Well, my take is that it was the era where dealers, at the company's mandate, fixed EVERYTHING that even a moron could wreck, engines, transmissions, rear ends you name it save actual collision damage. Making it faster only hurt the bottom line.
Good God I remember fellows who should not have been within 10 yards of a muscle car getting all kinds of free warranty replacements of over-revved engines, broken trannys and shelled rear ends for free, often including, no kidding, a free tow job!
These customers took extreme advantage of the dealers, for sure!