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How Far Can You Go On One Tank?
I don’t know about you, but I’m always trying to go for as long as possible in between trips to the bowser. There are a number of ways of eking out the fuel and minimising your fuel consumption, but how far can you go on just one tank?
According to the Guinness Book of Records for 2014, the furthest you can go on one tank of fuel is 2545.8 km, which was achieved by a pair of Croatian drivers named Marko Tomac and Ivan Cvetković. They were driving a Volkswagen Passat 1.6 TDI Bluemotion which was not modified and had to carry two people plus their luggage. This is the second time that the Volkswagen Passat 1.6 TDI Bluemotion has picked up a world record for hypermilage, as the pair of British drivers who held the record busted by the Croatian team also drove one of these super thrifty little beasts. Drivers watching their petrol pennies take note. Crunching the numbers reveals that this adds up to 32.2 km/litre, which is the equivalent of 3.10 litres/100 km. As the drive was made over a variety of roads in Croatia, we can presume that this is combined fuel economy.
The little Passat also holds the record for the world’s best fuel economy for non-hybrid cars, with a team of two US drivers clocking up 3.10 L/100 km on average as they drove through all 48 of the contiguous states in the USA (i.e. not Alaska or Hawaii), a trip that took six fuel top-ups and 13,071 km. However, for the same drive, the record holder overall (i.e. with hybrid cars included) is a 2006 Honda Insight , which managed 3.16 L/100 km.
Kia Optima hybrid), the rest of us have to be realistic. Little hatchbacks just won’t fit our lifestyles and our families. But we still want to save a few cents at the bowser. What can we do? Well, there are a few things.
- Watch what you’re carrying as luggage. The official records required the cars to carry two people plus luggage to make the comparison fair. This is because every 25 kg increases your fuel consumption by 1%.
- Keep the air-con off. The air-con is powered by your engine. Opening the windows is a thriftier option, until you get up to higher speeds. On the open road, having the windows down creates more drag and reduces aerodynamics, thus making you burn more fuel.
- Drive smoothly and without aggression.
- Pick the right gear to keep the revs at their most efficient.
- If you can select your drive mode, put it on Eco. Most cars with selectable modes have the Eco option.
- Whip off the roof rails if you don’t use them. Obviously, if they come as standard fitted to the car, you can leave them on, as removing them may damage the vehicle and they will have been designed to be aerodynamic. But ski pods and the like shouldn’t live up there full-time.
- Keep your tyres at the right pressure. All tyres leak. If you want to see the difference between fuel consumption with a flat tyre and with a properly pumped tyre, get a bike. Let a bit of air out of the tyres and ride around the block. Now pump the tyres back up and ride the same circuit. You will feel the difference.
Book Review: “History’s Greatest Automotive Mysteries, Myths and Rumours Revealed”
In my blogs over the last few weeks, I’ve been drawing inspiration from a fantastic book picked up by chance from the local library: History’s Greatest Automotive Mysteries, Myths and Rumours Revealed by Preston Lerner and Matt Stone. It’s such a fun read and is bound to be interesting to most visitors to Private Fleet, so I thought I’d better let you all know about it so you can read it for yourselves.
The book takes a look at some of the most popular stories circulating in the automotive world, then takes a long hard look at whether the stories are true or not. The authors have done their homework pretty thoroughly, it seems, almost like the Mythbusters but in print.
The book is divided into six sections: Urban Legends, Crime, Racing, Hollywood, Death and Inside the Industry, with the various popular stories to be investigated being slotted neatly into one of these categories. This structure makes it very easy to pick up and put down, and you can dip into it wherever you fancy. As well as the main stories, the authors have included boxes with little extras and tangents – such as the development of the Batmobile for the 1960s TV series, which is included in the chapter about Model Ts coming in “any colour as long as it’s black” in a box entitled “Born To Be Painted Black”.
