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Remember Austin Power's II - when he goes back to 1969 in a Super Beetle?

Imagine you could do the same thing to the year 1975 in a hybrid and stayed no more than a month. That was the year unleaded gas was introduced in the US. Sorry - you don't get to play the stock market. :D Let's further pretend people in 1975 somehow ignore the early 21st century styling and microcomputers, but the performance is the same.

What would it be like? How would people back then receive your hybrid?

Probably pretty poorly when I made them guess the top hybrid manufacturers. "Nope, not Ford.........nope, not GM.......nope, not Chrysler.......nope, there is no 4th "Big 3" now".

I remember '75. I expected jet packs by now. So they'd probably go "that's it? 30 years and all we get is a battery that's not even Lithium Ion?" :)

Hi Chuck:

___First, I would hope it was a Prius II. Second, I would make arrangements to meet up with Jacques Nasser, current head of Ford Motor Company. In that meeting, I would say you have 25 years to build this car before Toyota does. If you decide not too, Ford expires in 2011 :(

___Then I would ask for $4,000,000, invest 3,500,000 of it in the nifty fifty or simply the pharmaceutical industry given 75 was a great year to place it all on the table for the long term. Once MS went public, I would parlay it on them … And Amgen, Starbucks, E-Bay and then Google :D

___Good Luck

___Wayne

I put my hand down.

Imagine how people would react to driving a Prius II in 1975:

Wow! - it gets 50mpg without really trying! I have to hypermile to do that with a Datsun 1200 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datsun_1000#B110_series)
If I baby it - it gets 70mpg!
It has more room than my Buick!
It does 0 to 60 in under 11 seconds - no 280z (8 sec), but it still kicks butt
I only pay $5 for a tank of gasBy the standards of the day, it would be a near-family sized sedan geting way above the 12mpg norm, yet keep up with the sportier cars. That's not how the general public view the Prius - we ask for a lot more.

I don't remember when the 55 MPH max speed limit was implimented, but if it was in place, the hybrids would be even better then they are now.

In 1975 I spent a lot of time bicycling past gas lines
and laughing at them. Those times may come again soon...
.
_H*