[Christ]

California required pollution-reducing catalytic converters in 1975, General Motors Vice President Earnest Starkman told Congress that “It is conceivable that complete stoppage of the entire production (line) could occur….” Ford President Lee Iacocca claimed that the rule would “cause Ford to shut down.”

^^ PDF file explaining the EPA vs CARB issues involving legal testimony on both sides.

Good gods, I was off by 3 years... and the EPA began requiring them in 1975 on imported cars, at least. OF course, it would be hypocritical to require that they be installed on imported cars and not on domestics, so that would obviously mean they were a requirement on domestics as well. The US Automakers did not have a choice in the matter, in fact, several of them opposed it as laid out in the testimony above.

I said nothing of your arrogant tone, either. I'm not saying you don't know what you're talking about, I'm saying that before you affirm someone as being "wrong", you should make sure you're totally right. In this case, you're not.

Second reference:

Working Catalysts Required on Imported Cars | EPA History | US EPA

Regulations governing the importation of motor vehicles currently require labels on the vehicles signaling that they meet EPA emission requirements for the year that they were manufactured. However, if a car was not built to meet emission standards, it will not have an EPA label and must be bonded. The importer is required to post bond equal to the value of the vehicle, plus duty, and have the vehicle modified so that it meets Federal requirements. EPA must approve the modification and issue a statement that the vehicle has been brought into conformity with emission requirements before the Customs bond can be released and the vehicle granted final admission into this country.[...]