i'm 60 years old and i will NEVER forget being with my dad in the car in line to get gas. the attendant would walk to the end of the line and put a sign behind the last car and if you were behind that car you were screwed until tomorrow. to this day i get anxiety unless i have a full tank.

I drive a 1967 Riviera GS. 430 Big block. No $600 car payments and $200 insurance. The way I see it, paying $350 in gas a month plus $125 per year in classic car insurance is still saving me roughly $500 bucks a month!

Working at a gas station in NY I remember it well. Gas lines. Odd & even license plates to get gas. People were freaking out. The flip side....Some of the baddest muscle cars on the planet selling for $300.00. Good times.

I remember buying a small booklet back in the early 80's called " The Super mileage carburetor". I think I paid 16 bucks for it, it's kicking around somewhere on my bookshelf. The nice thing about pressure on fuel is, it brings out the best in engineering. A 1976 slant six producing 97hp @ 36 mpg, fast forward to a 707hp engine with the same mpg. None of that would have happened if there weren't pressure.

Dont forget the early 60s Falcons with the small inline sixes- you kept them tuned up and your foot out of them and they'd get around 22-27 mpg which was unheard of for the time.

I'M glad you are going to do this , Tony . One thing I would like to clear up is the gas prices in Europe . Gas prices are higher in Europe because of the taxes placed upon it by governments . some of it is the price of oil but a majority of the price is a tax to support public transportation . Keep up the great work . I'll be following . Wicked pissa !

Everybody calm down. It's not the end of the world

Air pumps were my favorite accessory from those years, a hp robbing device to inject air into the exhaust to meet the required ppm reading. Not that it was more efficient just was the only to meet the requirements.

Like you, I am old enough to remember the energy crisis of the 70s. I’m also old enough to remember when America was a net exporter of energy. Of course that was only a year ago.

Love it when the Professor Uncle Tony comes out. You need to wear a 3 pc tweed suit when you have talks like this one. I know you are a gear head but you are really smart about society in general. You completely nailed the petroleum issue of the early 70's and the geopolitical reasons for it in the most concise way I've ever heard. I too was there. :)

It was more than the gold standard the first time around. I believe it was also due to the US support of Israel during the Yom Kippur War which angered the Arab nations who at that time were producing and exporting oil to us. The second time in 1979, it was partially due to the fall of Shah of Iran and the US support for him (it was rumored that he came to the US for medical treatment. Some say it's a fallacy, but the general consensus was that he did come here). It didn't quite go up to a dollar until the 2nd crisis in 1979. It went up to about 55 cents around May 1974. Don't forget that Chrysler had some imports from Mitsubishi. The theory was in the 1970s, "If you can't beat them, join them". Like you said, "What's old is new again", and we will certainly "play that tune again". It affected them all. In 1979, we were going to buy a 400/4 speed Black SE Trans Am, but right at the time we were going to go do it, the second gas crisis hit. We put off buying the '79 and of course by 1980, the 301 Turbo was the top engine. We did get a Trans Am in 1980 and I still have it. We are in some weird times. When my NYS registrations didn't come in the mail (and to date have not), the DMV said it was "due to a lack of materials". Funny, I just renewed my classic car registrations and those came in a week's time like they always do. Not sure why the others haven't come, they use the same paper stock. LOL.

I remember back in the '60's filling up my '67 Dart GT (with 273 Charger engine) for just $4.00. Yes, you read that right... $4.00. But pay really sucked.

Good call on the printing of money. Milton Friedman knew this decades ago: print money, get inflation.

I had a beautiful rusty beige dart lite as a kid. I've never been so sad about crashing it as I am now... I remember it getting damn near 30 mpg. At 16 I loved that car. Never ever considered it as a valuable then, paid like 50 bucks Canadian for it. I packed the hood so full of snow one night that it was an ice block the next morning, lol, it is missed tonight more than any of my ex gf s... Lol thx Tony for such great content!!!

