Don, In the middle 70s everyones horsepower went to sh*t. In an effort to meet emission standards the motors were smothered, low compression, poor cam timing, small valves and ports, ignition curves reduced and on and on. They were also learning to deal with unleaded gas. The priorities were economy and emissions #1, performance was way down the list. Check the RPM on those 1975 motors, 3800 is ridiculous. the 80s were only marginally better. Finally by the 90s they started designing from scratch instead of trying to band-aid old technology and things have gotten a lot better on all fronts, HP, economy, emissions and drivability.

Pat