Video: Avion timewarps from 1984, sets new mileage record of 113.1 mpg
Remembered as the year that the Apple Macintosh first went on sale, Michael Jackson's hair caught on fire and Richard Petty won his 200th NASCAR race, 1984 was also when Craig Henderson and Bill Green finished building the Avion prototype. Designed to be as streamlined as possible and built on an aluminum chassis with a composite body, the car made the Guinness Book of Records by achieving 103.7 mpg on a West coast drive from Mexico to Canada. Now, more than 20 years later with an updated drivetrain, the Avion has smashed that mark and achieved 113.1 mpg on a 263 mile trip through the State of Washington. The run even included getting trapped in Seattle traffic. Twice.
The restored, updated version of the vehicle burns diesel and uses a 6-speed semi-automatic manual transmission from a Smart Fortwo. The Avion website claims it only requires 3 to 6 horsepower to maintain highway speed and should reach 100 mph. About the achievement Henderson said, "I am thrilled to be able to break our old record. This was a personal goal achieved for me and now we set our sites on the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE. We are in the process of building another car to compete and hopefully win the X PRIZE and we are seeking corporate or personal sponsorship to help us meet or goals". If you want your own Avion that might be possible as they say they are now "tooling up" to do a limited production run. Hit the jump to do the timewarp with a pair of videos, past and present, to see the Avion in action doing it mileage over-achieving thing.
[Source: Avion via JoeReal at GM-Volt forum]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
gulags 7:05PM (10/14/2008)
The first operational flight of the Shuttle (that is, the first to carry astronauts) was in STS-1, Columbia, in 1982.
Neat car though.
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Domenick Yoney 11:32PM (10/14/2008)
Thanks for that. I wish I had the excuse, "Oh, I was born in 1985 and it was all before my time.", but I don't.
fnc 8:35PM (10/14/2008)
A neat take on the hypercar concept. 1550 pounds according to the website. Can it actually cruise down the highway using only six horsepower? That's amazing if true.
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Jo 9:07PM (10/14/2008)
Not bad ... a nice update might be some modern LED (low-energy use) lighting and recycled interior materials.
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Mike!!ekiM 9:56PM (10/15/2008)
Looks like the EV1's mother.
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Derek 9:38PM (10/14/2008)
Looks awesome, but I'm doubting the 3-6hp number. They claim a .27 drag coefficient in the brochure on the website. Even with low drag tires and a low frontal area, 55mph would take closer to 7-8hp and 70mph nearly doubles that. Of course, the typical sedan is closer to 20hp to do 70mph.
Not to take anything away from the car they've made though. Even those numbers easily enough line up with their claimed mileage if you can drive 55 and have an efficient motor.
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rob 12:23AM (10/15/2008)
Depends on what "highway speed" means too. 45mph?
Ignoring rolling resistance, 3hp and a Cd of .27 allows for 2.2m^2 of frontal area at 45mph. That's quite a generous amount of frontal area for that car, really...
Derek 7:14PM (10/15/2008)
As you bring down the Cd, rolling resistance becomes more significant. Even with a low 0.01 Crr, rolling resistance on a 1550# car is 1.8hp at 45mph, increasing the 3hp by more than 50%.
I can concede 55mph for a highway speed because that was the National speed limit at the time, but 45mph is a reach.
To hit 6hp at 55mph with the same 0.01 Crr would mean going down to 1.16m^2, or 12.5ft^2 frontal area, which is really more like a large motorcycle. 1.75-2m^2 is more realistic for frontal area of anything larger than a city car.
Victor 10:39PM (10/14/2008)
Made in 1984 and beats any other car in 2008 with conventional technology.
Their car looks well made, it doesn't have that 'home made' look. I wish them well.
btw: Avion means 'airplane' in french. Not bird or aviator.
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Luke 3:44AM (10/15/2008)
I've driven the Smart Car, and I wouldn't wish that alledged "transmission" on my worst enemy (well, perhaps I would). Why not a manual transmissio to reduce weight? Then add wheel skirts for an addional 2-4% increas in mpg. Finally, make the headlights flush with the front of the car.
There are certianly a number of other modifications that could be done, but the ones I just mentioned are freakin' obvious. The next record could easily be over 120 mpg.
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Penina 8:00AM (10/15/2008)
This is the mileage automakers should be cooing about ... not that 28mpg nonsense. Kudos to Avion!
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amg 11:43AM (10/15/2008)
smart "fourtwo"? really?? you don't know how to spell the name of the car??? on this website????
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Domenick Yoney 12:44PM (10/15/2008)
I have some weird mental block when it comes to this car. I even went to the Smart website to double check and I guess I misread it. Thanks and fixed.
amg 3:12PM (10/15/2008)
I think it's the number association: we know there's a 'two' so our brains think '4-2' not 'for two.' At least the forfour doesn't exist anymore!
Glenn 2:21PM (10/21/2008)
Good for them, I hope they get some $$ backing them so they can make it even better.
http://onegreenplace.blogspot.com
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Craig Henderson 3:00PM (10/23/2008)
Thanks for the great comments. We are building the next Avion and we will keep pushing the project along.
Thanks
Craig Henderson
Avion cars
PS We drove over 525 miles that day.
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Tony Rusi 5:43PM (10/24/2008)
The Viking Research Institute has been turning out supercars for 30 years. They must have alot of NIH morons in Detroit. They could have been crushing the world car market with these things for the last three decades. The speed limit on I-5 varies between 70 and 55 in Washington. If Boeing had any gumption whatsoever they would have started a new division to make these things in Bellingham long ago. These things are closer to aircraft construction than automotive. The cool thing is that most people would need only 200 gallons of biodiesel to run this fliver for a YEAR! And you can grow your own Biodiesel from Algae at home now for less than a dollar a gallon! Bye Bye OPEC!!
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