376 MPG in 1973!

Written by Jennifer Lance
Published on February 24th, 2008
20 Comments
Posted in Transport

low_mpg_car.jpgWinner of a Shell sponsored contest and Guinness Book of World Records holder, this 1959 Opel got 376 MPG! At other contests sponsored by Shell, they achieved 49.73 MPG in 1939, 149.95 MPG in 1949 with a 1947 Studebaker, 244.35 MPG in 1968 with a 1959 Fiat 600, and 376.59 MPG in 1973 with this 1959 Opel.

Sources:

Race-cardrivers.com

It’s the only one we have

Treehugger

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20 Comments

  1. 11
    scott w said on February 24th, 2008 at 10:59 pm

    It surely shows how our Governments leaders, especially the US puts profit from oil far ahead of the longevity of Mother Earth and the quality of our lives.

  2. 12
    tyler said on February 24th, 2008 at 11:25 pm

    logic and reason has obviously been tossed out and consumption seems to be the replacement. Stop repressing science with capitalism. The anit-logic movement going on in America is starting to scare me.

  3. 13
    justin said on February 25th, 2008 at 1:13 pm

    there is a hamster on a wheel in the backseat, the gas is just used to run the a/c and the hamster feeding machine

  4. 14
    Dana said on February 25th, 2008 at 1:59 pm

    Very interesting to know!

  5. 15
    Nick said on February 25th, 2008 at 5:52 pm

    Would help the gas companies if they made the cars. But the don’t so don’t say the oil companies don’t want us driving those cars cause do they control the car you drive?

  6. 16
    Ben said on February 25th, 2008 at 7:16 pm

    The simple way to get better MPG is reduce HP. HP=1/MPG. Also reducing weight will do the same thing. But people still insist on frivolous things like airbags and seat belts that just add weight.

  7. 17
    Bullmoose said on February 26th, 2008 at 9:06 am

    Here’s a link to the guy that owns the car now. It has some better pictures and explanation.

    Obviously they did some special work to get the mileage and the conditions were pristine. …but to suggest to make this car reasonable for normal use would cost 350mpg suggests you buy your furniture from Sofa King. Lord knows those people at Guinness are a bunch of lying, gullible idiots too so there’s no way this could possibly be true (that’s sarcasm).

  8. 18
    Bullmoose said on February 26th, 2008 at 9:09 am

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

    …yes I was the Sofa King this time and didn’t realize the link wasn’t going to show up even though there’s that little empty blank called “Website” when posting. Clicking my Name will get you there too.

  9. 19
    tonyrocks said on July 30th, 2008 at 4:56 am

    They achieved this going 30 mph on a closed track. Everyone should try this :)

  10. 20
    Gas Mileage and Oil Dependence from 1970s to Now In the Land of Plenty; What Happened? : Sustainablog said on September 15th, 2008 at 4:49 am

    [...] surely know this, but the occasional mechanic in nowhere corners of the U.S. has figured it out and proved it on a number of [...]

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