Have you ever thought that there must be a way to increase your mileage in your average, ordinary, drive-to-work-daily vehicle? Is it possible to do a few things in your own garage that will help put a bit more into your wallet and not into your gas tank?

My father recently recalled that a friend in South Dakota won a miles-per-gallon contest back in the 1960s. It seems that the owner/driver took a stock piece of American "Iron" and tweaked it quite a bit. He took all of the seats (except the driver's seat) out of the vehicle, all of the carpet and door panels. In fact, he took everything off the car that was "breaking wind" - so to speak or would have added weight without helping the car run. That included knocking all of the outside door handles, mirrors, radio antenna, and smoothing the bumpers out with duct tape.

Once the body of the car had as much of it's weight removed that was possible, the owner/driver then concentrated on the engine. He took the air-conditioner off, removed the air cleaner, and any unnecessary wiring. He then removed all of the engine oil and replaced it with a very light cooking oil. The mileage test was not over a very long distance, only about 20 miles, so the oil would not have broken down.

Finally, he removed the spare tire and everything from the trunk, and pumped all of the tires to 80 pounds of pressure.

On the day of the contest, the owner/driver rolled all of the windows to the full up positions, and took his shoes off. He claimed that he could 'feel' the flow of the fuel into the carburetor better in bare feet. He traveled down the highway at a very slow pace, accelerating very carefully and anticipating the conditions of the highway. At the end of the contest, he had an amazing 80 miles per gallon fuel economy.

I cannot verify the story, but I have no reason to believe that the event didn't occur. I grew up with the story. The retelling of the story never wavered in it's details.

With the streamlining of today's vehicles, along with lighter parts, why are we not able to reach fuel economy figures that are closer to the 80mpg rather than to the 30mpg that we seem satisfied with? I would guess that the average American driver doesn't want to drive bare-footed. If you wanted to have passengers, they would be uncomfortable with the seating arrangements, no air-conditioning, and having to have the windows rolled tightly shut. And when it comes to the engine, we have become used to the computer chips and other items that make today's automobile an interactive rolling computer game. We need most of the engine parts intact and not gutted. We also would not appreciate driving down our highways with their ruts and potholes on tires that feel like those from the vehicle from the garage of Fred Flintstone.

How about just maintaining what we do have? Change your oil regularly. Clean and wax the body of your vehicle once in a while. Don't drive irregularly. Go smoothly down the highway without tailgating and speeding. Moderation will ensure a better fuel economy and it doesn't cost you anything to do so. Happy motoring!

Learn more about this author, William Dooley.
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