18 MPG in an Imperial?

["hugh hemphill" <hugtrees@xxxxxxxx>]

Subject: Re: IML: 8 mpg


Roy Braatz: I get 18mpg on the road in my 57 imperial.

 Hi,

I am confident I am getting similarly excellent milage in my '58 Imperial.
These cars won best in class economy trial run by Mobil gas for three years
in a row, 56, 57 & 58.  I have not heard how well they did after this.  The
introduction of the lighter, simpler 413 should not have been a serious blow
to MPG but I don't really know.

Following some of the many posts in this thread, particularly from our whizz
engineer, Dimitrios, who really knows about this stuff, it seems these cars
were more economical at high speed and high revs than at lower speeds.  I
have had this hunch for some time.  To be frank, in the urban cycle, my car
is appalling.  In stop, start, crush hour traffic the gas just seems to
disappear.  However, on the highway, at around 75 MPH, the needle hardly
seems to move, hour after hour.

It had been my contention, disputed by an owner of a '56 in '56, that these
cars were primarily designed as highway cruisers.  His contention is the
opposite and he cites the fact that the interstate system hardly existed in
even the late fifties.  As someone who has chosen to drive many of the old
blue highways of Texas, finding them a lot more interesting and satisfying
for non-essential driving, as you get to be so much closer to the farms and
small towns dotted all around, I maintain that these cars are at their best
on such roads.  Of course, these roads are infinitely less congested than
they were when they were principal routes.

In contrast to what I have found, Popular Mechanics, July 1958, gives the
following data:

Urban crawl : 8.3 MPG
30 MPH : 16.3 MPG
50 MPH : 14.7 MPG
70 MPH : 12.9 MPG

So, it may be a case of mistaken assumptions on my part.  It may be that I
so enjoy driving the car on the open road that I simply multiply the actual
MPG by factoring in the fun effect.  It works for me.

Hugh