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Back in the 1970s when we switched to unleaded gas, what did the vehicles that ran on leaded gas do?
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this post was submitted on 25 May 2024
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We didn't "switch" to unleaded gas in the 1970s. We added unleaded, required gas stations to offer it, and vehicle manufacturers were prohibited from making new cars that required it.
Leaded gas was still being offered at some stations well into the 1990s.
Fuck, Germany introduced unleaded fuel only in 1984 and still offered leaded fuel for a long time.
It was required because of the introduction of catalytic converters, which would get damaged by lead in the fuel.
When I was at Bundeswehr I was in hospital for some time and got some thorough diagnosis. They asked me if I worked with lead in the past (no), so I seem to have at least some lead levels in my body.
(Can't think of a I AM NOT CRAZY pun right now)
Why was Germany so late in adding catalytic converters?
Tbh, I have no idea. The whole of Europe was late to this. The first catalytic conveter cars were sold in 1973 in the US and 1985 in Germany.
Switzerland made them obligatory in 1986, Germany made them obligatory only in 1993 - because that was an EU-wide regulation.
The only thing I can imagine is the big political influence car makers have in Germany, but that's just "what sounds reasonable to me", no proof.
Could it be that gas stations in Europe had no room for another tank? So maybe the governments kept putting it off.
As gas stations have enough room for more expensive "ultimate" versions of fuel, I don't think that's the reason. You can frequently get two kinds of Diesel and three kinds of Gas at the pump.
O. t. o. h..maybe the whole "premium fuel" hype resulted from stations having additional tanks after leaded fuel was phased out.