my parents are always telling me this is gonna be the first generation where parents outlive their children due to the horrible food we eat and this and that. yet they were exposed to all these types of chemicals, heavy smoking/secondhand smoke, they’re own plethora of horrible foods for you etc

I was born in 1951 and I grew up in the era where gasoline contained tetraethyl lead. Because of this I remember when the first unleaded gasoline started to be offered in California. It was in the early 1970s that a few gas stations started sell unleaded gasoline. This early unleaded gasoline had a very low octane and only worked in low compression engines. Also for a time gas stations started to sell what was called low lead gasoline. The first car I bought was a 1977 Datsun B210 which had a catalytic converter and required unleaded gasoline. By the time this car was on the market nearly all gas stations sold unleaded gasoline in addition to leaded gasoline. Also cars that needed unleaded gasoline had fill restrictors in the fill nozzle to allow only the smaller diameter unleaded gasoline nozzles into the the filler neck. This helped prevent miss fueling the car with leaded gasoline. Finally by 1996 the only gasoline sold for cars was unleaded gas. The era of gasoline pumps with the label, "For Use as a Motor Fuel Only contains Lead Tetraethyl" finally ended.

Leaded high-octane gas is still common in racing and almost universal for piston-engined aircraft. There is progress being made to certify aircraft engines to use pump gas. If you think certifying car parts is hard you have no idea how difficult it is to get FAA certification. Fortunately aviation and racing engines are a very small percentage of emissions because of their limited uses. Pencils are graphite, not lead.

The switch to unleaded gasoline happened because catalytic converters were required to be installed on cars starting in 1975. Leaded gasoline damages the catalyst, rendering it ineffective. Also, I think it's not an accident crime rates spiked from the late 1960s - 1990s because during that time, many people were exposed to environmental lead. In addition to cognitive damage, lead poisoning also causes antisocial behavior and violent tendencies in humans.

Please keep working on video essays like these. They're very informative.

School pencils are graphite, not lead. You gotta go way back in time to find actual metal lead pencils in schools. Also, some states have quite a few 100% gasoline pumps. Oklahoma, for example, has 100% gasoline at virtually every major urban convenience store.

I loved this video. this kinda thing is great i’m looking forward to next month

Very well done, Zack! It's pretty easy to think back then they would put lead and asbestos in almost ANYTHING because it was so cheap and easy to use. At the very least I know some of the first mass production head gaskets were asbestos and they only stopped that once they had to.

Very informative and entertaining. Another hit out of the park. Thanks Zach

This seems to have been a higher quality video essay than your prior ones - not ONLY because your featured my Excel 🤩. The intro was solid and I enjoyed your explanations.

Love it. Very informative. Great way to carry forward! Bravo!

I enjoy these so much. I learn a lot every time!

reverse opening hoods/clamshell hoods would be a good topic for one of these kind of videos. always been curious about that.

Love the video. The part about the man doing more damage to environment than Hummers had my dad and I laughing for a while.

Re ethanol free gas, it’s much better for older cars whose engines weren’t designed to deal with ethanol. I put ethanol free in my 85 Celica.

Interesting documentary!

Well done Zack keep it up 👍

Great shots in front of our Shell Station!

We have 88 and 91 at a ton of stations in my area. 93 is honestly pretty uncommon still (mostly limited to gas stations built in the last 10 years). I'm in a midsize city in the Midwest US for reference.

Damn Zack. Your an awesome narrator 👍👍😀

Excellent Video! Veritasium has an even more detailed video about this that's interesting too! You bring up how ethanol could end up being a similar situation down the road, I think the same will happen to diesel and eventually regular gasoline down the line, If it can be proven to have negative health effects, someone will try and expose that. Diesel being especially bad in the human health department.

Lead was great for valve guides as well! The reduction in sulfur in diesel fuel has caused problems in fuel injectors as well for similar reasons the sulfur acts as a lubricant for the injectors.

im glad you brought up the health defects

I learned some stuff I didn't know. How about doing one on car radio antennas?

WoW very interesting essay

I think an origin on each body style of vehicle would be a cool idea, where did the sedan, coupe, pickup, hatchback ect originate from

Gas stations need to remove the phrase “unleaded” from the signs. They also need to change the 9/10th of a cent tax

A very important point you didn't mention. Lead metal is kind of safe. The problem of leaded gas is not just lead. It is Organolead compound which called tetraethyllead. Tetraethyllead is super toxic. It can be quickly absorbed by human body and also quickly kill you.

