I agree with you totally, which is why I talked my wife out of a Prius. When you can plug a Prius into the grid, and have part of that grid as solar panels on your roof, it makes better sense.
But, this thread started out questioning the mythical 100 (or 200) MPG carb, and this is what I was commenting on.
I don't agree with your viewpoint on hydrogen. I feel the cost of producing hydrogen fuel cells and hydrogen-powered vehicles will be unavailable for the masses. This leads to a radical (for someone who usually votes conservative, anyway) shift in logic, away from transportation for the individual and more public transportation such as trains, subways, etc. This will be the inevitable outcome when the oil finally does run out. After all, considering it takes something on the order of 800,000 years for plankton to form crude, and the earth currently is not enjoying the worldwide tropical climate necessary for this process to take place, it's obvious that at some point, the crude will *run out*, regardless of what the environmentalists want.
Anyway, back to the subject at hand. One of the problems with replicating Pogue's carburetor is the difference between today's additive-laden, long carbon chain gasoline blends, and what was available then. Back in Pogue's day, there were no additives in the fuel and the simple distillation used to produce it resulted in a fuel that vaporized easier. It was called 'white gas'. Any attempt to replicate Pogue's setup would mandate using this fuel.
Is it still available? Not sure if there are other sources for white gas, but one readily attainable one is in the sporting goods section in many stores. It's called Coleman lantern fuel.
But, this thread started out questioning the mythical 100 (or 200) MPG carb, and this is what I was commenting on.
I don't agree with your viewpoint on hydrogen. I feel the cost of producing hydrogen fuel cells and hydrogen-powered vehicles will be unavailable for the masses. This leads to a radical (for someone who usually votes conservative, anyway) shift in logic, away from transportation for the individual and more public transportation such as trains, subways, etc. This will be the inevitable outcome when the oil finally does run out. After all, considering it takes something on the order of 800,000 years for plankton to form crude, and the earth currently is not enjoying the worldwide tropical climate necessary for this process to take place, it's obvious that at some point, the crude will *run out*, regardless of what the environmentalists want.
Anyway, back to the subject at hand. One of the problems with replicating Pogue's carburetor is the difference between today's additive-laden, long carbon chain gasoline blends, and what was available then. Back in Pogue's day, there were no additives in the fuel and the simple distillation used to produce it resulted in a fuel that vaporized easier. It was called 'white gas'. Any attempt to replicate Pogue's setup would mandate using this fuel.
Is it still available? Not sure if there are other sources for white gas, but one readily attainable one is in the sporting goods section in many stores. It's called Coleman lantern fuel.
