376.59 mpg

[SHRED]

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And this happened years ago.

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Hybrids, meet your rival -- it gets 376.59 mpg

By MIKE LEWIS
P-I REPORTER

Finally something to wipe the smug off you hybrid owners, you high-mileage acolytes, you global-cooling zealots who wash your Priuses (Prii?) with graywater while wearing reclaimed plastic fleece and hemp undies.

Don't choke on your organic soy-double-decaf-fair-trade-carbon-neutral macchiato, but how does 376.59 miles per gallon sound? Makes your Honda Civic hybrid look Hummeresque, doesn't it?

That number doesn't come from some manta ray-shaped, wind tunnel-vetted carbon fiber space car. No, it's from a chop-top, steel-frame 1959 Opel T-1 (think melting jelly bean, but uglier). And the record was set in 1973 in a contest sponsored by Shell Oil Co.

MORE:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/351903_needle20.html

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[Arctic Dave]

1. You had me at chop top.

:loveya:

[MercutioATC]

2. With new materials, they could compensate for adding more luxury (like seats).

There's absolutely no reason we shouldn't be able to build a 150+ MPG car tomorrow.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

3. Saturn Hybrid Conversion, almost all parts off the shelf, 150mpg

http://www.podtech.net/home/4883/150-mpg-with-afs-trinitys-phev-technology

Prior to the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), one news story getting a lot of traction was the conversion of a Saturn Hybrid into a Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) capable of 150 miles per gallon. So I was quite excited to speak with Don Bender, chief technology officer for AFS Trinity, the company behind the conversion, about their soon-to-be patented Extreme Hybrid drivetrain.

[MercutioATC]

4. Looks promising.

I'm glad to see they used lithium ion batteries rather than NiMH.

[AntiFascist]

9. Very cool...

this is why government should entice big oil companies to invest in clean, alternative (electric) energy, along the lines of what BP is doing. It would also help the future prospects for these companies.

[MindMatter]

5. What the F--- have our car companies been doing for the past 30 years?

Check this out. There were loads of cars getting 50 MPG back in 1982.

http://www.mpgomatic.com/2007/10/09/1982-a-banner-year-for-high-mpg-cars/

With today's improved materials, it should be easy to make a 70 MPG vehicle without any hybrid technology, and easily hit 100 MPG with a hybrid system. We must insist that our corporations get to work and stop flopping their outrageous old SUV/truck products.

[pansypoo53219]

6. i think my grandpa had an Omni

or one of those itti bitty ones. i have this # 024 in my head. but so many #s. but he had a few itti bitties. grandpa always saved money buying used. the omni was creamed by a garbage truck if i remember correctly. sure it was a bitch getting in the back seat, but we were kids.

[LTR]

7. Here are a few reasons

1. More safety features nowadays. Stuff like airbags, ABS and reinforced frames add weight.

2. More comfort and convenience features like power steering, power windows and locks, sound dampening, etc. Those Chevettes and Le Cars weren't that fun to be in.

3. MPG estimates are figured differently nowadays, and tend to be less generous than in the past.

[seasat]

8. Like those tires on that car probably wouldn't cut it in regular use.

The hard narrow tire were probably fine on a closed course at 30 MPH but they'll probably beat you to death in normal driving and have poor traction for cornering. The chain drive sounds like they set it to a single gear best for driving at 30 mph. You'd need a transmission for normal driving and it would add back the weight they saved with the chain. It sounds like the reason they didn't put those ideas into practice is that they weren't practical except for a car going 30 mph on a closed course.

[formercia]

11. Profits

In 1982, the price of gas, adjusted for inflation, was about the same as it is today, so the auto manufacturers came out with the economical cars that people wanted. When the price of gas went back down, they went back to selling bigger vehicles because that's where the profits are.

Corporations are like a penis without a brain attached. They are out for one thing, regardless of the consequences.

[formercia]

10. 47MPG in 1982

Ford EXP was an aerodynamic escort. I owned one and it routinely got 47 MPG on the highway with no performance loss.