It's about time the efficiency gets noticed. Tony, you often follow my thought process and when it comes to vehicle efficiency, we could be addressing supercharging efficiency. Some blowers are far more efficient than others, yet all will raise volumetric efficiency over 100%. Can't wait for the world to become aware of what is rising to the surface on your channel!

Fiberglass hood, decklid, fenders and smaller /earlier bumpers.....little 14 x 4.5 wheels with pumped up tires. Distributor trick and you will beat the feather/lite duo! cool stuff

Welcome to the American South, Tony! We're glad to count you among us! 🇱🇷

Amazing. I have a car that was made just as Carter was about to leave office, and it gets about 13 MPG, 1980 Jeep Cherokee. It’s my daily driver but it’s got dejavu from 42 years ago when it was built.

Thanks for the history lesson UT! I remember those days. I was running around with a 73 6cyl 3 on the tree ford maverick. Would love to find another one. Had a lot of fun with it beating the crap out of it all the while getting good fuel mileage. 😂😂

We were the biggest oil producer in the world last year, now we're back to begging OPEC for our fuel. That's a high price to pay over some mean tweets.

Hey Uncle T....Preach...I love the fact that I came here for the cars....and found out you like 'alternative history'...Sorry...How about actual history, the one you have to look for ...not the one they spoon feed you on MSM... Have a great day!! From one 'Reader' to another... Peace and blessings!!! You deserve them!!

We're at near $10 the gallon here in Holland. Efi and overdrive is what changed big time my 351c's drinking problems and actually increased driving fun. Aside the economy, which is relative vs investments costs, my plugs, oil, exhaust show the rehab really did good! Keep up the nice work, really enjoying this channel!

Yea Nixon has a lot to answer! Here in New Zealand my daily is Falcon 5.0 Windsor, fuel is about $2.50 a litre, I counter price by not buyin consumer crap I don't need!

I have always thought the Feather Duster an amazing effort by Chrysler Corp using the parts they had in hand with great results. Love how they made their manual into a 4 speed with overdrive.

Reporter to every new California Governor: "What are you going to do about oil companies price gouging Californians on gas?" New Governor (elected with oil company funds) "Ummm ..Yeah.... we're going to look into that." Next four years ***crickets chirping***

I had a 77' full size Dodge car that had the Super Six in it that averaged 22 mpg. What surprised me was it called for the same exhaust as Chrysler 300 Cordoba less the Y-pipe. The crazy part is, it was louder at idle that at cruise speed. Great video, keep them coming.

Once in the early 1980's I heard a guy lamenting about the sluggishness of his daily driver Feather Duster. He was combing for a small block in a wrecking yard near where I was hunting for A-body items. I suggested just swap his 2.76 rear gear for a 3.21or even a 3.55 set. There had to be one or two around since there were so many Valiants & Darts being parted out in those days. His had the A833 overdrive 4-speed, this would have been an easy way to feel a big difference without the pain of changing everything up front (something always doesn't line up)

UT "Yes I agree with you but were not here to talk about that" Perfect! This is why I identify with you and this channel so much KUDOS' UT Great Video!

I really like the 833 new process (over drive), its tough, has better than 3 to 1 first gear, and .7 top gear. You need a broad power band but compared to a regular 4 speed using a 4:56 rear end, it would give you a 5.31 launch. On the hwy, the over drive is like having 3.19 rear end. Big drop on the first shift (5000 to 3000) but if you're driving to the track, the transmision is a gift.

How you describe that car is how I would describe my 94 Jetta. The first car I had and I loved it. It was falling apart around me yet never failed me. I replaced it with a 70’s Beetle because I was sick of fixing cooling system issues and I had wanted one as a kid. Before we got rid of it the thing had sat at least six or eight months and it started up immediately with almost no cranking. Such a fun car, only non stock thing was wider tires that helped you be able to go into corners faster than hell and make it out without flipping, you only felt like you were going to.

Speaking of mpg, have you done a follow up on the perfect daily driver dart? Did it meet your mpg goals?

You learn something new every day, I never knew that about the feather Duster,. Your Duster is looking good, with the aluminum slot wheels...

