Drive a Classic Car and Save the World?
Rising fuel prices have made Americans more interested in learning about their environmental impact. While driving a new hybrid-electric car can create a certain smug satisfaction, others are quick to point out that there is an awful lot of energy used to manufacture new cars and transport them around the world to your local dealer. Recycling household waste is good, but what about cars? The ideal low-carbon vehicle would be a fuel-efficient classic, no? Well, Dave Kinney at Cars That Matter has developed a list of fuel-sipping classic cars that is a great thought starter.
As a classic car nut, I've owned a few of these (Spitfire 1500, MGB... two of them actually, which just proves that I'm a masochist, and an older Porsche 911 which is strangely left off of this list but averaged in the mid 20's for me).
I think this list is extremely interesting and also points out just how far our cars have come over the past 30 years. While the average economy of the U.S. car fleet hasn't gone up noticeably in the past 20 years, this is more due to the bigger share of trucks and SUVs in the mix. Individual cars are more fuel efficient, faster, cleaner and more comfortable than they ever were. Case in point from this list is the aforementioned MGB. While certainly a jaunty little British sports car, that 24 mpg average (pretty good in 1965) came from a car that weighed about 1,900 lbs, produced roughly 100 hp, and lacked features like three-point seat belts not to mention airbags, crush zones, ABS brakes, air conditioning, an FM radio, and an engine that could go more than two weeks without having to check things like dashpot oil levels (there's your quiz automotive for the day). Later MGBs gained modern seat belts and probably even offered some conveniences like 8-track players and ugly padded safety dashboards but also lost about 35% of their horsepower to emissions controls. In comparison, a modern Corvette offers safety levels unimaginable in 1980, every modern convenience, and 435 hp while averaging roughly the same fuel economy as that MGB. To make the comparison even more clear, in 1977 the Corvette offered 165 hp and averaged about 12 mpg!
Of course, I would point out that while a modern compact car is likely objectively superior in every way to that classic, there is something to be said for the idea of running errands in a romantic red Alfa Romeo Spider (24 mpg according to Cars That Matter).
In the vein of used sports cars that get decent mileage, I would suggest expanding this list forward a few years. 1989 (as a 1990 model year) brought the return of the classic roadster in the form of the Mazda Miata (well, to be fair, one could still buy an Alfa Romeo Spider in the U.S. at the time, but Mazda redefined the idea with modern reliability and lower cost). A 1.6 Liter Miata (1990-1994) easily gets 28 mpg and can be found used for just a few thousand dollars in good shape. Other interesting sports cars from that era include the Honda CRX and the Toyota MR2. So, you can have fun in a car that may become a future collectible, get acceptable fuel economy, and still gloat about the fact that you are driving a recycled car.
Steve Haas
~editor's note: Steve will be at Pebble Beach this weekend in the eBay booth where he will be assisting with the charity car auctions as his role as President of the AMerican Concours Association.
Stumble It!
As a classic car nut, I've owned a few of these (Spitfire 1500, MGB... two of them actually, which just proves that I'm a masochist, and an older Porsche 911 which is strangely left off of this list but averaged in the mid 20's for me).
I think this list is extremely interesting and also points out just how far our cars have come over the past 30 years. While the average economy of the U.S. car fleet hasn't gone up noticeably in the past 20 years, this is more due to the bigger share of trucks and SUVs in the mix. Individual cars are more fuel efficient, faster, cleaner and more comfortable than they ever were. Case in point from this list is the aforementioned MGB. While certainly a jaunty little British sports car, that 24 mpg average (pretty good in 1965) came from a car that weighed about 1,900 lbs, produced roughly 100 hp, and lacked features like three-point seat belts not to mention airbags, crush zones, ABS brakes, air conditioning, an FM radio, and an engine that could go more than two weeks without having to check things like dashpot oil levels (there's your quiz automotive for the day). Later MGBs gained modern seat belts and probably even offered some conveniences like 8-track players and ugly padded safety dashboards but also lost about 35% of their horsepower to emissions controls. In comparison, a modern Corvette offers safety levels unimaginable in 1980, every modern convenience, and 435 hp while averaging roughly the same fuel economy as that MGB. To make the comparison even more clear, in 1977 the Corvette offered 165 hp and averaged about 12 mpg!
Of course, I would point out that while a modern compact car is likely objectively superior in every way to that classic, there is something to be said for the idea of running errands in a romantic red Alfa Romeo Spider (24 mpg according to Cars That Matter).
In the vein of used sports cars that get decent mileage, I would suggest expanding this list forward a few years. 1989 (as a 1990 model year) brought the return of the classic roadster in the form of the Mazda Miata (well, to be fair, one could still buy an Alfa Romeo Spider in the U.S. at the time, but Mazda redefined the idea with modern reliability and lower cost). A 1.6 Liter Miata (1990-1994) easily gets 28 mpg and can be found used for just a few thousand dollars in good shape. Other interesting sports cars from that era include the Honda CRX and the Toyota MR2. So, you can have fun in a car that may become a future collectible, get acceptable fuel economy, and still gloat about the fact that you are driving a recycled car.
Steve Haas
~editor's note: Steve will be at Pebble Beach this weekend in the eBay booth where he will be assisting with the charity car auctions as his role as President of the AMerican Concours Association.
Labels: collector cars, MotaGreen, Used Cars
Stumble It!
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