Page 1 of 1

1930 Opel

PostPosted: 08 Sep 2011, 22:38
by 001 Neville

Re: 1930 Opel

PostPosted: 08 Sep 2011, 22:42
by 001 Neville
and more early Opels ....
http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C205400

Image

1936 Opel Kadett!
Image
http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C160806#

1959 World recordholder - 376mpg allegedly!
Image
http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C206645#

Re: 1930 Opel

PostPosted: 09 Sep 2011, 09:20
by 021 Chad
I know that last one. It was a fuel economy test bed that toured the USA. They were getting some shockingly good fuel consumption out of that thing.

Re: 1930 Opel

PostPosted: 03 Aug 2012, 23:55
by 008 Julian W
I remember seeing the aricle on this car 450mpg was achieved on 4.78 oz of fuel!
the car was a 1959 Opel Rekord 2 door saloon converted to a Ute (it may have had a fibreglass body) and the event happed in 1974 by Ben Viser see Article : May 1974 Australia Motor Manual Page 16
The car was also featured as Headline display at the 1975 Amsterdam Auto Show
see photo in 22 Feb 1975 Autocar (GB) Page 54 Volume 142 Issue #4087

General belief is it may have been fitted with a special carb made by a company called Economy Motor Co of the USA - The Story goes that guy before world war 2 invented a new type of carb that got amazing results - (this could be BS and typical tall story!) and he tried to market it and he was visited by the guys in black suits who put the usual threats for him not to market it ;
(after all even here in NZ Archie Blue in 1977 with his water powered Mini was told by NZ officals not to market his car ...this was reported in a article with reprint of 1977 Newspaper story by The Constructors Car Club Club Mag 'Spare Parts' in 1995)

but then US Govt stepped in and apparently a little known scarily US Law - that anything invented that upsets the US Govt interest can be taken and no royalities paid - The Govt can remove the item and take up ownership .. and poor guy never got any royalities for it as carbs were put on US tanks during the war years! Once tanks were sold these carbs were removed and I guess stored?

In addition with regard to the Opel - I heard a book was produced by SAE of the US as limited run in the 1960s now out of print that discusses radical designed carbs that get amazing results and this book is highly sought after today by SAE Engineering students and staff around the world! :D

Re: 1930 Opel

PostPosted: 04 Aug 2012, 17:37
by 127 Gordo
Yeah, it is BS - only so much energy in fuel and there's no magic way to get more. modern engines are getting very close to it, next big step should be reducing the energy/heat loss to the cooling system and there is a lot of development being done in ceramic engines that are intended to have no cooling system at all - just a big improvement in keeping the heat in the cylinder and running relatively warm. As an interim stage, you may have been reading up about the increasing use of special low friction and refractory coatings on engine components. There's even been experimentation with engines that don't use an oiling system - just parts run directly against each other.
Much more practical potential, at the moment, in reducing drag, weight and engine design.

Re: 1930 Opel

PostPosted: 06 Aug 2012, 15:52
by 021 Chad
There is a bit of a conspiracy there. Sure the car got great economy, but it made as much power as a motor mower, so no real advancement there!