Saying we were x years away from running out of oil isn't just another trick to manipulate the economy. As technology advanced we were/are able to find, reach, and extract deeper and different forms of petroleum reserves.

My 75 Dart had a special fuel “minder” option where a vacuum switch would activate the left fender mounted turn signal if you applied too much throttle. I enjoyed showing that to mechanics, they wouldn’t believe it until I showed them.

Sometimes I get to feeling like I was born too late. That the good times really are over for good, and I missed them all. But, whenever I watch Uncle Tony, I'm reminded that the times are as good or bad as you want to make them. There's always more than one way to skin a cat so to speak.

Great history lesson Tony. Brings back good memories of the Feather Duster I bought from my dad in the early ‘80’s (that he bought new). One thing I remember about my car that you didn’t mention was that it had a gas miser light ( not sure if that was the correct term). The left turn signal indicator light on top of the fender would come on if you gave the car to much gas. So to maximize fuel economy And still maintain decent acceleration I would only accelerate to the point of the light beginning to flicker before shifting gears. My ‘69 Road Runner sat while I spent most of the time driving the Duster, I clearly remembered the point when gas prices left the upper .90’s per gallon and got over $1.00. Our friends were always excited to share the locations of any gas stations we found that were .98-.99 per gallon. Seeing your video makes wish I still had that Feather Duster, as you described it was a great little car. I’m really glad I still have my ‘69 Road Runner. Thanks for the memory. 👍

the first gas shortage i had my old GMC v-6 truck converted to propane in 73 i was still in high school there was plenty of propane and it was very cheap

Uncle Tony knew building a slant 6 would be new paradigm to combat high fuel prices and still have some zing in the accelerator pedal.

Tony, I just watched you on the youtube video "High Performance Engine Geometry With The Legendary David Vizard". You were talking about rod ratios and power gains. Rod length has more to do with increasing fuel economy than increasing power. But you need at least a 2:1 rod ratio to notice the fuel efficiency increase. You also need to use a dished piston and still maintain a high compression ratio. Difficult to do without swapping to smaller chamber heads. Then you must remove all sharp edges inside the combustion chamber. The sharp edges of the combustion chamber cause fuel mixture to burn in the Exhaust port. The deep dish in the center of the piston will prevent detonation, and you will find you can run a higher compression ratio with a lower octane fuel.

Tony, had a old 78 Plymouth Volary and got normally 24mpg on the highway. Now have a 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee with a 3.6lt and get just over 25mpg on the highway. Basically nothing really changed over the past 50 years. The funny part is that I had a 1990 Dodge Ram 1500 and on a trip I could get just over 20mpg on the highway, made numerous trips from Northern Ohio to South Carolina and was running a averaged speed of 70mph and still got 20 mpg. Now my newer Dodge Ram 1500, I would be shocked if I ever got it over 16mpg.

I will love to see the content towards more efficient tune-up and stuff! Keep it up Uncle Tony and we will not let the flame of car culture and passion go out! Much love from Brazil!!!

My dad graduated high school in '73 and remembers sitting in the gas station lines waiting to feed his '70 Camaro SS/RS he bought in '72. Great timing.

Doing a fuel economy project with a 3rd gen base camaro with a 283, t5 and quadrajet carb! This vid is perfect timing for me since everyone that hears my plans think I’m crazy lol

Best down to earth gear head channel there is.So true on the Feather Duster I knew a guy back in 90,s had one as a dailey.....centerlines on it fats in tha back ..skinneys on front straight shift,drove it everyday and got just as good gas mileage as cars fuel injected.......only 1 I have ever seen original.Love your channel.

I grew up 70 to 74 in highschool small town farm boy . We loved our motorcycles four wheel drive pickup trucks jeeps and mussle cars. My brother bought a 73 or 74 ,duster slant 6 3 speed floor shift . I loved driving it. It had strong torque ran about 24 28 mpg while running it hard on the interstate. Simple clean economic strong running eazy handling. Fun to run . His wife ran it out coolent burnt the engine up. He replaced it then she ran into the ditch springing the front suspension. He got the messages bought her a new car. Her way of keeping up to style.

