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Hi guys n' gals,

First off, yes, I really do drive a 1976 Plymouth Valiant, hence the tongue-in-cheek screen name. This IS a source of constant ridicule for me from friends...but I guess I must not care.

Am I really a redneck? In my mind, yeah...come from Jacksonville FL originally. Sure, I'm college educated, can count to 21 with my shoes on and fly up...but have a southern sensibility to how I approach life.

My fun is seemingly everything. Running or rollerblading with my dog, biking, working on cars, hanging out with my girl...heck, even work, since I'm nicely paid to watch sports.

Details about my car:
1976 Plymouth Valiant
360 ci V8, now displaces 372ci's.
Built solely by me
Has run as fast as 12.90 seconds at 106 mph in the 1/4 mile
Has been configured to get as high as 27 mpg...and in that state, still ran 14.2@95 in the 1/4 mile.
Gold
4 Door
4 speed manual...I've got one unit with a 1:1 final gear, and one unit with a 0.73:1 final gear that I can switch out rather easily.
Axle ratio is swapped between a 2.94:1 and a 3.90:1 depending on what I plan on doing durring the upcoming months.

Does it get great mileage? Not always...I can configure it so that it gets ~13mpg, but for what it is, being able to get 27mpg on the occassion that I configure it as such is pretty good.

Is it good looking? Never!


Is it fun? Always.

Is it clean? By 1976 standards, it passes at least.

But it does give me a chance to learn about and enjoy cars...and what makes them more efficient. I have a shade-tree engineer's knowledge about efficiency and am loaded to the hilt as to how to make cars more efficient, not just now, but in the future.

But a brief take on my general outlook:

Do I like Hybrids?
Yep...although I believe the current ones can be altered to deliver both better performance and efficiency with some rather simple changes.

Do I think gas-only powered cars will be obsolete?
Nope. Gas prices will probably come back down and the majority of people will buy whatever makes the most economical sense to them. Hybrids will probably still be had at a price premium come that time.

Do I care that my car is "dirty" with regards to emmissions?
Nope...it gets driven so few miles it doesn't contribute a hill of beans...or even a percentage of a bean...or even a fraction of a percentage of a micro-bean in the whole scheme of things.

Do I dislike SUV's?
Nope. Actually, I have one myself...although I bought one with my needs in mind, since I occassionally tow a boat, a car, and a trailer for odds n' ends and will occassionally off-road during camping excursions...and of course, the 4x4 is nice during snow and when I'm in Aspen to ski. It's a jeep cherokee that I average about 21 mpg in combined driving thanks to the right-driver-foot mod. Just big enough to get all the above done.

Anyways, I'll always be honest and well thought out with regards to my opinions...even if they won't always mesh with everyone elses. You'll probably get, at the very least unique perspective, and questions are always welcomed.

chris

Welcome, Chris. We’ve got hobbits, okies, bicyclists, engineers, farmers, right wingers, teenagers, doctors, swordsmen, nuclear plant operators and treehuggers here. You can’t possibly not fit in.

Welcome PrinceValiant! You sound a lot like a friend of mine who believes that more power doesn't have to mean less efficient.

You sound a lot like a friend of mine who believes that more power doesn't have to mean less efficient. You should listen to your friend...he/she is absolutely correct :D

Thanks for the welcome...

You should listen to your friend...he/she is absolutely correct :D

Thanks for the welcome...

I did. That's how my DOHC Saturn is putting out somewhere in the neighborhood of 160-170 hp and is averaging just over 50 mpg. I may have to introduce him to you sometime.

Howdy Redneck!!!!

Welcome to Cleanmpg. Enjoy your stay. Grear up the old Mopar and shoot for 35 mpg... :)

Welcome, Chris, from another with some redneck tendencies!

Your car reminds me of my first one ... somewhat. It was a '73 Plymouth Duster with a 225 slant 6. I didn't care if it didn't have the power. It was, well, my first car. And I was an excited 18 year old. I bought pinstriping, fake mag wheel covers, wooden steering wheel and gear shift knob, and a host of other cheap accessories that I can't even remember now. I thought I was hot stuff.

But I got humbled big time. During a fillup the attendant checked the oil for me. (There still was such a thing as full service back then.) He popped the hood, looked at the engine, leaned around and looked at the outside of the car, looked back under the hood, looked at the outside again, then sarcastically said, "Where's the other half of your V12?" Smart***!

Welcome! It's always good to see someone come on board with a different way of looking at things. Though maybe not that different in the grand scheme of things. I think we all like to have our fun in our own ways. ;)

21mpg out of a Cherokee sounds like you've got a pretty good handle on things already.

Thanks again guys...

