April realizes how little $20 bucks of gas is....the shock literally blows her mind....notice all the hearts and flowers falling out.....not a puppy dog tail in sight.
Sure I looked wicked cool cruising around town in my seventies luxo yachts. I can drive in plush isolated splendour or burn rubber like any muscle car.
Unfortunately I have lately realized there is a draw back to five thousand pound Detroit dinosaurs powered by big block V8's…..
Despite my not working a regular corporate gig (freelancing etc) I still need to drive everyday. I pick up my girls from two separate schools and to after school sports meaning stop and go trip across town., which plays havoc with my fuel economy.
The Ford 460 cubic inch V8 is perhaps the least fuel efficient engine ever, returning 16 mpg highway and sub 9 mpg around town. My 455 powered Buick Electra and V12 Jaguar are marginally better.
To be fair these cars are relatively efficient on the freeway with the cruise control on.
My pocket book has been taking a pounding at $1.20 plus cents per litre, which works out to approx 16 l or 4.42 US gallons from a twenty. At 8.7 mpg that will allow me to squeak by almost two days of driving though the low fuel light on the Mark IV glows like Rudoplh's red nose. ….perversely it refuses to burn out.
My calculations showed that with the distance travelled daily I should have more than enough fuel until I realized that in winter fuel economy drops anywhere from 12 to 28%!!!
Why, well fuel vaporization for one, oil companies switch to winter gasoline that provides better cold vaporization characteristics but results in less available energy for combustion, lower engine temps means a richer mixture, lubricants are thicker, tire pressures lower both creating more resistance and requiring more energy. Even the air conspires against you, a vehicle’s aerodynamic drag is proportional to air density, and the density increases as temperature drops. For every 10 degree F drop in temperature, aerodynamic drag increases by 2%
As I like to say OPEC never fails to send me a Christmas card.
Buy a econo box I hear you say dear constant reader, well all my cars are paid for and after years of driveway tinkering they are relatively bullet proof. Come the inevitable zombie apocalypse I know I would choose my Mark IV to start every time.
 |
| zombie ready |
Sure I would love to tool around in a cute MGB or Spitfire but they don't allow any room for children, are not suitable for the rigorous of Canadian winters and as our roads are still populated by huge SUVs and 18 wheelers not very safe.
I do own a very fuel efficient 1985 Cadillac Seville (my most modern car ever), 30 MPG highway, but as she is a rust free southern belle, I don't like to expose her to road salt.
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| looks full of gas, someone should invent something that tells you how much gas is in the tank |
Update:
I had written this blog last week when we had a warm spell and I enjoyed a Sunday tuning the Lincoln and getting the Jaguar and Seville out for a run round the block. As the weather looked good for the rest of the week and rain had washed all the road salt away. I decided to drive the 1985 Cadillac Seville with its fuel efficient 4.1 litre V8.
I had a meeting with my editor Monday morning, in the rush to get ready I forgot I had used the Seville the day before to take my oldest daughter to swimming practice. As I pull into late morning rush hour traffic on the QEW I feel a hesitation, transmissions problems? no I realize with mounting horror.....I forgot to put gas in the car. I roll helplessly to the side of the road. I quickly call the auto club and the magazine in that order.
In a prior life I would have scaled the fence and hot footed back home to get a gas can, instead I wanted to cry. Also no way I was walking all the way home in high heeled winter boots.....I would ruin the heels.
Luckily my good friend Genni choose that very moment to text me and was quickly on her way with the precious gasoline (say it like they do in the Road Warrior movie).
This less said about running out of gas later that same day very close to home the better.
Hugs,
April
Just a side note about April's automotive mis(s)adventures this week. In light of our recent declaration of ourselves as SBCs (Sisters By Choice), April and I were texting back and forth as this debacle unfolded. And then unfolded again in the afternoon. :c)
ReplyDeleteAs only a true sister would, I recognized what her awful day meant in light of our mutual SBC status:
A chance to make fun of her.
Relentlessly.
With as many blonde jokes as I could muster.
I proceeded to do so, with gusto. All day long, including before, during, and after my weekly food shopping run.
After returning home, shoveling, and cooking dinner, I fired off my latest witticism about the dominance of her Inner Blonde. I then realized I still needed to put away my groceries.
Only I couldn't find them. Not in the kitchen. Nor the back stairs. Nor the dining room.
I was baffled until I looked out the window and realized where they were:
On the roof of my car.
Where they had been sitting (with the front and back door open, incidentally) for nearly two hours.
As it turns out, apparently the Great Goddess Karma is also a blonde. I am duly chastened. At least until April messes up again, anyway...
Your sister in karma,
Cass
April,
ReplyDeleteI remember the first time I ever visited the States. I was at a customer site in Vermont and the price of gas had just gone about a dollar for the first time, the disbelief of people was actually funny for us Brits to see.
Cass,
Are you owning up to your blonde moment before someone else does it for you :-)
The year before last I had to go and pick my father-in-law up from his place as he was coming to stay with us for a few weeks, a 200 mile round trip. Plenty of petrol in the car. Got all the way there, noticed how much petrol was in the tank and thought "plenty to get me home".
About 15 miles from home, the car starts to shudder so I pulled off onto the side of the road, just as the engine cuts out. I'd run out of petrol.
Fortunately I had managed to stop within walking distance of a petrol station.
Father-in-law always asks now if I've got enough petrol in the car.
Hi Jenna,
DeleteA pre-emptive strike is often the best strategy when dealing with April, I have discovered. :c)
== Cass
OMG... do you realize how much you look like a teenager in that photo?
ReplyDeleteI know how it is to drive a gas-guzzler. I used to have a full-size GMC van that cost about $70 to fill up from empty. Ugggh!
You need a car like mine that drives itself for free! A week ago I returned from the supermarket and unloaded the groceries and made a cup of coffee. When I looked out the window a short time later there was a car blocking the bottom of my steep drive and it took a few seconds to realise that it was my car and that with my girly muscles I had failed to pull the handbrake on hard enough; and I am not even a blonde LOL.
ReplyDeleteIs that your post for Facebook? ;)
ReplyDeleteI meant, is that your photo for Facebook. Oops.
ReplyDeleteNope don't do facebook, more a Linkedin gal
ReplyDeleteApril, have you ever driven a car with an economy gauge whilst it is driving from cold in the winter? If you did the picture would not be one of a girl finally finding her "G" spot as you have posted but one like discovering not zombie proof after all, first mile or so is like having a hole in the tank...
ReplyDeleteSmall consolation for you, in UK fuel is cheaper than it has been for a while and costs double what you are paying!
I know that I am tempting fate but I have never run out of fuel yet though I have sucked up muck from the bottom of the tank and ruined a good fuel pump.
Not being blonde has paid off for me...
Angel....a teenager.....i will take that as a complement
ReplyDeleteI would like to point out that your petrol is so cheap as to be practically free, you pay so little tax on it :)
ReplyDeleteOf course, there's a handy alternative to a Spitfire, and it's got a back seat.
Though I understand the fuel shock. My modern is a super-frugal tiny turbo diesel that does 65 mp(imperial)g, and it's always a shock to fill up a "normal" car. My GIC trip the other day was in my mate C's V8 Jag, surprisingly good for what it is at 30mpg.
Free.....oh I wish. I would seriously consider moving to Saudi Arabia but they don't let women drive.
ReplyDelete