While this info doesn't answer your question - it does speak to some of the Federal requirements that heavily effected our cars.
http://www.pawalaw.com/cases/auto-fearmongering.php
Catalytic Converters
1970: Congress considers legislation --the Clean Air Act -- to require the reduction of smog-forming and other pollutants by 90 percent by 1975-76.
During consideration of the Clean Air Act, the Automobile Manufacturers' Association lobbies against the bill and sends a memo to Congress stating:
"It presently appears that it will simply not be possible for vehicle manufacturers to achieve the control levels specified in the bill with any fossil fuel-burning engine-including steam, gas turbines, etc., as well as internal combustion engines. All technology known to the automobile industry indicates this to be the fact. In view of this, manufacturers unable to meet the control levels specified in the bill would be forced to shut down, unless provided with emergency standards relaxation by Congress. "
Click here to read the 1970 Memorandum by AMA.
Dec. 31, 1970: Clean Air Act enacted
1970-73: GM, Ford and Chrysler oppose the requirements to use catalytic converters. GM is the primary opponent of mandatory catalysts. All three companies seek an extension of time from EPA.
April, 1972 Ford claims that to deny the automakers more time to comply with these limits "would shut down a major portion of the automotive industry and wreak havoc upon the American economy."
May, 1972. EPA denies the extension of time. The Big Three appeal to federal court, which orders EPA, in February, 1973, to reconsider the manufacturers' claims of economic harm under a less stringent standard of evidence.
March, 1973. GM testifies at an EPA hearing that "if GM is forced to introduce catalytic converter systems across-the board on 1975 models, the prospect of an unreasonable risk of business catastrophe and massive difficulties with these vehicles in the hands of the public must be faced. It is conceivable that complete stoppage of the entire production could occur, with the obvious tremendous loss to the company, shareholders, employees, suppliers, and communities. Short of that ultimate risk, there is a distinct possibility of varying degrees of interruption, with sizable dislocations"
Click here read the 1973 EPA transcript (PDF).
1973: Chrysler President John J. Riccardo calls the Clean Air Act limits "beyond the capability of known technology."
May, 1973: EPA agrees to relax the Clean Air Act standards for two years and states that the decision is based primarily on industry's claims of dire economic consequences.
Six weeks later, GM, finding the devices work just fine and also increase fuel economy by 20-30 percent, announces that all of its 1975 models will be equipped with catalytic converters.
In the early 1970s as all this was going on, the President of GM was Edward Cole. Cole had called on oil companies in January, 1970 at a speech to the Society of Automotive Engineers to take the lead out of gasoline to facilitate the use of catalytic converters and said that starting with model year 1971 all GM cars would be able to run on unleaded gasoline. Yet his company spent the next thee years fighting against catalytic converters until its sudden announcement -- after obtaining its requested slow-down of the rules -- that catalytic converters were ready to go. He has a son named David Cole who, according to a 1990 Washington Post article is "director of an independent auto research center at the University of Michigan." Is this the same David Cole with a nearly identical professional affiliation who prophecies economic doom in the January 27, 2009 New York Times if the car companies are forced to comply with the California greenhouse gas emissions rules?
Sources: Michael Weisskopf, Auto-Pollution Debate Has Ring of the Past, Despite Success, Detroit Resists, Washington Post, March 26, 1990; Clarence M. Ditlow, Fedeal Regulation of Motor Vehicle Emissions Under the Clean Air Amendments of 1970, 4 Ecology Law Quarterly 495 (1975).
Ray
Emissions Systems Components
1.1 Introduction
When the first emission controls were first introduced back in the late 1960s, they were
primarily "add-on" components that solved a particular emission need. When positive
crankcase ventilation (PCV) became standard in 1968, the recycling of crankcase
vapors eliminated blowby emissions as a major source of automotive pollution. When
evaporative emission controls were added in 1971, charcoal canisters and sealed fuel
systems eliminated fuel vapors as another factor that contributed to air pollution.
Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) was added in 1973, which lowered harmful oxides of
nitrogen (NOX) emissions. But the most significant add-on came in 1975 when the auto
makers were required to install catalytic converters on all new cars.