Think you need a hybrid to get great mileage? Try a souped-down 1959 Opel T-1.

In another tribute to high-mileage car hacks, a man named Evan McMullen rediscovered a 1975 Guiness-World Record-Setting car that got 376.59 MPG.

It was wasting away in a museum in Florida:

That number doesn’t come from some manta ray-shaped, wind tunnel-vetted carbon fiber space car. No, it’s from a chop-top, steel-frame 1959 Opel T-1 (think melting jelly bean, but uglier). And the record was set in 1973 in a contest sponsored by Shell Oil Co.

Unfortunately, that contest-winning mileage number occurred on a closed track at a steady 30 mph. Not exactly highway speeds. Nonetheless, it makes you wonder about the evolution of automobile manufacturing in the last 50 years:

Read more of this story »

]]> http://gas2.org/2008/02/29/37659-mpg-car-found-in-museum-it-was-built-in-1959/feed/