A brief history of gasoline: Searching for the magic bullet
Jalopnik used to be full of car enthusiasts- this doesnt seem to be the case anymore. This guy has a decidedly anti big oil slant. Thats fine. I think big oil does need to be replaced by something renewable and cleaner, but I still dont really enjoy reading his series. Its a bit smug and virtuous for me. There are still a few good writers at Jalopnik. Jason Torchinsky, despite his extreme desire to see tesla&#x2F;elon musk burn writes a lot of great stuff about the quirks of cars that you may otherwise overlook. David Tracy seems to be a glutton for the punishment that only rusty jeeps can supply. Mercedes Streeter has had a few articles I liked. By and large it seems that most of the regular staff writers hate cars, or at least cars that arent non tesla electrics&#x2F;hybrids.<p>Now about leaded fuel. Back before say, 1970ish a lot of gas had an octane rating of between 40-70[1]. Refining oil was still an emerging technology. That being the case it seems like one of the by products of Natural Gas Liquids(called Natural Gasoline) was being used as pump gas. Lets pretend that you built a time machine and took your brand new 2022 camry with you to have a laugh that a consumer commuter car would be a super car back in the 1940s. If you managed to find fuel that was unleaded you would likely do irreversible engine damage on the first tank. If you filled with leaded, your catalytic converter would foul and then you would need to remove it to run leaded fuel. Lead was an additive because it prevents detonation in sub-optimal gas. After lead was outlawed they started boosting octane to do the same function. Fuel sucked, and it wasnt until lead was outlawed that refining higher quality fuels on a large scale became possible. I see the clean air act as a great example of successful regulation.<p>[1]<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.energy.gov&#x2F;eere&#x2F;vehicles&#x2F;fact-940-august-29-2016-diverging-trends-engine-compression-ratio-and-gasoline-octane" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.energy.gov&#x2F;eere&#x2F;vehicles&#x2F;fact-940-august-29-2016...</a>