Mystery Car... ("58 - 166 MPG" streamlined Geo Metro)

[PatBGawne]

Gene has been modding cars since he was a teenager. Probably '58 or so. I've seen pix of his first attempt and it was wild. A 30-something Olds or Buick chassis with a front seat, a doghouse, a steering column and wheel and a gas pedal. He didn't figure it would ever go very fast, so he didn't bother with brakes when there were so many trees available to just run into.

He did a lot of customization of Honda 600's for a dealer in Mission Viejo, back in the 70's. He was much more of a Hot Rodder, back then.

When I first met Gene, he had a '46 Willy's Jeep with a Chevy 350 and Jerry cans for gas tanks, right under the front seats, A '64 Chevy van with a Chev 350 where the 230 used to be, a '73 MB 300D which he had un-dieseled and swapped in a Ford 302 which he hand-fabricated over-the-top exhaust manifolds, they literally went up, mated with the headers over the intake and dropped down behind the carb and across the top of the tranny.
Gene has always resisted conventional thinking
Anyway, he also had a Datsun 260Z and an Olds Cutlass diesel wagon.
At the time he also had two teenage daughters and a wife sharing the cars, so he only had one extra.

He has always purchased used cars and either fixed them and sold them or used them for his next project. If you have access to enough old auto magazines you could find pictures of his '39 La Salles (He owned 2)his narrowed Lincoln, mid 80's, his '64 Chevy van made it to the centerfold of Truckin' magazine when it had a Cadillac 500 under the engine cover.
I'm sure he's done many projects I never saw.

As for his eco-vehicles, he has been building them for a while. You've seen the VW rat rod truck before he really narrowed the rear end and lowered the roof even further. He actually went so far as to turn the thing into a three-wheeler, but it displeased him, so he killed it.

The Geo has gone through so many rebuilds it makes my head spin. He's had assistance from some folks at Cal Poly. They helped him design some under-effects things that help keep the rear end on the ground. At one point, he had contoured so much lift that the wheels would lift up and even the effect doohickeys didn't help.

Gene has reconstructed the computer chip to his specs and that's one part he doesn't bother telling me too much about. He's obviously doing something right.

The Geo clocked 166 mpg at the TAC National 50 Mile Road Championship in 2014.

[Xist]

Pat, how did you find out that we were interested in Gene's car? Will you please tell us more about the TAC National 50 Mile Road Championship? Everything that I read made it sound like it was an ultra-marathon--for running. Even doing more searching now, I found two pages, but no more information than we already had:

58-166 MPG Hypermiler Rat Rod Is a 1991 Geo Metro - Video, Photo Gallery - autoevolution
This Homemade Abomination is a Hypermiler More Eco-Friendly Than A Prius

Does it have the original Metro engine and transmission? How is it like inside? Has he ever been pulled over by law enforcement just to ask what in the world he was driving? Is there anywhere that we can find more pictures?

This is a previous mystery car:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ody-26074.html
Basjoos did some modifications to his Civic:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...1-0-a-290.html
Changzuki built this interesting vehicle:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...xed-23497.html

Thanks for joining and talking with us!

[PatBGawne]

Hi again,
I was looking up the name of the Tac National 50 competition when I stumbled across your forum. My wife had sent me a couple new photos of the beastie and I wanted to post them on Facebook with some details. I really don't know much about the competition.
There's a solid chance it has something to do with running, as Gene is a long-time runner.
In the past few years he has been trying to do three marathons per year. He has it in his head that he'd like to run that Drywater marathon thing from Death Valley to the top of some mountain and he's trying to get in shape for that.
The Geo still has the original 3-cylinder and the 5-speed tranny it came with.
It's very short, inside. I used to be able to fit in with a bit of effort, but it's too low for my busted back to get in anymore. (I am 6'2")
The interior is pretty well stripped. The reinforcing panels etc. have all been removed, it does have two seats. The windows have been replaced with plexiglas and there's no cranking mechanism for them. They are either all the way up or down.
Unbelievably, it does have an A/C, which doesn't get used much unless my Mother-In-Law is along for the ride.
I couldn't swear that he's ever been pulled over for a look, but I wouldn't doubt it. I'll ask.
I was with him last year at the tire shop when he had to buy a couple new tires and every guy in the shop was hovering around, trying to get a look.

If I can't figure out how to post photos in here, I'll send a link for my dummy Facebook page, where I post things I share with the world.

[MetroMPG]

PatBGawne - thanks so much for joining and telling us about the car & its owner.

I have a question: I'd like to know if Gene has any information on what MPG the car gets at a steady cruise at various speeds on level ground. EG: "80 mpg at 60 mph, 70 mpg at 70 mph." That kind of thing.

And that 166 mpg figure - it's an impressive number, but we need context & details for it to be meaningful! EG: over what distance, what speeds, etc.

Thanks again!

[PatBGawne]

It gets an average of 70 mpg at freeway speed. (70 mph)

The 166 rating was apparently a one-time thing. He was headed to the Tac race and he was able to coast further than five miles. Of course, that skewed the overall numbers, but he was happy to claim it A statement he made was misquoted and that's where the confusion came from.

Right now, he's working on a Jeep Cherokee and he isn't very interested in talking about the Geo. It's been resigned to a position of low-cost, long-distance transportation.

I have a brief video of the inside workings that my wife filmed. I am trying to get her to upload it to Youtube. Basically, he has a couple multimeters and some gauges hooked up to the thing. It looks an awful lot like an old circuit testers setup, but that makes sense. Gene worked for Collins Radio for years, then for Rockwell when they bought them out.

I will post a link when we get the pix and video uploaded.

[Cd]

Thanks for posting Pat !
Do you have any construction pictures of the build ? I'm curious about how you created the structure for the inside of the roof.

[dirtydave]

Yeah thanks for posting! We love the car and only have praise for it!

[freebeard]

As for his eco-vehicles, he has been building them for a while. You've seen the VW rat rod truck before he really narrowed the rear end and lowered the roof even further. He actually went so far as to turn the thing into a three-wheeler, but it displeased him, so he killed it.

While the Geo Metro gets a lot of interest around these parts, I'm curious about any VW rat rod truck. Is there a [non-Facebook] source of information on it?

[Trekintosh]

Um hello. I actually own this car as of two Mondays ago. I’m sure this forum has some kind of no-necromancy rule but this thread shows up when you try to google 100mpg metro, so hopefully by announcing it I can help clear up mysteries.







As you can clearly see, the interior needs a lot of work. Mechanically it’s excellent. It’s a very cool car. I can answer a lot of questions but probably not many Why questions, as there was so much information to absorb from Gene and I didn’t have the 5 or so hours I’d want to talk to him.

[California98Civic]

Exceptional! It has changed quite a bit since 2014. Hey, tell us what you mean about it being a mechanically very good car. It drives well? It is a reliable runner. Thanks for bringing us your story. This is legend stuff.