Improving Gas Mileage - Interesting Facts And Figures

What’s Going On?

Recently, Seattle resident Evan McMullen fished a Florida car out of a junk heap and was astounded to learn that it got a cool 376 miles per gallon. Guess when this record was set: 1973, in a contest by Shell oil. Twenty-five years later, the 1959 Opel sporting a steel frame isn’t much to look at, but it’s still got the record. It makes the 30- and 40- mpg gas mileage of hybrids look pretty puny.

Technology…Of The 70’s?

How did they manage this amazing feat of gas mileage? Well, the car is a four-cylinder. The secret is the method of heating and insulating the fuel line. When the gas enters the engine, it has been pressurized to the extent that it’s actually vapor! That’s how you get great gas mileage. That, and driving the car at a steady 30 miles per hour.

What Happened To The Opel?

Well, it was purchased by the same people who own NASCAR, that’s right, the French! Somehow, however, the car never made the drive over the Atlantic Ocean, so it sat in Florida for the remainder of the last 25 years, donated to a Talladega museum. McMullen stumbled across the car and made it his own.

Other Fits and Starts

Even 276-mpg chop shop models aside, there is gas mileage technology that your neighborhood hippy has known for years. Diesel fuel! That’s right, even now, diesel continues to best hybrids at their own game of gas mileage. Diesel doesn’t burn as completely as gasoline does, which takes away from its explosivity. Unfortunately, that’s been a major snag in the US. Not so in Europe, where gas (or “petrol”) has long been far too expensive to choose style over function for most people.

The Electric Car

There is also the famous case of the electric car, which is now seeing a renaissance in vehicles like the Chinese Flybo and Chevy Volt. But you may also remember that the electric car came along with a perfect gas mileage (no gas necessary!) score only a matter of years ago. Thanks to an indifferent public and poorly handled marketing, they were never mass- produced.

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