My 1975 Pontiac Trans Am 455 4 Speed be like "Oh no here we go again.....Im getting too old for for this shit " 🥴

Geez UT, I was 15 in 1976 working every hour after school & weekends to save up enough scratch to get a car, but I'm bummed, I never even heard of the "Feather Duster!" I would've snapped up one instead of the 67 Firebird 400 HO I ended up with, I've always loved the duster body style! I really enjoyed this video brother!

Hey,Uncle Tony, so true those Feather Dusters were easy on fuel. I remember tuning and installing clutches in those in the early eighties. Understanding carb tuning and what makes an engine happy,along with how important rolling resistance is can net some very good results. My 71 Nova that runs 10.5s the way we drive it, full exhaust and drag radials 4.11 gears gets 16+ @60 mph the spark plugs look like they come out of a fuel injected engine. Take the time,get the results. Thanks UT

I got my drivers license in 1980 and at that time I paid $0.99 / gallon... But not for long. The inflation calculator equates that to about $3.35 in 2021so it wasn't that cheap then. Minimum wage went to $3.10 / hour. Ask me how I know 😒. A carton of smokes was $5.55 then. That equates to $18.63 in 2021. A carton sells for about $95 now. WTF 👿

Four bangers are fun, saving money on cars and fuel is a must for those of us with many hobbies and interests. Now, but previously as well.

that paint still looks good on camera!

All my cars here in the UK (from '65 to '02) are 4 cylinder cars, I'm actually on the hunt for a 71 Dart Swinger 225 or 318 to import from the US. We pay nearly £7 a gallon here Uncle T. I won't be put off the chance to own my first Mopar, even if it does only do 16 to the gallon. 😉

My wife's first car was a Dart Lite, OD4. Still have it! Great car!!

VERY interesting! Wish I knew about the Feather Duster 45 years ago! Very cool how they got 30 MPG out of a 225!

