Compare The Elio To 1980's Answer To Fuel Mileage

[Dusty921]

Wheaters;
Hope I speak for all on this forum, thanks for the info and pics. v..e..r..y cool stuff.
Must say old bean, I'm a wee bit jealous?

btw, I owned, for a brief time, an Austin MKI, I was told at the time that it was a factory racer, but I never did verify that.
What I do know about it though, had the same motor as a 3000 and a very sparse raw aluminum interior. Always regretted selling that one!
But I was young, dumb and needed the money.
Dusty

 

[Dusty921]

Thanks to modern combustion chamber design, as well as knock sensors and high speed ECU's, 12:1 is very doable from regular grade gas. Many Mazdas sold in the USA today have engines running 13:1 on 87 octane with the aid of direct injection and in Japan they run 14:1. These higher compression ratios are becoming increasingly common as engine designers push to make engines ever more efficient to meet stricter fuel economy an emissions standards.



Thats why they have knock sensors and computer controlled engine management. The engine management system would compensate for the lower octane fuel but of course this would also result in reduced power output from the engine.

Spot on again G1, my, you do read a lot don't you!

 

[John Painter]

And the engine, gearbox, sidestand, seat....etc.

It does need a slight rebuild!

For some sweet old school like that... let me know if you need a hand, get rebuilding brother.

 

[Dusty921]

Dusty, I've never spent much money on an individual vehicle, I've always gone for cheap and cheerful bargains, simply because having a growing family there wasn't spare cash for new. Such vehicles have often been cheap because no-one else wanted them at the time. Somehow a number of them turn into classic motors!

I've just realised.... I missed two cars off the list. Both old bangers but actually very sound motors. A Chrysler Avenger 1600cc (bought for £250, run for three years and sold for £450) and a Triumph Dolomite 1500 TC (sold that for £50 less than I paid After two years). There's no cheaper motoring than a car that doesn't depreciate!

Yea, same here. My first was a 54 chevy convertible that I got for $75, sure wish I'd hung on to that one!

 

[nthawk68]

Hmm, don't have a collage as such, what photos I have would take forever to find and put together. Having said that, I tend to keep cars a long time so probably not had as many as others.

A list of the the ones I can recall:

Cars:
1963 Morris 1000 Traveller (actually belonged to my fiance, who I married 37 years ago. I passed my driving test in that car after no formal lessons).
1967 Singer Gazelle Mk VI 1725 cc (should have kept it; now a classic; they only made 500 or so).
1970 Triumph Spitfire Mk3 1298 cc.
1976 Hillman Hunter 1725 cc.
1976 VW Beetle 1200 cc (Kafer, actually, I lived in Germany at the time and that was the local name).
1982 Ford Fiesta XR2 1598 cc (boy racer, only car I could afford to buy brand new as I got it tax free as a perk for RAF service in a foreign country).
1983 Volvo 240 2.2 Estate.
1984 Nissan Prairie 1.5 (got kids and dog, had to sell the XR2 and get a family car. Interesting in that it had no "B" pillars and rear sliding doors).
198? Dutton Phaeton 1.6 kit car, Ford engine, no doors. Great fun...if you like that sort of thing.
1984 VW Passat Estate 1.8 (someone still owes me money on that....a so-called friend offered to sell it for me after I went abroad and he did so but he never paid me, the b*****d).
1987 Mitsubishi Space Wagon 1.8. (three row seating).
1987 BMW 318i saloon (as a police colleague told me: once you've owned one, you're only ever "between BMWs" with other cars - I think he's right).
1997 Toyota Previa 2.3 (8 seater, potential killer, will never buy another Toyota due to their total denial of responsibility for building a heap of junk).
1992 BMW coupe 2.0 (what a lovely car, straight six engine, listened to that rather than the radio).
2000 BMW 230i saloon (again, lovely car, 2.5 straight six, sadly wheel arches and brake pipes began rusting; it had to go).
Volvo S40 LX (2400 cc, 5 cylinder diesel engine, went like a tractor on steroids, but it's no BMW).
BMW 330D saloon (traded in the Volvo, actually went to buy a lovely BMW Z4 but it didn't do anything for me on the test drive, much to my surprise).
Suzuki Swift 1.0 (same engine as the Elio prototypes).
Liege 850 cc (built it all myself, took 3 years to get all the factory parts; still not finished after 12 years on the road).

Motor cycles:
A 1958 Phillips Gadabout 49 cc moped (my first motor vehicle).
1950/60s BSA: a D5 Bantam, a C15 Star, an A7SS.
A couple of small Hondas; C50/C70.
A 1977 CZ 250 Enduro, now gone back to the Czech Republic, where it was built. Something unusual about it, apparently only one in UK, it had frame number 00009 and engine 000140. The buyer's driver came all the way to UK to fetch it so I think it was an important bike!
AJS FB250 Enduro 2 stroke, a factory "one off" built to celebrate HM Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977. Retirement project bike.
I also have a 1991 Honda CB750 Nighthawk (last of the air cooled Honda 4s - the bike that helped kill the British bike industry, what a traitor).

That Nighthawk 750 is an awesome bike, I had one for 4 years before I traded it for a larger bike. I had a Ford Cortina when I was stationed in England. I kept having Carb problems with it, but it got me to work and back.

 

[wheaters]

What's those little wiggles in from of some of your numbers? darn keep looking at my keyboard and don't see it?? Do we here in the states use lbs.?

They're pounds sterling. Every time I mention cars or bikes my wife sees them in front of her eyes and says something like your username!

 

[ross]

Dusty, I've never spent much money on an individual vehicle, I've always gone for cheap and cheerful bargains, simply because having a growing family there wasn't spare cash for new. Such vehicles have often been cheap because no-one else wanted them at the time. Somehow a number of them turn into classic motors!

I've just realised.... I missed two cars off the list. Both old bangers but actually very sound motors. A Chrysler Avenger 1600cc (bought for £250, run for three years and sold for £450) and a Triumph Dolomite 1500 TC (sold that for £50 less than I paid After two years). There's no cheaper motoring than a car that doesn't depreciate!

"Bangers." Never heard the term. Know what a thumper is.

 

[wheaters]

"Bangers." Never heard the term. Know what a thumper is.

A case of two cultures separated by a common language? I presume they both mean the same thing.

P.s. Wasn't "Thumper" a rabbit in a Disney story? Bambi, I think..

 

[ross]

A case of two cultures separated by a common language? I presume they both mean the same thing.

P.s. Wasn't "Thumper" a rabbit in a Disney story? Bambi, I think..

Yes indeed, but on this side of the pond a thumper is a large single cylinder motorcycle (300-500cc's)

 

[wheaters]

Some people over here use the same description.

If you look up Banger racing on YouTube, you'll get the idea.