What are some of the stories that they investigate in this book? Here’s a smattering to give you the idea:
- The Darwin Award-winning Chevrolet Impala fitted with JATO rockets that crashed into a cliff in Arizona at 350 mph, 125 feet in the air – did this really happen?
- The Hyundai driven by Rodney King when he was beaten up by the LAPD goons, triggering the Los Angeles riots in 1991 – was he really speeding at 115 mph?
- Did Bonnie and Clyde send a letter to the Ford Motor Company thanking them for making the perfect getaway car?
- Would the notorious Ford Pinto been capable of flying if it had wings fitted? Yes, that’s flying with an L not frying – what the Ford Pinto became better known for.
- Is there a conspiracy involving the US Government, Big Oil and motor companies to supress the development of the electric car, as popularised by a documentary released in 2006? (Drivers of the Nissan Leaf and the Mitsubishi i-MiEV know the answer to this question)
- Did the people who bought bits of the Porsche 550 Spyder that James Dean was driving when he crashed experience chronic bad luck and disaster, suggesting that the car was cursed?
- Did Steve McQueen drive all of his own automotive stunts in the iconic car chase scene in the 1968 thriller movie Bullitt?
- Who really won the very first Indy 500 race? Was it actually Ray Harroun (who is credited with the win) or was it Ralph Mulford?
- Has a monkey called Jocko Flocko won as many NASCAR Grand National races as Mario Andretti?
And if you add wings, can it fly?
And the answers to all of these questions? Well, for that, you’re going to have to read the book yourself.
Title: History’s Greatest Automotive Mysteries, Myths and Rumours Revealed
Authors: Preston Lerner and Matt Stone
Published: 2012 by Motorbooks
ISBN-13: 978-0-7603-4260-2
Hardcover, Kindle ebook available. http://www.amazon.com/Historys-Greatest-Automotive-Mysteries-Revealed/dp/0760342601/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1400449989&sr=8-1&keywords=History%E2%80%99s+Greatest+Automotive+Mysteries%2C+Myths+and+Rumours+Revealed
Disclaimer: The writer and Private Fleet are not associated in any way with the authors or publishers of this book.
Any Colour As Long As It’s Black…
There’s a persistent story circulating around the automotive world that Henry Ford said that the original “Tin Lizzie” (Model T Ford) could come in “any colour as long as it’s black.” Certainly, if you catch a glimpse of a lovingly restored (or maintained) Model T at a car show or in a museum, you’re probably going to see a black one.
But did Henry Ford actually say this? Was black really the only colour that traditional Ford cars came in? Sorry to bust everybody’s bubbles of belief, but this is more or less an urban legend. Model Ts didn’t just come in black. Mostly black, yes. But all black, no.
According to one fairly well researched book on automotive history I came across lately, Ford used a number of different colours throughout the years. These days, you get several colour choices for your model, with slightly different colour choices for each different model in the marque. For example, the current line of Ford Fiesta comes in light blue, cobalt blue, white, black, orange, silver, medium grey and red. The Ford Territory, on the other hand, comes in dark red, bronzy brown, three different shades of grey, black, white and blue. Ford used to do this sort of thing right at the start of its production history. In 1909 to 1914, Fords came in red, green, grey or blue.
However, from 1915 to 1926, only one colour was available, mostly as a cost-cutting exercise. Hands up who can think what might have happened in 1915 that required businesses to cut back on costs? Well done to those who answered World War I and extra bonus marks to those who mentioned the influenza pandemic. After these global crises were over and people had a bit more money to burn – and when Ford’s competitors started offering a few more colours – colour came back to the Ford factory floor in Detroit. In 1926, green came along. In 1927, a veritable rainbow rolled off the production lines, with two shades of maroon, four shades of green, brown, blue and grey being on offer, alongside a colour that experts call “moleskin” – which sounds like a sort of black.
