Horsepower in the 80's

I recently read the "click and clack" column (if you ever listen to national public radio, you may be familiar with Tom and Ray Magliozzi, the "tap it" brothers) and was amazed to relearn some information I had once known but had forgotten, which is: cars in the 1980's had a lot less horsepower. Today, of course, even the weakest of the weak automobiles generally have about 140 to 150 horses