|
My friend had a '69 Eldorado with the 472 V8 and 3-speed auto. Curb weight was about 4,680 pounds, and it got about 16 mpg highway. That car had a big Rochester 4-barrel carb and about 10 miles of vacuum hose. It also was massively overpowered: huge battery, huge starter, huge A/C compressor, huge radiator, huge transmission with a chain drive to convert the longitudinally mounted engine to front wheel drive, huge alternator, huge spare tire, 21 gallon tank, huge exhaust system, tons of smog equipment...
If you could get an injected 3.0L or 3.8L, either with a 4-speed with lockup, or a 5-speed stick, you could probably shave a thousand pounds off just the drivetrain, A/C and fuel system and bump your mileage by 60%. Plus you'd have room to store a pair of motorcycles in the engine compartment. I also love the idea of an electric drive with a small engine/generator (3 cylinder Metro motor?) for more range. Oh, and dump those bias-ply tires for some decent radials.
|