The reason why the story about Tin Lizzies coming in “any colour as long as it’s black” is because the main production years for the Model T was in the 1915–1926 period. Model Ts may have been basic black but they were cheap, which made them very, very attractive in the postwar period. They were probably a real godsend for the various social workers of the time across this tricky time: doctors could rush to seriously ill patients quickly with the motor car; vicars, district nurses and the like could do the rounds and bring aid to the folk they were responsible for more efficiently.
As to whether old Henry Ford actually said the thing about any colour blah blah blah, this book I got hold of is silent. He may have done during the black period of the Model T. But it wasn’t company policy or part of the image of the Model T. It wasn’t born to be black from the beginning. And if you’re very, very lucky, you can come across some of the gaudier models out there.
The Dale Debacle
About 40 years ago, the automotive world was struggling with the oil embargo imposed by the oil-producing Arab nations. People were turning away from the gas-guzzling muscle cars and looking for thriftier models. This was the economic and social climate that really helped the Mini take off and catch public imagination. But it also made people vulnerable to scams like the Dale debacle.
In 1974, newspapers and magazines were carrying articles (all based on press releases) featuring the “car of the future”: the Dale. The Dale was promoted very, very aggressively by someone called Liz Carmichael, who the press releases said was a widowed mother of five who planned on taking on the patriarchal automotive industry (this was the era of rampant feminism and burning one’s bra). The Dale itself looked sleek and space-age and got people drooling – although the single rear wheel behind the two front ones looks downright weird today. It claimed to be able to do 70 mpg (3.36 litres per 100 km), have a top speed of 85 miles per hour (136.8 km/h) and to cost only US$1995. It was supposed to be built of super-tough materials that would withstand crashes and were nearly bulletproof.
The reality turned out to be somewhat different. At first, the manufacturer of the Dale, Mr Dale Clifft, had actually been trying to create a more fuel-efficient vehicle, which he originally intended to be a sort of motorcycle. Then he met Liz Carmichael, who made Clifft an offer he couldn’t refuse. She started an impressive marketing campaign, putting out plenty of glossy and hyped-up brochures and sending press release after press release to the papers to drum up interest in the new Dale. The Dale looked impressive and sounded like the answer to everybody’s motoring problems (well, nearly everybody’s).
Along with all the pre-release hoopla, there was also an invitation to invest in the company and buy shares in it. The money started rolling in for Carmichael and Clifft in the form of shares and early orders. Expectations were high on the part of the investors, the motor trade industry and motoring enthusiasts in general. A mock-up prototype of the exterior design was put on display at the Los Angeles Motor show.
An automotive journalist named Mike Salisbury decided to find out more about this wonder car for Car and Driver magazine. He found a bright yellow vehicle looking like the one in the press releases standing proudly on one corner with guys in geek glasses standing around with clipboards looking as though they were oohing and aahing over it. However, Salisbury quickly spotted that this impressive shell had no accelerator pedal or steering wheel. A sneak peek under the bonnet revealed a lawnmower engine. A quick conversation with Liz Carmichael hinted that there was something funny about her as well as the car. A suggestion that the glossy, attractive exterior didn’t match the interior works…
Naturally, after the revelations that the Dale was an utter fraud, the cops started closing in. They descended on the home that Carmichael was thought to have shared with her five children. What they found was an empty home, a bunch of wigs, heavily padded bras, depilatories and a fingerprint that proved that Geraldine Elizabeth Carmichael was actually Jerry Dean Michael, a convicted criminal who had been on the run in drag for at least ten years. The glamorous woman turned out to be more than just metaphorically ballsy.
After a scandalous trial where Liz/Jerry tried to represent him/herself in court as being a pioneer like Henry Ford (with the small difference that Henry Ford actually had a car that worked rather than just an impressive shell). He/she skipped bail and went on the run again before finally being caught in the 1980s.
And what happened to the Dale? The three mock-ups, which were little more than shells, now live in collections and museums in California. They are not exactly given feature spots.
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