I've been working to improve mileage along with power since 2005. I had gotten 18-20mpg highway from an 8.8:1 compression Pontiac 455, turning a 2004R, and 2.93 gears in a 70 GTO. It would also run mid to high 12s. It did it with a Qjet carb on it. Not bad for a car that weighs 4200lbs with me in it going down the track. However with 87 octane being over $5 a gallon I could not afford to drive a 20mpg car. In 2007 I had found a solution to high gas prices and power from my old dinosaur engines. I could crank up the compression using 1967 to 70 small chamber 350 and 400 heads on a 455, making from 10.7 to 13:1 compression possible with a flat top piston, and have fuel that cost me roughly 40 cents a gallon... because I made it myself. Why the high compression that is well over the limit for pump gas? When the static compression increases, so does low and mid range torque, which happens to be where the Pontiac 400 and larger engines make their power. All from idle and under 6000rpm. Higher compression works the same amount of fuel harder, and that gives you more power. The idea is to maximize torque between idle and 4000rpm. Thats where the engine spends most of its time, sure it can rev to 6000, but it rarely does. The more torque your engine makes in that range, the easier it is to move the mass of the vehicle, so it needs less throttle to do the same work as a smaller low compression engine. Thats the method I used to get 20 from a 455 in a heavy old muscle car and still have it run decent. Usually people kill the power, try to run it lean, and just deal with a pig that won't get out of its own way, but I want the power available, even if I don't use it, the power is still there. So how do I get away with 13:1 with iron heads on a big engine in a daily driver? Simple answer is vodka (ethanol). That fuel can withstand very high compression, all the timing the engine wants, and you can boost it with 13:1 if you like as ethanol can handle a lot more than just 13:1. The best part and why I got into it is I can make it from tree sap and cattails, of which I have a lot of each. Around 12:1 static you get the same mileage as gasoline on ethanol, so you do a bit better the higher you go. Then you run the engine hot, like 200-210F hot, its not going to ping and the ethanol will still cool the intake charge as it vaporizes, and you want it to vaporize as completely as possible. Smokey Yunick did the same thing with gasoline, but it was very complex due to the fact some components of gasoline have a 450Fboiling point, whereas with ethanol its 173F at sea level, and it decreases as you go up in altitude/down in pressure, and goes up with more pressure. Vapor has vastly more surface area than atomization, so it burns faster and more completely. Its entirely a matter of surface area. The intake manifold is a low pressure area as the engine is creating a vacuum as it runs, right? Well if you can heat the fuel before it gets to the plenum, it will instantly vaporize when it hits the relative vacuum. EFI makes that very easy to do, and you can achieve some of it with a carb, but since the carbs are vented to atmospheric pressure, you are limited in how hot you can run a carb. I ran the intake hot with a carb, and it worked rather well. With EFI you heat the fuel after the pressure regulator and return, otherwise you will simply heat the fuel in the tank, which is not a good idea. Lots of compression, heating the fuel for instant vaporization, introduce the fuel where a carb is rather than where the typical EFI injector goes, cooling the intake charge for a more densely packed cylinder, as much timing as the engine wants, and cam timing that helps make even more cylinder pressure will allow you to enjoy all the power and still get great mileage. You are working the fuel harder, utilizing the heat in the engine to improve mileage, and making a lot more power between idle and 4000rpm. The best part is your engine stays spotlessly clean if you run it on straight ethanol, but you have to run it hot so you can boil condensation out of the crankcase, or you milkshake the oil. The oil temp needs to go over 220F in any engine, gasoline, alcohol, hydrogen, whatever, to boil that condensation out. You can only use just so much compression on gasoline before it starts pinging and knocking, then you have to kill the timing advance, run it cold, and that all makes mileage worse. When you have compression that requires 92 or 93 octane, then you are stuck with premium gas, and where I live that shit is already $4.20 a gallon. No E85 is sold within two hours of me, so I have to fill barrels to use it, and I run that stuff too. The 65 GTO runs E85 with FiTech EFI on its 11.5:1 455. That thing makes crazy power, enough that 3.08 gears are just about too deep for it and some 2.56 or 2.73 gears would be about right for it. Its been on vodka since 2018, the 70 has been on it since 2007. I've had zero problems running the stock tanks, lines, and nothing special, just basic parts store fuel system parts. I am building a smaller vehicle with vastly better aero than my GTOs to test and see just how much mileage I can get from a high compression engine, with heated EFI fuel system, low drag wheel bearings/tires, and light weight. I think an Opel GT with a high compression LS engine and a 2.73 or so rear gear would be quick and get great mileage. Also have a Buick 3800 in the works that will have the supercharger top end on a NA bottom end to take advantage of the higher compression, stuffed in a ladder car like an Ariel Atom that I am planning out right now. 1500lbs or so, fiberglass and aluminum skins to clean up the aero, and 300+ hp with plenty of bottom end for that light of a vehicle.

My '75 Chevy C-20 pick'em up truck just hit 79797.9 for the sixth time. 7 mpg down hill with a tail wind been driving her since Dad bought her new 47 years ago this week.

Dodge also rebadged Mitsubishi rigs and those were bombproof at the time. My buddy had a colt that outlived his teen years while his grandma's Coronet 440 sat in the driveway. As new cars wait for chips a lot of great old cars are coming out of the woods and barns and sheds, this should be really good fuel for that renaissance.

Don't forget the corvair. My mom claimed 40mpg with hers. But love the idea.

I love your videos Tony! My 1st car was a 74 charger and I've been hooked on Mopars since. My current ride is a 02 1500 quad cab 4x4 5.9 magnum (359,000 miles). It runs great and gets about 16 mpg. I am hoping to improve that with zero deck (quench) some more intake mods, updated cam and maybe headers. It's a daily driver, it's heavy and it's never gonna be fast. But more power and better mpg from the same mods are great. I have always been told it can't be done. That just makes it that much more enjoyable when i succeed!

I was a little kid , and it had to be 1980 or 81 when gas hit a buck I do remember everyone was pissed about it.

