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Past Gas

S1 Ep125: Why 1973 Was The Worst Year for Cars

Past Gas

Donut Media

Leisure, Comedy, History, Automotive

4.97.2K Ratings

🗓️ 28 March 2022

⏱️ 41 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

1973 was undeniably the worst year in nearly a century of American cars. Why were Americans so scared of running out of gas they were brawling at the pumps? How and why did American manufacturers make undeniably inferior cars for over a decade– and how did they dig themselves out of a mess that was largely of their own creation? Today on Past Gas we’re diving into the dark history of the Malaise Era … buckle up, or don’t, we won’t be going that fast.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:16.9

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0:20.9

inside and outside of your company. Slack. Where the future works, get started at

0:26.9

Slack.com slash DHQ. I think that the holidays feel like frozen noses. I love walking with

0:37.6

the dog for long periods of time, hopefully it's snowing, and you've got to wrap up warm.

0:42.3

So I think a frozen nose is a sweaty armpit because your wrapped up is so warm, but then

0:46.1

you're climbing hamps and heath, and you get to the top and you're like, and then you

0:50.3

can see the breath, but then your nose is still freezing to touch.

0:54.9

Join in every sip with Red Carps now back at Starbucks.

1:24.9

Subscription required. See audible.co.uk for terms.

1:29.4

It was an unusually warm December night in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and the worker running

1:43.0

the register at the corner store in Delhi off airport road was having a horrible time.

1:48.7

She'd just hung up the phone with the police for the third time in as many hours that evening,

1:53.6

and hope they'd show up as fast as possible. This was 1973, so you'd think there are some

1:59.4

unruly leftover hippies ruining the clerk's night with their stoner shenanigans, or

2:04.1

maybe some local teenagers throwing rocks at cats, or whatever kids did before cell phones.

2:10.2

But no, it was just regular, hardworking, Allentown folk.

2:16.7

The line for the gas pumps ran almost half a mile down the road, almost reaching the

2:21.2

airport. The air was thick with the smog of pre-regulation air a big block shugging away,

2:26.9

waiting to fill up. Gas prices were through the roof, and tempers were just as high.

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