Opel P1 Experimental Prototype

[snmbroyles]

I have never heard of this Opel and is it special enough to be worth $425,000?

Opel for sale | Hemmings Motor News

[sawdust]

......... is it special enough to be worth $425,000?

This 1959 Opel achieved over 376 miles per gallon in Wood River, Illinois, in 1973!!

[SpringGT]

I have never heard of this Opel and is it special enough to be worth $425,000?

Opel for sale | Hemmings Motor News

This thing surfaces on line from time to time, with some ridiculous asking price. I seem to remember that it is some small-displacement, belt driven gimmick, constructed solely to set gas mileage records.

For $424,000, buy an Aston Martin instead!

[snmbroyles]

..... over 376 miles per gallon in Wood River, Illinois, in 1973!!

If they had used a GT body they could have had 400 mpg.

[wklopf]

This thing surfaces on line from time to time, with some ridiculous asking price. I seem to remember that it is some small-displacement, belt driven gimmick, constructed solely to set gas mileage records.

For $424,000, buy an Aston Martin instead!

Bob is right about this showing up from time to time. Here is a link to an article in Hemmings in 2008. It uses a four-cylinder engine. The rear wheels are moved together in the middle and are driven by a chain. The photos show it before it was spruced up. Apparently that work increased the value by a cool $49,000, based on the asking price in 2008. Bill

Big Oil conspiracy! 376 mpg Opel uncovered! | Hemmings Blog: Classic and collectible cars and parts

[kwschumm]

Wow, that red thing in the back looks suspiciously like my homelite air blower.

Hmm, hook that to the chain drive and off it goes!

[wklopf]

Wow, that red thing in the back looks suspiciously like my homelite air blower.

Hmm, hook that to the chain drive and off it goes!

To me that red thing in the back looks like a bell housing with a shaft coming out of it where there should be a sprocket for the chain drive. Bill

[NineLivesGT]

Wow... I found this little Opel experiment really interesting, and really strange.

I'm not sure WHAT this thing is or how it came to be, but it is fascinating.

Seems like possibly a " I wonder what would happen if " kind of tinkerer (so naturally he was working on an OPEL !!!) who worked for Shell Oil in the early 70's must have gotten some backing from the company to fund his crazy attempt to break the all-time highest mileage record for gasoline engined vehicle ?

From what I'm reading on it, he used a lawnmower carburetor on the engine, heated the gasoline/air mixture until it vaporized and then supplied the vapor to the engine. This means that a Opel tinkerer not only INVENTED direct fuel vapor injection, but also holds the all-time record for high mileage achievement.

Gotta say I laughed when I read the logo written on the front fender : "OPEL IS A FOUR LETTER WORD"

I did find a video of the car here:

High mileage car. 376 mpg! - YouTube

and also a website dedicated to the car here: Shell Opel

I can't believe someone's asking $425,000 for the thing. Anybody with some square tubing, a MIG welder, a few lawn mower parts, and an old Opel body shell could build a duplicate for about $425 !!!

The paint pattern on the side of the car appears to be silhouettes of sea shell stickers sprayed over with a rattle-can of gold colored Krylon spray paint... (like something I would have done under the maple tree in the backyard after too many beers)... so I guess that was sort of supposed to represent the Shell Oil Company ??? Amazing that a multi-national global oil giant would have had their company represented this way. You'd think Shell Oil would have sprung for a slick high-dollar professional paint job.

I'd be curious if anyone else found any other detail on the car's development from the beginning. If didn't know better, I'd have said it was something my hacker brother made out of Dad's old lawn mowers, our bunk bed frame, and a body shell he stole out of old-man Darnell's cornfield. $425,0000 ??? ha ha ha ha

[ggl]

From what I'm reading on it, he used a lawnmower carburetor on the engine, heated the gasoline/air mixture until it vaporized and then supplied the vapor to the engine. This means that a Opel tinkerer not only INVENTED direct fuel vapor injection, but also holds the all-time record for high mileage achievement.

Pre-heating gasoline until it vaporizes in a contraption that looks like it was made in someone's garden shed, in my opinion whoever got behind the wheel of that thing was a very brave man because to me that sounds like a fire bomb on wheels

[ghcoe]

It is called a "Hot Vapor" engine. A lot of good information on it here. Good MPG, good power, very tricky to work with. You have heard of those 100mpg carbs? This is the technology they used.

Smokey Yunick’s Hot Vapor Fiero; 51 mpg and 0-60 in less than 6 Seconds! See and hear it run in our exclusive VIDEO! : Legendary Collector Cars