PULL UP TO THE Bumper Baby...

There’s a reason why Americans of a certain age insist that cool cars ended in 1972: compression ratios dropped, emissions controls became more onerous, lots of high-performance engine packages disappeared from the order sheets, and new bumper legislation came in. That all of this happened more or less simultaneously meant that engineers were overwhelmed with satisfying legislation. As a result, few all-new cars were actually launched for the year: the only really all-new American cars (not just restyled old ones) were GM’s A-bodies – Chevy Chevelle/Malibu/Laguna/Monte Carlo et al – and even these were pushed back from their