🚀 go-pugleaf

On Tue, 29 Apr 1997, Robert Mounce wrote:
> When was unleaded gasoline introduced in the US and when was
> it introduced in Europe?

It became available in Europe in the late 1970s, very common in the early
1980s, and is exclusive and universal (except UK) currently.  

> When were catalytic converters made 
> mandatory on new cars in the US and in Europe?

European cars such as Mercedes offered them as optional equipment in about
'76 or '77.  They became mandatory in different European countries at
different dates.  Some in the early '80s, some in the mid '80s.  In a very
real sense, this was a BETTER way to do it than the way the US did it.
The US jumped into what was, at the time, an immature and problematic
technology.  The result was about a decade ('75-'84 or so) of very
poorly-running cars with hang-on emission controls that were such a
delicate balance that they went out of adjustment almost immediately,
often causing MORE pollution than they were supposed to prevent.  In
addition, the extremely poor driveability of many cars of that era led
people to modify (tamper with) their emission controls, again causing MORE
pollution.  I suppose somebody had to pioneer the use of the technology,
but by waiting 5-10 years, most of Europe avoided these poorly-running,
impossible-to-tune cars, and instead was able to jump-in once the
technology was mature , successful, reliable, and proven.  For the most
part, they didn't have to screw-around with miserable feedback carbs, they
just jumped right into the age of computerized EFI.  Much less painful and
much more effective than our "hang on the emission widgets and pray!"
method.  

The UK has been a relatively late arrival at the Catalytic table, but
Brits don't seem to be dying en masse as USEPA predicted we would if the
cat had not been invented.

And Mexico was definitely VERY tardy--as of 1991(!) Cats and availability
of non-leaded fuel is mandatory.

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---
Daniel Stern  "a T3 2.2, a 2.5, and 2 225s."
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