Moody Diesel

[sidebar78]

In 1974 the United States was under an Arab oil embargo.gas got up to $4.00 a gallon 1974 prices,thats like $8.00 today.Nascar and NHRA car and engine builder Ralph Moody wanted todo something about it. he set about building a car that got great fuel mileage and the average person could afford.He took a Perkins desiel engine and a Mercury Capri body and married them together.the results were 84 miles to the gallon. Ralph contacted the U.S. Congress to tell them about the car.they said unless the car is EPA tested and certified,they are not interested.Ralph got a hold of the former head of the EPA.he came with all the nessassary test equipment. he put the car through all the tests.the results were."this car puts out 4 times less hydrocarbons than any thing tested so far.this is the cleanest vehical I've ever tested.bostered by this,Ralph anounced "we're taking it to Washington DC and parking it in front of the Capitol Steps.then the congressmen and senators have to look at it. Arab "biznessmen" got wind of this and offered 200 million for the car and it's patents.about 2 months later congress issued a statement" the Moody Diesel does not meet EPA requirments" and buried it.I would like to know what happened to this car,I went to the Popular Mechanics site that used to have the plans for it.it is now blank except for the heading.Ralph Moody has since passed on.and no he didn't take the money.he was the Moody in Holman-Moody who's Ford race cars ruled the race tracks in the 60's and 70's. 2 years before Ralph made a gasoline engine that got 63 mpg, no one was interested-- this is real and not fiction, check it out for your self search Moody Diesel and be prepared to be p.o'd

[sidebar78]

oh, I forgot to add this car is turbocharged and runs an alternator.this is what can be done when a genuwine automotive genious sets his mind to achieving the impossible. Ralph Moody was instrumental in the development of the Ford 427 side oiler engine, the Boss 428 and the 429 Shotgun engine

[Kodak]

Sounds like a piece for an investigative journalist. Why don't you pitch it to the editor of a major newspaper?

[JQmile]

Yes nice trolling. Low HP diesels in light cars DO get good MPG. But so do high-hp diesels, and that's what Americans care about, Hp and the enviroment. Mike Woods got 45 mpg in his Duramax-powered Mustang and could run mid 9s at 150mph in the quarter mile with nitrous and a different tune. Now that's progress. A riding lawnmower will get good mpg, but who wants to drive it on the freeway?

[oil pan 4]

My suburban gets nearly 30mpg. In stock form vehicles like mine had no problem getting over 20mpg highway while nearly every thing else on the road at that time with a V8 managed about 10mpg.
What did the government do?
They saw it in there infinite wisdom to ban the sale of diesels in half ton trucks.

[Frank Lee]

Good Lord sidebar and oilpan, do you want this to go to Unicorn land? I'm strongly reminded of "outsidethebox" a.k.a. Louis LaPointe and his Shell Opel thread...

Yes Moody made the diesel Capri conversion.
No Popular Mechanics didn't have plans; they did have a story though.
No there were no patents, Arabs, or congressional rejections. Or black helicopters.
No there is no ban on the sale of 1/2 ton diesel pickups- 1/2 tonners just had to meet automotive emissions standards while bigger trucks didn't, and the mfgs didn't think the market warranted all that work and expense.

[Sven7]

Haha, this thread is great.

[sidebar78]

The best part is this thing was real,it was on the evening news and 60 minutes back in the day.even then as now it was clouded in controversy and mystery. They drove 970 miles on 11.5 gallons of fuel, with out a cardboard pointed nose taped on the front end,which is illegal in alot of states,due to it could come off and endanger others.

[Sven7]

I wonder what the quarter mile times were- and if they'd be considered safe in moving traffic. I could throw a 1 liter diesel in my Probe and get super duper mileage, but then it would probably be as slow as an ox cart too. If you or anyone else can find any actual (source) info on it, that would be interesting to read.

[Sven7]

Edit: Here are some links that would have helped substantiate your first post.

Time Magazine, 1979 5 14

This claims 0-60 in 17 seconds and a top speed of 105mph. Arragonis' Toyota Aygo would be a good match in a drag race.

More skeptical, Detroit's automakers at first showed little interest in the Moodymobile. Chrysler President Lee Iacocca last week announced that he would like to meet Ralph Moody, while Ford Motor executives plan to hold talks with Shetley about supplying cars for further conversion experiments. General Motors sent the director of its new devices section to study the car.

At that time there is no mention of patents or Arab businessmen or anything.

People Magazine, 1979 5 21

Here are some hints about a "patent"

The car (which is noisier than a conventional one) faces a stiff battery of environmental tests before it can be marketed, but Moody is confident one of the big automakers will buy the rights to the patent. Ford, Chrysler and General Motors have all expressed interest.

Here are the Arabs, but they say $100 Million is an exaggeration.

Shetley claims—perhaps extravagantly—that they have turned down $100 million from Arab interests to buy rights to the Moodymobile, which has cost them $20,000 to develop.

On a side note, this thread is the fifth result when Googling "ralph moody ford capri"