Motorhead Messiah [60 MPG HUMMER!]

www.fastcompany.com ^ | December 19, 2007 | By Clive Thompson

[STONEWALLS]

“...sounded like a Kirby vacuum cleaner going down the road.”

...LOL....I’d have liked to have heard that.

[CSM]

“Detroit could do all this stuff overnight if it wanted to,” he adds.

OK, this guy’s idea had me intrigued, until he said this. He might be an “artist” with reworking cars, but I’d like to see him reconfigure an automotive assembly plant.

This is just another, “Detroit’s automaker’s suck” article.

[radioman]

It sure attracted attention!
If they could have fixed the starting, and mileage, problems it would have sold. He took me to Lake Tahoe when I was home on leave...had to have the car towed down the hill to get it started.

[PapaBear3625]

Other than that, I forsee fistfights at the back of fast food resturaunts, as all of these biodiesel drivers fight over the 20 gallons of used fry oil.

Used fry oil is only "free" as long as there's more oil than people who want it. As soon as there's more than one bio-diesel vehicle in the neighborhood, expect the McDonalds owner to charge for the oil

Also, nothing was said about the expected operating lifetime of the turbine engine

[STONEWALLS]

“He charges $28,000 for a “basic H2 conversion to diesel—custom concept cars cost far more.”

....he just lost me....$28K is a lot of dough.....and BTW isn’t this just a rehash of the type stories you’d read down at the barbershop in Popular Mechanics magazines?....remember the ones like “The 50mpg Carburator That Detroit Won’t Let you Have”.

[PapaBear3625]

Personally i'm holding out for a tracked version.

Tracked Hummer

[LurkingSince'98]

"Sounds like the guy is quite the BS artist."

Um... Not really.

The difference between you and him is that you are just sitting back twiddling your fingers on a keyboard and taking potshots....

while he is actually DOING something about it.

Right or wrong I give him the credit for trying while all you should get is raspberries for typing.

Lurking’

[Windcatcher]

"Not really.

To a leftist it’s about the consumerism and the actual use of wealth to make life better for those who can.

This was demonstrated in their outrage at the Tahoe Hybrid.

It isn’t about the gas mileage. It’s about someone driving around in some huge vehicle - that’s what p1$$es them off.

I’m even willing to veer into the conspiracy theory that it’s about limiting family size as well. I’m open to comments on this conjecture."

Misery loves company.

[Jersey Republican Biker Chick]

NO....sign, but I want one.

[ScottyinTN]

"The H2 he claims wowed the GM engineers was just an H2 with a Duramax diesel dropped in it. No reason for GM engineers to swoon. The guy has yet to show anything new as far as I can tell."

If a simple gas to diesel engine swap caused GM's engineers to "swoon", I really have to wonder. Perhaps I can see why an awful lot of GM's cars suck.

I performed quite a few diesel to gas conversions 20 years ago swapping out Oldsmobile diesels. I must be a real genius.

There are about 140,000 BTU's of energy in a gallon of diesel fuel, it will only do so much work. This is BS.

[fella]

It's kind of funny how a group that appeals to conservatives can have such techno-intolerance.

[Straight Vermonter]

Biodiesel is usually produced from waste material unlike ethanol which is made directly from food.

[Old Professer]

This is the biggest load of BS I have read since Bricklin hired his first PR group.

[Grut]

Turbine engine? Ask Parnelli Jones how it worked out for him 41 years ago at the Indy 500.

Pretty well, actually. The car led most of the race and lost because some obscure part in the transmission failed on lap 197, IIRC. USAC was so impressed that they immediately imposed crippling restrictions on turbine cars to protect the established owners' investments.

[Old Professer]

That little phrase, “gas hovering around $3.00 a gallon,” ought to answer your last question.

[Old Professer]

You had better hops to it, then.

[Red Badger]

Aw, c'mon! Haven't you ever heard of Hope & Change?.......Obamessiah will wave his magic hand and make it all work!............

[Tribune7]

Thomas Edison was a home-schooled dropout

LOL. That's about as low as you can get :-)

[Straight Vermonter]

As I read the article I thought his ideas were better suited, at least at first, to big rigs than for the family car.

[Old Professer]

Because the final drive survived?