Will you cover manual stick shift for your next video essay

We have 87, 89, 91, and 94 up here in Canada and even 97 at some gas stations

Dude I wonder about leaded fuel all the time just didn’t know there was answers out there

i liked the vid! ethonal free gas is very popular in the motorcycle community as well! also pencils have graphite lol

Leaded fuel is still made today, i use it every week in general aviation planes, 100 low lead. Hint: it’s not actually low lead.

I grew up in the leaded fuel era. If you don't mind speaking a tad slower and avoiding large words next time I'd appreciate it. Lol As usual very interesting content. Me like very much.

some people say that lead lubricanted the valves but valves made harder so lead wasn't needed.

I wouldn't be too dramatic about lead being banned in most gasoline after 1996. Lead is very destructive to catalytic converters, so as more cars required them, less leaded gasoline could be sold. In fact, unleaded only cars have a smaller fuel filler, so only unleaded pump nozzles would fit. With leaded gas being obsolete, I don't see why it never technically needed to be banned. I suspect the 1996 ban was more symbolic than anything else.

My dad had a k5 blazer he had to put lead substitute or it didn't run right

US fuel octane only goes up to 93? We get 95 fuel here in Indonesia

The flight school that I go to uses leaded gas. And the planes have zero emission equipment (which is typical). They always run at a very rich mixture on the ground, so the fumes are awful. I’m surprised I have any IQ points left at all

topic for essay: Why don't most (usually American-made, but not exclusively) vehicles in North America have amber turn signal lights on the REAR as you see on all vehicles in Europe? Thankfully on more modern cars it's happening, but on older makes, they are only on the front of the car - not the rear, where it's only red lights. It makes it less noticeable /obvious when you're following someone and they are turning. More so at night when the lights are on there's less of a difference for the blinking. It also doesn't help that many drivers (in my experience) break first and *then* use their turn signal - supposed to be the other way around to give the person behind you a chance to prepare to slow down. Quite annoying really. It's supposed to be a clear signal. Amber is much more explicit than red for your intention and avoids confusion. Also, amber flashing is a hazard warning indicator, and red for stop, so it serves as double info. Any idea why North America didn't care to do it for so long? cheers

Yeah I live in small rural town and it’s ethanol free gas here

Owned a 69 chevy truck. I definitely know what leaded gas is.

leaded isn't banned from use and not even from sale in england, there's still a few garages that sell it and i make my own leaded ethanol free fuel to use daily in my 80s car and i should add that octane ratings are different here also, standard is 95 and premium is 97 or 99, and i sometimes use 102

About planes and leaded penciles... Planes and their pilots hate lead as it gums up the engines and pencils never used lead but styluses did thusneds of years ago.

I've heard ethanol isn't good for some engines, what about that>?

What happens if you put leaded fuel into a car that says unleaded? I load lead inside my engine, lead and alcohol. On the radio depending, I sign the protocol. I breathe. Clouds beneath my windows. Uh-huh.

4:18 lmao that got me laughing hard

School pencils don't actually use lead, they use graphite.

Up next....how the great American sedan will one day return

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USA use 87 octane? Growing up in Israel the lowest the octane i saw was 95, you used to get 98 but that was banned/discontinued over 10 years ago

And yet the people who were alive at the time are living to 100

Your fuel only goes to 95? We get 98 from everywhere and shell has a 101 octane

THAT ME I HAVE Learning Disability AND MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEM

Imagine being an integral part to the functionality of out modern world and instead of getting praise some ignorant kid on KZfaq just talks about your environmental impact

Short lived? Leaded gasoline was used for 7 decades, that's about 69 years too long!

Ty for acknowledging the widespread, low level lead poisoning which explains some of the behaviors exhibited by some of the baby boomer generation.

UFO.

1980s cars are better? You gotta be kidding me. The 80's were a terrible time for car performance and reliability. Engines leaked oil, low horsepower, higher maintenance and only lasted 100k miles. Body panels and frames would always rust out prematurely.

People used to drive better when fuel was leaded. :) I am serious.

Well done, Zack!! Greta Thunberg is asking if you're single.

it's pronounced te-tra-eth-yl lead, what the hell was that at 1:52?

I blame all the lead as the reason why Boomers and Gen X vote Republican.

Lead is a lubricant for valves that is all.