I've got a 74 Charger with a small block that is super fun to drive its fast and handles great good gas milage not so much so last December I bought a new project a 68 Dodge Dart with the 225 slant 6 it has become the grocery getter daily driver it gets about 18 mpg and is fun to drive as well. looking forward to seeing what you do with the leaning tower of power. I would love to get this little Dart to 20+ mpg. So bring on the knowledge Tony!

You really jogged my memory on 1976. I sold my '74 Z/28 and bought a new '76 VW Rabbit. I loved the Rabbit, but drove it a bit hard, wearing out the brakes and clutch in no time. Despite that, it was one of the best cars I've owned.

Great video and looking forward to the others along this line of thinking. Thank you guys for posting this!

Like you said, Uncle T, the same efficiency measures used to gain performance will also work to increase mileage. Gut all the weight possible, do some things for aerodynamics, port the heads on the engine, reduce as much parasitic drag as possible. It all works!

My first car was a 79 Chrysler Cordoba 360 2 brl lean burn and would average 26mpg on hwy. A904 and I believe a 2.73 rear gear. Drives me nuts when all this new stuff gets less.

Really great video, Uncle Tony. I remember those days when I was gear-heading around with B-body B-RBs-Hemi, and my dad was shaking his head. He would have loved this trip back to the 70s A-body talk, he was a big fan of this line. If you saw a clean Valiant or Dart on the road, you just about knew what kind of guy was driving it. Conservative, middle income, straight cut, with a maniac son terrorizing the streets in a muscle car.

Odd & even days at the gas pump. Depending on if the last digit of your license plate was odd or even you could only get gas on that day. Mon-odd, Tues-even and so on. For CT residents anyways. 😁

A mopar I loved from the 70's was one I never got my hands on. It was a 1976 Dodge Aspen R/T. It was super good driving and comfortable car. I'd still love to find a good.

Looking forward to the new series, I think modifying/tuning for max efficiency should be done on any vehicle that's street-driven. Aside from saving gas it drives better and the engine/driveline lasts longer.

I know people's memories are short, but about 15 years ago the price was in the upper $3/lower $4 range. Right now here in ND it's around $3.15 so it's not hurting that much yet, and sure as hell not as much as it hurt 15 years ago. And the reason this time is because of price gouging. OPEC shut production down during the pandemic, and they are keeping production down to jack their profits up.

This sounds like a good time to revisit the Mobil Economy Runs...!!! I recall Mopar magazine articles about it eons ago... Fascinating stuff!!

I bought my one owner Feather Duster from a used car lot in Issaquah, Washington while in the USAF in 1985. I was 19 and borrowed the money to buy it from a kind gentleman that I worked with. I drove that car for years afterwards. Border to border, sea to shining sea. I still own it! Haven't driven it a lot in the last 25 years, though. It's still mostly all original. It has all the light weight parts on it that Tony talked about here, except for the trunk lid - it has the steel bracing like run-of-the-mill Dusters. From everything I can tell and know about the car, it IS the original deck lid. I think my car was built so early in the production run at the plant in St. Louis that it was either used by mistake or they were just trying to use up parts they had before switching over to the "correct" parts.

I miss my slant 6 75 duster, now I have a 73 Ford mustang with a "built" 250ci 6cyl and 3 speed trans, 5 years ago I wouldn't even consider a 6cyl, I like doing burnouts and going hammer down on on ramps, "I wanna go fast"!!!

Uncle "History" Tony's Garage - Love the channel, Love the life lessons!

glad to see this video. i check the gas millage on almost every tank on my 69 327 Nova and 1976 K20. great tunning tool BTW. I get 12 mpg on the 3/4 ton truck that is not bad at all and i am not done tunning it

I remember the toyota celica coming in around that time, i took one apart and couldnt believe how long they held together with what they used for internals.they really had to rely on balance and blueprinting rather than materials cause they used junk. I wish i could find a nice featherduster or dart light. Love the idea of making some parts for a slant id like to make a direct replacement hemi head for a slant use head studs low compression and adjustable turbo the hemi design on a slant would be amazing.

Great Video Tony, I have a Feather Duster that has been in the family since new, fully restored. I have never seen another one, and I heard the same thing that they were all bought up and made into drag racers.

