by Gary Kuntz
When I was teens and early 20’s I enjoyed working on my car. Unlike many of my contemporaries I wasn’t looking to maximize performance but instead did whatever I could to maximize fuel efficiency. I saw in the car magazines an advertisement for a particular type of spark plug that was guaranteed to increase my mileage by 20%. I installed those on my car and could tell a difference. Then I read about an oil additive that said it would give a 18% increase. I started using that in my car. Next was an article from a leading aerodynamics specialist on what parts to buy to reduce drag. That added another 15% benefit in town and 22% benefit on the highway. Then there were the special tires that added another 17% and the gasoline that was good for another 10% of fuel savings.
That was an 87% improvement in fuel economy which was pretty good, but I knew there was more efficiency to be had. Then I saw the ad for the special carburetor that the oil companies and government wanted to ban and keep hidden. It said it could produce up to a 40% fuel savings. I never could adjust it to get more than a 30% savings but with all the other improvements that added up to a 117% savings. Which brought up the problem that eventually caused me to get rid of the car. Every 150-200 miles I drove I would have to stop and drain off the surplus savings from the gas tank and it just became too much of a hassle to do that responsibly all the time.
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