1953 Economy Run

At a minute past midnight, 26 autos headed out of Los Angeles for Sun Valley in the fourth annual "Mobilgas Economy Run," a three-day trip to determine which U.S. car gets the best gas mileage. General Motors, which has passed up the test in the past, did so again (one dealer entered a Chevrolet on his own hook, but was disqualified when he missed a turn and ran out of gas). Willys did not participate either. But aside from them, every standard make mass-produced in the U.S. was represented.

On the 1,200-mile trip to Sun Valley, the cars averaged 44.7 m.p.h., racked up an average 22 miles per gallon. The big winner, for the fourth year in a row: Ford Motor Co., whose Ford Mainline Six, driven by Les Viland of the Ford engineering department, averaged 56.7 "ton miles" per gallon (weight of car and passengers in tons, multiplied by mileage, and divided by gallons of gas consumed). On the basis of actual miles per gallon (27.03), the Mainline Six was second to a four-cylinder Henry J "Corsair" (28.25). In third place was Studebaker's six-cylinder Champion, with 26.86 miles per gallon.*

To the average U.S. motorist, who thinks he is doing fine if he gets 18 or 20 miles per gallon, the results of the economy run might seem fantastically good. The reason for the economy run's more impressive showing is that most of the cars, though stock models, were driven by experts. For weeks before the test, professional drivers had covered the course time & again, charting hills, corners and roadblocks, and timing traffic lights through the various towns to avoid gas-wasting stops & starts. During the test itself, some even had weather cars driving ahead to signal any sudden shifts of wind. Said Winning Driver Viland: "It's almost like a road race within legal speed limits."

*Order of other finishers, on the basis of miles per gallon: Hudson Super Jet, 25.42; Nash Rambler Super. 25.37; Studebaker Commander, 24.50; Dodge V8, 23.41; Studebaker Land Cruiser, 23.39; Mercury Monterey, 23.15; Studebaker Land Cruiser (with automatic shift), 22.88; Plymouth Cranbrook, 22.83; Nash Ambassador, 22.54; Ford Mainline Eight, 22.51; Kaiser Manhattan, 22.27; Hudson Jet, 22.05; Kaiser Dragon, 21.45; Nash Ambassador Custom, 21.12; De Soto Firedome V8, 20.92; Lincoln Capri, 19.94; Nash Statesman, 19.44; Hudson Super Wasp, 19.09; Hudson Hornet, 18.95; Packard Clipper, 18.67; Chrysler New Yorker, 17.75; Chrysler Imperial, 17.29.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.