Thread: 50mpg truck
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Old 05-19-2012, 05:45 PM   #55 (permalink)
aerohead
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50 mpg

In the 80s I pulled a half-bodied utility trailer to California and back behind the CRX and averaged 50 mpg at the double-nickel speed limit.Going out empty the rig weighed about 2,300 lbs,and 3,300 coming back with a load of batteries.
That's at 18.5 sq ft frontal area and Cd 0.35 for the car.No idea about the trailer.
So a gasoline pickup of 2000 lbs,18.5 sq ft,and Cd 0.35 would be 52 mpg (Honda tech, circa 1984).
It would be a gutless-wonder on grades,and you'd be rowing through the gears,but on flat land,she'd sing.
With a truck the size of the T-100,I don't think it's possible on gasoline to hit 50.
47.8 is the all-time record for mine so far,pulling the trailer up in Colorado with a perfect 20 mph tailwind (only a 45-mph airspeed).
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