THE FACTS: ALL OF WHCIH ARE AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET TODAY!!
year        engine         city        hwy     avg
1965    289 2v          15         22        18
1975    302 2-v                                  15 (combined figure only
available)
1985    302 4-v        16         24         19
1995    4.6 ltr            17        24         19
2005    4.5                18        23         20

so my point is still valid, fuel economy has not noticable improved in over
40 years!!
i'll concede the drivabilty issue's but if we compare bases v-8's not gt or
others and
modern tires on the early cars and automatic transmissions. The overall
perfromance
difference is not that impressive. The big improvement has been in reduced
emmisions of photo-chemcials reducing air polution (not a bad thing)

Maybe they'll bring back steam.....  Could go nuclear but every time
there was an accident, they'd have to build a detour around the area
for the next 1000 years... Of  course, in time, there'd be nowhere
left to go, and THAT would save gas...

$2.42 for 87 octane in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts.
Martin
2002 GT 5spd

Änyone who thinks the above is germane loses all credibility.

And the same goes for most of your links

Isn't this all a bit like comparing apples and corn?

Model T's for their day were quite good, but no way could the
tolerances of today be attained, nor could the performance of today be
seen then... It was an era where there were essentially no roads for
the few autos there were to use them.

All in all, a totally different world.

Leap ahead to the 40s when gas was rationed along with all other
commodities for the war effort, when priority was in another world.

Then the late 40s and 50s. Very heavy machines but with big power and
resistively cheap gas, in an era of celebration of the end of all the
rationing, and other things that go with a post war period.

The late 60s and early 70s when thoughts were about Vietnam, not mpg.

The 70s when the great gas crunch hit home is when there was any real
thought about mpg. But, as is human nature, as soon as it eased off,
and people accepted the increased prices, the importance of fuel
economy faded (not away but to a lessor priority).

The 80s and 90s carried the economic boom which normally follows a
post war period; with all the money made in things like dot coms; when
who cared what gas cost because everyone was rich (or so it was
thought in some circles). The era of the Hummers and SUVs, bought by a
younger generation which had never personally experienced hard times.
A generation which seemed to view their world as a life of never
ending lavish luxury, with money flowing like water to be squandered.
Why should auto makers worry about mpg when they have an audience who
will pay the price, no matter how high it goes.

Then the dot com bust and so many people suddenly unemployed, and life
savings gone, and much reason to worry about the cost of gas. Now
we're in another crunch, compounded by natural disasters. Thoughts
again turn to fuel costs and economizing fuel use.

What will happen next? We will once again adapt to the increased cost,
and our collective minds will focus elsewhere. Then when things get
tight again, we'll think about why we have to pay so much for fuel,
and why our vehicles get such poor mileage.

There are far too many differences in the technologies, the mind sets,
and other factors, to make blanket assumptions about then and now.

Meanwhile, one oil company alone made more in profits than the 5 most
popular product companies (including Microsoft software, the iPod,
etc) put together according to a report I heard yesterday. Is that
money going to build new refineries? Find new reserves? Develop new
energy sources? Improve on old ones?

People are going to gripe about something. When they stop, that's the
time to really worry about what is coming....