It's all about Big Oil and their symbiotic relationship with Detroit and Madison Avenue.

They could do it tomorrow but WE don't want small cars because the advertising has been to push the high profit margin SUV and big pickups. There is little profit in small cars except for niche markets.

[glitch]

12. Still driving my 87 toyota corolla 44mpg highway.

When I had it smog-tested the guy said it tested as if it were just off the factory line.

Well, I was pleased. :hi:

[formercia]

14. They think we forget

but we know better. America, free to starve, go broke or have your house foreclosed. :hi:

Soon to be home of the free, the brave and the 20 mule team Hummer.

[glitch]

16. Picturing the 20 mule team Hummer just me laugh out loud. Thanks for that :) nt

[formercia]

17. Here's another chuckle....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-Mule-Team_Borax

Twenty-Mule-Team Borax


The product is named after the twenty mule teams that were used by William Tell Coleman's company to move borax out of Death Valley, California to the nearest rail spur between 1883 and 1889. Francis Marion Smith acquired Coleman's holdings in 1890 and consolidated them with his own to form the Pacific Coast Borax Company. After the mule teams had already been replaced by a new rail spur, the name 20 Mule Team Borax was established and aggressively promoted by Pacific Coast Borax as a way to increase sales of its product. Stephen Mather, son of J.W. Mather, the administrator of the company's New York office, persuaded Smith to add the name 20 Mule Team Borax to go with the famous sketch of the mule team already on the box. The twenty mule team symbol was first used in 1891 and registered in 1894. In 1988, just over 20 years after the acquisition of U.S. Borax by Rio Tinto Group, the Boraxo, Borateem, and 20-Mule Team product lines were sold to Dial Corporation by U.S. Borax.<2>

One of the final television roles for Ronald Reagan was as host of TV's western anthology series Death Valley Days, in 1964 and 1965. Reagan also acted in some episodes. The show was sponsored primarily by Pacific Coast Borax Company, which later became U.S. Borax Company.

[glitch]

18. How perfect! I never saw that cartoon.

Reagan-lovers are so odd, I've pretty much given up trying to figure them out. Other than that they are deeply fear-based so anything that relieves them, even if it's temporary and obviously false, they'll buy. Forever suckers for the emotional con.

[formercia]

19. That's what makes the 20 Mule Team HUMMER so perfect

as a testament to St. Ronnie, his failed policies and the vaporware of the 'American Dream."

[glitch]

13. What happened? Reagan-Bush happened.

There's a reason why oil companies buy governments.

[FredStembottom]

15. There it is!!! I didn't dream it!!!!!

I remember the warm vapor cars reported in the 70's. I remember where I was sitting when I first read about the carburetor - less vapor car experiments in the 70's. I got very, very excited. I told everyone........

.....and then......

N.o.t.h.i.n.g.

Like it never happened. Like I dreamed it. Like I heard about it all by myself.

It was simple. Remove the carburetor. Warm the gas tank. Route the fumes straight down the neck of any engine and - Frank Viola! - over 100 MPG.

I honestly doubted my own memory of this.

Thanks, Shred! Fantastic!

[tinrobot]

21. St. Louis man builds engine that runs on vapor

...Recently he built an engine for a 1970 Plymouth Fury that recycled unused gasoline from the engine and converted its waste into power. This turns a 20 mpg engine into a 100 mpg engine.

http://www.autoblog.com/2004/10/06/st-louis-man-builds-engine-that-runs-on-vapor/

[kristopher]

22. Wow, wht a concept.

I'll bet they could even control the flow by using an atomizer designed to squirt the mist into the cylinder in a vortex designed to maximize combustion.

They could call it "fuel injection".

[Dover]

20. So I'm curious...did the sponsor (Shell) end up with the patent?

Was that part of the contest rules? Is this engine legally available to develop?

If we can land on Mars, of COURSE we can have extremely efficient and earth friendly vehicles.
We could all be living very sustainably, if it was profitable to the Axles of Evil. (the energy/transportation/financial players).