1959 Opel gets 375 miles per gallon

Could you believe that a 1959 Opel made the 1975 Guiness World Record book? Its claim to fame is getting an amazing 376.59 miles per gallon of gasoline, and that in a 1973 contest sponsored by Shell Oil (now Royal Dutch Shell).

The Opel's rear axle was narrowed and super-hard low-friction tires were used. To save even more weight, a chain drive was used. The engine was pretty much the stock 4-cylinder that came with the car, but the fuel line was insulated and heated so the gasoline entered the combustion chambers as lean vapor.

The record was achieve by driving the car at a steady 30 mph (48 kph).

Now of course this isn't exactly a practical car. But even if you changed it enough to reduce its performance by 250 mpg, that still leaves you with 126 mpg! With modern technology, we should be able to do much better than what we're doing now.

Common sense wins again: Make cars lighter, more aerodynamic, and use smaller engines.