporting Countries, OPEC.You ever heard of it? I'm sure you have.And they decided to bandtogether to teach Americaand its European cronies a lessonby setting up an oil embargoto cut off the oil supply.Now this was bad newsfor people who guzzled gas likea freshman guzzles Natty Light.Suddenly the massiveAmerican cars of the 70s,the cars that people relied on to getto work or go to school orpick up a box of puppies,they were way less practical than before.It was a brutal reality check.People actually had to choosebetween going to work orpicking up a box of puppies.That's a decision thatno American should ever have to face.Gas prices went up,nearly doubling and the MiddleEast proved their point.They won the breakup.They're already dating someone else.Europe fared a bit better than the USprobably because they alreadyhad a bunch of tiny cars.Now if your mini Cooper gets 30 milesto the gallon going from $2.50 a gallonto $4.50 a gallon sucks, butyou can deal with it, right?But if you're floating backand forth to work in aneight mile per gallonland yacht with a 27 gallon tank,you are going to feel that price hike.And even if you could afford itthere just literally wasn'tenough gas to go around.Now remember 2020, thesummer of no toilet paper?Well that same sort of panic happened,instead of at the dumps,it was at the pumps.Now as you can imagine,there were some prettysketchy scenes going downaround gas stations in 1973.There were lines for gas, lineswent on for multiple blocks.People would wait in them for hoursonly for the gas station to run dry.There was a lot of yellingand a lot of straight up street fights,just like with the toilet paper in 2020,it was not humanity at its best.OPEC's embargo didn't last for very long.They lifted it in early 1974but the fresh horrors America experiencedat the gas pumps had changed the country.The US government saw howcrazy things got when OPECturned off the taps, to them,going back to chugging gaslike nothing ever happenedseemed like a national security risk.And to the government's credit,they decided to actuallydo something about it.They formed CAFE, and no I'm not talkingabout place where open mics live and die.Talking about the corporateaverage fuel economy.Something that played a big partin the changes to theAmerican auto industryover the next dozen years.In 1973 the average American cargot a whopping 11.9 milesper gallon, through CAFE,the government mandated that the averagehad to rise to at least27.5 miles per gallonby 1985, seems like a good idea,but American car companiesobviously were not stoked.But still they figured 10 years,that's a pretty long time,and they had a lot of money,money that had helped swaypoliticians in the past.And as long as they started to workon making their cars more efficientmaking it look like theywere doing their best,they wouldn't get in trouble.Plus they were pretty confidentthe new standard wouldn't last long.They were wrong, dead wrong.Average fuel economydrifted up from 11.9 milesper gallon in 1973 to 14miles per gallon in '77.So, you know, baby steps.As long as another gascrisis didn't come alongeverything would be fine, right?But the eyesof the American publichave been pried openmuch like that scenefrom "A Clockwork Orange"when the guy's eyes are pried openand all of a sudden their crazy neighborswith those fuel efficientDatsuns, Volkswagens,and Hondas didn't look so crazy.Speaking of Honda, they brought the Civicto the American marketat the perfect time.1972, it was called the CVCC back thenbut pretty much everything that has alwaysmade the Civic a Civic, great little car,this thing had it.It was practical. It was well built.It was fun to driveand affordable in thewake of the gas crisis,thousands of Americanshad their first experiencedriving cars like this, and they liked it.They weren't the bigrolling couches with gobsof V8 torque that they were used tobut they had their own unique charm.They were nimble, zippy,and fun to drive in a different way.They were also much better on gas.Now that's not to saythat American car makersdidn't build any cars tocompete with the Datsunsand the Volkswagens that werealready popular in the states.They'd rolled out their versionsof these compact fuelzippers a few years beforewith amazing automobileslike the Ford Pinto,the Chevy Vega and the AMC Gremlin,they were just kind of really crappy.The Ford Pinto was infamous for explodingin rear-end collisions,which is obviously nota huge selling point.The Chevy Vega's engineoverheated super easilyand was plagued withrecalls, and the AMC Gremlin,Well, it did have a deniminterior so that's (bleep) cool.To oversimplify it, besides denim,the engineering justwasn't there like it waswith the foreign competition.So the cars the Americancompanies designedto ward off the risingpopularity of import subcompactsended up making the importsubcompacts more popular.So if, for example, Fordhad really nailed the Pinto,or if it just didn't explode so much,American roadways mightlook a lot different today.Now we're gonna jump to 1979.(upbeat music)The phrase gas crisis hasmostly faded into memory.OPEC sourced oil is usedaround the globe and it's pretty cheap.Everything's good.Cars are generally getting better thanksto the widespread adoptionof newer tech like fuel injection.American companies arestill behind the curve,but with gas prices cheap again,there wasn't a seriousfire under their buttslike there was in 1973,things had cooled down,and they'd settled backinto the road hoggingV8 comfort zone.And then something happened to reignitethat butt fire, revolution in Iran.oil production plummeted,crude oil prices more than doubled,Americans were back to honking,back to yelling and gas lines.They were fighting in the streets.- And I'm out of gas. Dead out.- This second oil crisiswasn't as long and gnarlyas the first, but it was a big(bleep) just got real momentfor American car companies.They were still taking weeklittle baby steps thinking 1985was a long time away andthey had plenty of timeto get a handle on the CAFE standards.This smaller crisis woke them up.Suddenly everybody wasscrambling to come upwith something that could deliver a comfypowerful American car experiencethat was also good on gasand didn't explode at all.This was their time to shineas in punch themselves inthe face super hard againand give themselves a shinerwhich is what your grandpacalled a black eye.All right, let me give you an example.GM thought that maybe theycould use a diesel engine toget better fuel economy butthey didn't wanna spend anymoney actually developinga new diesel enginefrom the ground up.So they basically convertedan Oldsmobile 350 gasoline V8into a diesel and called it a day.The result was probably theworst engine in GM historybut when it came out,the American public they were excited.Here is an Oldsmobile '88,a traditional full size American stand.And it got 30 miles to the gallon?Sure they we were slow as hell, but guys,they were big, comfy.- 0 It's like sitting in our living room.- And American.So they sold much betterthan they should have.Then they started failingin massive numbers.It was such a huge problemthat car historianssay the diesel V8 ispartially responsible forGM getting rid of Oldsmobile in 2004.Back in Detroit, 1979,the Cadillac guys heardabout Oldsmobile's diesel V8.And they were like, hold my steak.They whipped up a V8 thatcould transform itselfinto a fuel sipping fourcylinder on the freeway.A four cylinder draggingfour extra pistonsof dead weight around in the engine block.Now as you can imaginethat didn't work super greateither, but to be fair,lots of modern cars usecylinder deactivationto increase gas mileage,but they have the advantageof 40 years of engineeringand tech advancement.Now it's hard to be ahead of your time.Believe me, I know.Fast forward to now,the American cars oftoday are leagues betterthan they were in the 1970s.In fact, they're generallypretty really goodbut it pretty much took the big threethe whole 80s and a good chunk of and 90sand a lot of 2000s toget their crap together.And in the meantime,foreign car companies whoalready had their gamedialed in tight nabbedan increasingly large chunkof the American car sales pie.And it's still going on today.Just last year in 2021,Toyota became the number oneselling car brand in America.Now there is no way thatthat would've happenedif not for the gas crisis.Like I said, it changed cars forever.Thank you guys so muchfor watching this episodeof "Up To Speed" andeverything else on Donut Media.If you like it, let me know,hit that like button,also hit the subscribe buttonso you don't miss anything.Get yourself some Donut merch.I'm really excited aboutour apparel program,dropping a new item every week.Go to donutmedia.com to get in on that.I love you.