HOW MANY MILES PER CORD?

A Finnish politician has converted his American-built El Camino to run on woodgas.

(Thanks to J<ohn Gregg)

Comments

[Jeff Meyerson]

Hands down the single stupidest vehicle ever made in America.

[Punkin]

I thought that was the Gremlin, Jeff.

[coscolo]

The "wood gas" gizmo looks more expensive and high-tech than the actual wood-burning truck conversion done by an old farmer in northern Wisconsin. I have a couple of photos that I tried to paste here, didn't work. I have a feeling the driver better stay out of cities with air-quality regs.

[wiredog]

The El Camino was great. Had a 350 V-8, very customizable. Could put astro-turf in the back. Had a bench seat for cuddling.

The Ford version (Maverick,IIRC) had a 302 V-8..

[Annie in Texas]

Well it's not exactly a DeLorian, a Mr. Fusion and a hovercraft conversion, but if it runs on stale beer and banana peels it can't be all bad.

PS. I spelled DeLorian about 12 different ways and none of them look right, somebody help me out.

[Martini Shark]

Fill her up with unlimbed please, and also check the sap.

[bonmot]

That ought to help him get across the Finnish line.

Bill Clinton used to drive a El Camino with astroturf in the back. 'Nuff said.

[Jeff Meyerson]

Yes, the Gremlin was pretty bad, Punkin.

[funny man]

Jeff, Punkin, are you sure it wasn't the Pinto, or
(for foreign entry) the Yugo?

[wiredog]

Annie:
DeLorean

[Annie in Texas]

I spelled it that way, too, and then changed it again. Thanks!!

[Mad Librarian]

Coming from my cultural background, my first thought was, "Hey! World's coolest motorized moonshine still!"

[ken in sc]

74 Vega, worst American car ever made. Gear shift came off in my hand. Head light light fell out on the road. Electric fuel pump stopped when headlights turned on.

[Loudmouth]

The El Cam was a really cool looking vehicle. This guy should be prosecuted in World Guy Court for This travesty. A tank of gasoline weighs around #100. He has to have #125 of wood and the additional weight and bulk of the reactor vessel. He'd have to have a trailer if he wanted to do any work.

The Ford version was the Ranchero. I have to agree the Vega-bond was the rotten apple depths of American iron.

[Ralph]

Doesn't that son of a birch know you're supposed to wait millions of years for the trees to turn into oil? He's probably so impatient that he drinks milk, instead of waiting for it to become cottage cheese. Those darn treehuggers don't understand the economics of globalization.

[Mens Flare]

Either way, the New Austerity means massive cuts to the government transfer payments (or other indirect benefits) so many Americans have come to depend on. The poor and what's left of our Middle Class are going to pay a heavy, heavy price. Don't worry about the rich; they'll be alright—just in case you were concerned about that. Withdrawing all that borrowed money from an economy as structurally unsound as ours is going to have catastrophic effects. For chrissakes, we hardly have a private housing market! (Unless you pay cash.) And we won't have one for years to come.

Either/Or, the outcome's the same. If you think I'm being overly sensational and pessimistic, I defy you to lay out a plausible scenario in which America is not a Banana Republic by 2021, is not a country with perpetual bread lines stretching around the block where few can afford health care and the elderly are dying left and right from poverty & neglect. (Remember the effects of inflation on those with fixed incomes.) Not to mention the food & energy bills imposed on those who still have a job and disposable income. If your plausible scenario entails wildly unrestrained GDP growth from now until the End of Time, don't bother to offer it.

[Pateratic]

The Ford version was the Ranchero, based on the Torino, for the most part. Maverick/Comet was a whole 'nother platform. And the worst vehicle ever created was the AMC Pacer, with, maybe, the ca. 1990 Chevy Caprice as a close second... I mean, c'mon! Goldfish don't drive.