376.59 mpg!!

seattlepi.nwsource.com...


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.

Evan McMullen of Bellevue recently rediscovered the souped-down 1959 Opel T-1 that achieved 376.59 miles per gallonin a 1973 contest. (Photo by Cosmopolitan Motors)


Yes, that Shell Oil, better known now as Royal Dutch Shell.

Evan McMullen, owner of Seattle-based Cosmopolitan Motors, rediscovered the Guinness world-record-setting but forgotten car in Florida.

The buzz of the automotive engineering circles in the early 1970s and winner of the Wood River Competition for the planet's top mileage car, the little Opel had been bought by the France family, owners of NASCAR, and gifted to the museum at Talladega raceway.

And there it sat, mostly in anonymity, until McMullen, 45, heard about it and made his move. He now owns the car and hopes to sell it, maybe to a technological museum at an auction in September in Indiana.

He has a few questions about the car, about its worth mainly, but the provenance seems genuine. Guinness listed it in its 1975 record book. Technological journals from the era waxed about the Opel's simple but effective modifications and engineering.

But McMullen's biggest question is why? Why didn't this technology find its way into the mainstream? Why did the car sit unremarked, unremembered for so long?

The team that built the top mileage car in 1973 narrowed the Opel's rear axle and used super-hard low-friction tires and a chain drive to save weight. (Photo by Cosmopolitan Motors)


"If this is something they could do back in the 1970s, what happened?" he asked, poring over paperwork, including patents, for the car.

"Certainly in 34 years we could do something to make this work."

Especially with gas climbing and then bivouacking above $3 a gallon. Especially when its relatively ancient technology bettered the best hybrid mileage by a 6-1 ratio.

To be sure, the Opel isn't much on looks, luxury or performance. The team that built it stripped the interior of everything but a seat, chopped the top to lower its wind resistance. They narrowed the rear axle, used super-hard low-friction tires and a chain drive to save weight.

To achieve 376.59 miles per gallon, the Opel's interior was stripped of everything but a seat, and the top was chopped to lower its wind resistance. (Photo by Cosmopolitan Motors)


The mileage from the mostly stock four-cylinder came from heating and insulating the fuel line so the gas entered the engine as lean vapor. Then they drove the car on a closed course at a steady 30 mph.

So some of that wouldn't work in the street, McMullen concedes. But if the car were made more drivable and lost 200 mpg -- it still would get 176 mpg.

"Here's a car that was 20 years old at the time of the contest that was the project of a couple of guys in a garage," he said. "You can't tell me we can't do better than this with cars today."

So McMullen wants to see who wants the car.

And he hopes there's something to be learned about the future while looking at the past, in an era when even the oil companies sometimes responded to OPEC fuel crises by promoting conservation.

"They tell us hybrids are the answer," he said. "I think the answer, at least part of it, is right here."

byronwine.com

Very interesting..

About three or four years ago, I bought a device that took one's existing fuel line (that you would have to cut about an inch off of to make room for the adapting attachments), and then it attached to a coiled device that wrapped around the Radiator hose. The concept was that if you can heat up the fuel line enough it would convert it to vapor and extend your mileage. Un fortunately, I never got around to actually trying it out.

And one has to wonder if a series of adjustments would be necessary to compensate because isn't there something called "vapor-lock" with a vehicle not getting a actual spray of gas fluid? I don't know, but I can recall having some older model vehicles that would spit and spatter and not run right on very hot days and the mechanics always said "Yep, you got 'vapor lock' happening".

JA

Vapor lock happens on carbureted engines, most frequently when the tank is run dry. it can be a real bear to get 'em started after you refill the tank, too. I'm sorry, but the only evidence of a conspiracy between the oil companies and auto manufacturers that I need is that there have been no real gains in fuel economy lately.

Of course, there is that 100mpg Jeep hybrid that was revealed this year as a concept car. A 4x4 that gets 100mpg..i'll take it.

Another thing you can do is add two rare Earth magnets, positioned across from each other, on the inlet fuel line, about 1/8" from the fuel line, clamped into place. this will separate the molecules in the fuel and give you up to an 18% increase in mpg. Mine are encased in plastic to keep them in place on the line, and are held by simple tie wraps. works!
there are many ways to increase mileage, all you need do is tinker a little, and look for information on how to save gas. I run 38# in my tires, and keep my front end aligned at zero toe, and keep my Chevy G20 van unloaded as mush as possible. I use momentum when i drive, and use a vacuum gauge to monitor mileage. I am getting 32 highway, and about 27 city on the cheapest gas I can get.

300+ miles per gallon?? I actually believe you considering the responses in this forum. Someone boasting about 32 pg even if its a Mini Van doesn't see so bright.

I would love to have someone post the Guiness record for this..........

Man, I have looked and can't seem to find the record FROM Guinness, but was able to find the announcement on byronwine.com...

The only thing I can find concerning this car are articles placed on the web between 2/08-3/08, seems strange that there is no mention before the current owner acqiured it...Although I did see this car for sale on ebay before, it was maybe a year or two ago. I tried to research then but found nothing....In a previous thread someone mentioned vaporlock, this tends to happen on carburated cars when the fuel lines heat up and the fuel in them turns to vapor, the fuel pumps can pump liquid not vapor so you end up with an air gap/bubble in the line that the pump has a hard time pushing through . You have to remember most of the older cars fuel pumps were only putting out between 1.5-12 PSI. I myself let my opel sit too long and there was no fuel in the line between the tank and pump, I had to use an air compressor to pressurize the the tank to push fuel to the pump before the car would start again..

Greg

There is no car that will get even 50 mpg and do what I want it to do. I like to drive faster than 10mph. There are no devices avaliable that will increase your cars efficiency without a compromise in somthing.