<VV> Corvair Fuel Mileage

[Tony Underwood]

At 12:47 PM 4/17/2011, jtwiley95 at netscape.net wrote:

>Grant is absolutely right, it is almost always cheaper to run what 
>you have rather than replace it purely for mileage.


Good point.


I continue to see/hear people ranting about bad mileage on a 2-ton 
SUV they just HAD to have... others wanna go rushing out to buy the 
latest dinky SUV that promises a "penny-stretching 26 miles per 
gallon!" to the tune of 19K.   Or, there are people like my sister's 
oldest kid who was griping about the lousy mileage his '71 Ford 4WD 
pickup with the 351 and gearing in the high 4s with huge tires, lift 
kit, etc ad nauseam...  his solution:   buy a 2 year old Jeep 
Wrangler for $14,500 from the credit union (repo) that "gets twice as 
much mileage as my truck"... his logic being that the 18 MPG out of 
that Jeep was so much better than what his truck gets is somehow a 
very good thing.

Of course he'd have to borrow the money to get the Jeep...

I tried to tell him how STUPID it would be to buy that Jeep in order 
to save money.   He could NOT be convinced.  His mother, however, 
could be and she refused to co-sign the note.   I'd previously 
suggested that he do the truck as a weekend toy and buy some ten year 
old econobox to run through the week...  but that wasn't cool enough.

In the end:   He didn't get the Jeep.   He did get his mom to co-sign 
a note for him to buy a '96 Honda somethingorother out of the 
classifieds that manages 30 MPG, seeing as how that was the ONLY way 
he was gonna get something else to drive other than that dumb-ass 
truck that's not much use for just about anything but make noise and 
give you a back ache trying to get in and out of it and jar your 
teeth loose while driving it.   But he just HAD to have that truck.

Likewise the people who go rushing out to buy a mileagemobile in 
order to "save money" on gas when they have a paid-for vehicle 
already that's not too bad on gas as-is.   I'm talking about the 
people who have SUVs they're still paying for that are worth less 
than what's owed on them so they refuse to trade the SUV on an 
econobox... they go out and buy a Prius, tag-insure it, drive it 
around while the SUV sits in the driveway most days.

They believe they're saving money.   These are the people who think 
they're getting free money on tax refund day.

In the meantime:   I'm driving my winter beater Jeep Cherokee that 
manages about 19 to and from work... and this afternoon I went out 
and fired up the '60 4-door, put some fuel in it, getting it ready 
for daily running now that it appears that snow and ice are about 
done.   I hope.

It has snowed here in May... so I'm watching the weather 
channel.   Anybody remember the VA Vair Fair a few years back in 
Waynesboro that got put down a notch or two when it snowed during the 
show?   The '60 4-door is getting kinda long of tooth for year-round 
daily driver service so lately I've been parking it in winter and 
driving the Jeep.


Now:   If gasoline gets to be more than 4 bucks a gallon around here, 
I'll park the '60 and pull The Mileage Miser out of storage and 
recommission/tag/insure IT and drive it.   I paid 100 bucks for it a 
decade ago, from a guy at a service center who thought it was nothing 
but a POS because of its Serbian heritage.

Uh huh... it manages well over 30 around town and highway it can 
squeeze 40.   I've kept it stored away for several years now to keep 
from wearing it out... it already has 130,000 miles on it and that's 
mostly in-town driving so I wanna try to preserve The Miser...  but 
still, if gas goes above 4 bucks a gallon, OUT comes The Miser and 
back on the road it goes.   It's 23 years old now, so I'm inclined to 
treat it nice.


I will NOT buy some new ubermileage car to "save money" on 
gas.  That's fool's economy if ever there was.



>If you are buying anyway used is almost always cheaper in the long 
>run even if repairs are needed.  A Corvair is cheap to own and cheap 
>to repair compared to a modern car and a 95HP late can get 27 on the 
>hwy on regular gas with a powerglide.

It can manage 30 with a gearbox if it has 3.27's.   My mom's old '61 
700 4-door with 3.27s and an 80hp would get 32 on the highway, 
checked it out several different times when I'd take it outta town, 
once to the NC show at Modern Chevy, filled it when I left, filled it 
when I got back home, cackuhlated the mileage and it came out 
32.   Another time, same routine, brother drove it to a show outta 
town, numbers still came out the same, 32 mph.

That ain't too terribly bad for an early 4-door.   Hell, my Corsa 
ragtop will do fairly decent highway, if I don't press it.  25+ hwy 
was easy if I didn't push it over 70 mph and that's with 3.55s.

My '60 with short 13" tires and 3.55 gears gets better than 20 around 
town and almost 30 on the highway, or it did on the way to last 
years' VA Vair Fair.   I keep a fuel/miles log in each of my cars, 
every gallon is accounted for and miles driven noted, lets me get a 
pretty good account of just what kind of gas mileage each car 
actually gets.


I've had people snicker at me for writing down odometer readings and 
gallons purchased (I buy gas in 5 gallon lots unless going on a 
longer road trip) as if I'm some kind of conspiracy buff or 
something.   "Why do you bother?  What's the point?"

They don't seem to get it...



tony..