The highest mileage I've obtained in the Cherokee was on a road-trip down to FL. Drafting a trucker (safely, mind you) and keeping it a sedate 65mph (that's relative to the rest of traffic) I was able to pull down 26.5 mpg. Honest mileage with no drafting shenanigans is ~23 or so on road trips.

Actually, I plan to sell the cherokee off though...I'll no longer need it's station wagon qualities. I plan on replacing it with an intermediate sized car in the next few months or so. I'll continue to have a need for towing, but I'll get away with borrowing my buddy's truck for a while...

But thanks for the kind words...look forward to reading and sharing info!

Your car reminds me of my first one ... somewhat. It was a '73 Plymouth Duster with a 225 slant 6. I didn't care if it didn't have the power. It was, well, my first car. And I was an excited 18 year old. I bought pinstriping, fake mag wheel covers, wooden steering wheel and gear shift knob, and a host of other cheap accessories that I can't even remember now. I thought I was hot stuff. Lol...I had a 66 plymouth belvedere with the leaning tower of power and three on the tree tranny. Loved that car...we had headers and a large exhaust on there, so if you couldn't discern the sound of a inline six vs a v8, you'd think the thing was a hemi.

That was my first car that we modded for economy...no sense in going for speed in that thing. We were able to knock down 27-28 mpg iirc in that thing with ignition and exhaust mods, and going with a later 70's two barrel carb and modding it to run leaner than stock. It wasn't too bad considering that it was in a large car with moderate gears out back.

Actually, I just recently purchased a 72 duster...it's for my drag racing hobby. It'll probably knock down 0.25 miles to the gallon racing down the strip...that should certainly qualify me for the lowest mileage on the sire :o

Welcome fellow Milwaukeean!

If you go to the car show at the Midwest Express Center any time between Feb. 24 & March 4, check out the Milwaukee Hybrid Group booth - we're going to be somewhere on the second level. Although we are nominally a group of hybrid owners, we have some who are not, & our interests go beyond vehicles where the environment is concerned.

As far as a replacement for your jeep, may I recommend the Ford Escape Hybrid? (Not that I'm biased or anything! :D ) As you can see from my signature, the FE is great, & you can tow up to 1000lbs. with it.

Welcome to CleanMPG!

The thing about a 70s car is there is so much you can do to improve the fuel economy. Stuf like gagues, electronic ignition, tires...

Welcome to the site, it's always nice to have more Milwaukee members here.

My Grandpa used to have a '67 Valiant he used as his daily driver. I have always liked smaller Chrysler vehicles, my first car was a 1986 Plymouth Reliant K-car. Decent mileage, but nowhere near as efficient (or fast) as my Insight. If you do go check out the auto show, be sure to find the Milwaukee Hybrid Group booth and pick up some information. I'm sure you will find someone interested in hypermiling. We'd love to see you at a hybrid meeting sometime soon, I'm sure you'd bring some interesting discussion to the table. Also, the Valiant next to all of the hybrids in the lot would make a nice picture of old vs. new technology. Check out our website at www.milwaukeehybridgroup.com

Hi Chris:

___Let me also welcome you to CleanMPG.

___WRT you tastes, all fine and dandy except for the following:Is it clean? By 1976 standards, it passes at least.

But a brief take on my general outlook:

Do I care that my car is "dirty" with regards to emissions?

Nope...it gets driven so few miles it doesn't contribute a hill of beans...or even a percentage of a bean...or even a fraction of a percentage of a micro-bean in the whole scheme of things.
___If you can afford a newer automobile, please consider it at your earliest convenience given your 76 Valiant is more then likely bleeding more VOC’s in 8 hours while not running then the total amount of SMOG based emissions coming from the tail pipe of a PZEV based Accord, FEH, HCH-I/II or Prius II while driving back and forth to work daily. Those older cars were absolutely horrid in terms of their evaporative emissions let alone what comes out of the tailpipe while you are driving.

___In terms of not amounting to a hill of beans … Unfortunately, we are all guilty any time we light up our personal vehicles but that is not a reason to help your fellow family member, neighbor, citizen or fellow man. Would you start your car up in the garage and leave the inner door to your home open while you were watching TV? If not, why emit the same amount of junk into the environment if you did not have to? We all matter and if there is anything you need from us in terms of new automobile choice, we will bend over backwards helping you find your own almost perfect clean vehicle in which to get you back and forth to work, the store, or relatives home with the least amount of both SMOG forming and GHG based emissions possible.

___Being local to some of us makes you an easy convert as Justin has mentioned. Come on over to a Group Meet and meet some of the membership here in person. Take a quick drive in a Prius II/FEH/HCH-I/II and see for yourself how much fun these cars truly are. Flooring it might feel good for a few seconds but scanning for traffic conditions, watching beautiful instrumentation and changing habits for the betterment of all lasts a lifetime ;)

___Good Luck

___Wayne