[Robert Adams]

A couple of ramblings by a lover of all vehicles.
My old Saab 96 got 36 city to 48 MPG cruising back in the early 70s on a regular basis. Had a ‘80s something Dasher Diesel wagon that got around 50mpg. Both were quite peppy, comfortable and reliable as daily drivers. Got about 150k on the Saab and over 250k on the Dasher wagon before I gave it to my brother in law who proceeded to drive it another 75k. He gave it to a student neighbor of his, so I have no idea if it finally died or not. Talk about recycling!
My Volvo 740 turbo diesel wagon got in the low 30s as I recall and a better cruiser one couldn’t find. Sold it with close to 325k miles on the original drive train. Yes they all left the guy behind me in a cloud of black smoke when I stepped on it, but sometimes they deserved it!
Recently, I was reading about a chap in an English Porsche mag that coverts gas engines into LPG/GAS hybrids and they get great mpg, terrific performance and lower emissions. Guess what, he is making a conversion for the 944! My train of thought these days is the person/s who comes up with a way to convert what is already on the road to get better mileage, decent performance and clean air wins! Some form of hybrid be it electric, hydrogen (unlikely), natural gas or LPG will do the job and it seems plenty of guys in garages all over the world are working on them.
In doing a little research on this side of the pond, I found out that the EPA GAVE the only licensing of LP conversions to the big three. Now we all know they haven’t got 3 nickels to rub together, so what future does any of this technology have until the EPA wises up and auctions it off to the organizations most likely to do something with the technology. I’m left wonder what other technology the EPA and the new downsized big three have that they aren’t using to make the world a better place. I’m not a conspiracy theorist by nature, but it does give me pause for thought.