Big Oil conspiracy! 376 mpg 1959 Opel uncovered!

To make it odder, of course, the entire engine was wrapped in some sort of insulation and the rear wheels are only a few inches apart. “I bought it sight unseen, but once I got it, I took one look at it and said that this is no Bonneville land-speed racing car,” Dave said. So he turned – as many of us do – to Google, and came up with something at byronwine.com:

Some folks at Shell Oil Co. wrote “Fuel Economy of the Gasoline Engine” (ISBN 0-470-99132-1); it was published by John Wiley & Sons, New York, in 1977. On page 42 Shell Oil quotes the President of General Motors, he, in 1929, predicted 80 MPG by 1939. Between pages 221 and 223 Shell writes of their achievements: 49.73 MPG around 1939; 149.95 MPG with a 1947 Studebaker in 1949; 244.35 MPG with a 1959 Fiat 600 in 1968; 376.59 MPG with a 1959 Opel in 1973. The Library of Congress (LOC), in September 1990, did not have a copy of this book. It was missing from the files. I bought my copy from Maryland Book Exchange around 1980 after a professor informed me that it was used as an engineering text at the University of West Virginia. VPI published a paper, March 1979, concerning maximum achievable fuel economy. This paper has several charts illustrating achievable and impossible fuel economy. About 1980 I contacted the author concerning conflicts between the paper and documented achieved “impossible” mpg. The author said, “I will get back to you.” I am still waiting for his response.

Read that again – 376.59 miles per gallon. Per gallon of gasoline. Apparently, as the theory goes, superheating the fuel – essentially vaporizing it before it reaches the engine – produces such results, but only if the engine is kept as hot as possible, thus the gobs of insulation.

Dave said he hasn’t yet figured out his plans for the Opel. He’s not sure whether to restore it or leave it as is. Buick apparently has shown some interest in assisting with the restoration. Dave has a website set up to document the car at www.376milespergallon.com.

Truth? Conspiracy? Should we call in the Lone Gunmen? What’s with the shag carpet and lace paint? And what did Pepsi and Pabst have to do with it? Theorize away in the comments.