India, April 12 -- The 1970s was the peak of many things - from anti-war sentiment to hippie culture to a period of wars and revolutions, from Vietnam to Israel to Iran and the wider Middle East or West Asia. With it came a double blow to the global economy. And that holds lessons during the ongoing US-Iran war as the world's oil supplies are squeezed due to a blockade on the Strait of Hormuz. Those lessons led to many changes, including how cars were built.

Let's stay in the present for a bit.

Oil prices are once again surging in the wake of war in the oil-rich western Asian region, driving up the cost of petrol, diesel and jet fuel, and threatening a return to stagflation - a toxic mix of higher prices (inflation) and slower growth (s...