If I had it to do over again, I would have kept the slant in my valiant (fresh overhaul, about 200 miles on it) instead of bartering it for a 360, then stroking it to 408. I have realized that the horsepower game is over for me (can't come close to what you can get from the factory...700, 800, 1000 HP). What I SHOULD have done was spent the money having an adapter made to mate a 6 speed manual to the slant and just cruised the hell out of it. I had a '74 Duster with a 3 speed on the floor and it did everything I asked of it (except the 20 second 1/4 mile time, embarrassing to say the least never tried it again). But, it sure looked cool with the cragars and nice paint. With a 6 speed, I could have run modern highway speeds all day without taxing the slant, got great mileage, and looked cool doing it. Replace HP with /6 torque and lots of gears!

Convert the slant 6 to diesel. Fill the tires with Helium. Eat beans and run a hose from the seat to the carb. Find one of those 95 MPG carbs at a secret abandoned lab in a cave in Hackensack NJ.

my parents friends came too oz in 1975 and drove my sister honda civic for a month and a bit and went back to the usa and bought one straight away and keep it for 20 years they loved that thing

Great history lesson, the mileage on the car was real good for the times, real thought was put into improving gas mileage on these cars

I owned a regular Duster that may have been as light as a feather duster due to all the rust. It had a 3 speed manual trans. If I was easy on it, I would get right about 30 mpg. My route included several stops where I often had to wait for traffic so it was hardly a good test of actual mileage. If I had made a long trip on interstate it might have reached 35. It got me to work and home for many years so it was worth its weight in gold as it saved me a lot of money. Manual steering, basic AM radio, rubber floor, not carpet. It got the job done.

my 77 Gran Fury 318 2 bbl dual exhaust 20 mpg on the highway with 85 octane. Acceptable, especially with 193K on the engine. Its the best mileage and powerful V-8 set up ever, why Chrysler did not dual exhaust all the 318-2bbl is a real mystery.

I love my 77 formula has the looks. Has a 241 open rear ( it’s all numbers matching so as Tony says LEAVE IT ALONE) sips on gas as a Brit sips on tea 22-24 mpg

Those gas shortages in the 70’s allowed me to buy cars I wouldn’t have otherwise been able to afford, or I wouldn’t have even thought of buying, like an Imperial and a Hemi Super Bee. Our gas here today, for premium would be around $7.00 a gallon, and it doesn’t phase the car guys at all, I still run 4.56 gears in my 67 Coronet. I’ve become conservative in my old age, I used to run 4.86’s

The Arab oil embargo occurred in 1973-74. I remember it well. And we were wondering what this world was coming to when gas prices topped 50 cents a gallon.

I found a Holley slant 6 carb on a 67 Belvedere taxi in the junkyard that had a venturi that was significantly smaller than normal. I used it for awhile on my commuter. It gave me a couple of mpg.

You are the only guy to talk about this Tony I really appreciate.. Tough times. Let's go Brandon

I had a '71 Dart GT with a 318. I put a 4-barrel intake and carb on it. Intake was off a 273 and the carb off a 440...way too big. But as long as I would run on two barrels, the car would get 24 mpg. No one believed me, but I proved it time and again.

To think of Ford had made the change necessary at the time, the Pinto would be viewed in a much different light that it was. I never knew about this feather duster before though. Really good thinking on Chrysler’s part. I love my classic cars, and want to do what I can to keep them on the road

I would not care about the consumption of my 69 and 71 Roadrunner if i could run it with synthetic fuel in Germany in the future. But may be that is kind of a german debate. You are right Uncle Tony lets keep these climate politics out of a happy hot rod channel like this. Your detailed flashbacks to the muscle car past are so unique and always great to listen to 👍🏼

Very good Uncle Tony, well put together lesson about the oil crisis. Cheers stay safe😊

I saw a Feather Duster at Milan Dragway in summer 1980. It was one of the best looking cars there in it's original paint. I think it had the drive line replaced with a roller cam small block. I liked them every since that day. I thought the hood , deck lid and possibly some other body panels were aluminum, not just the supports.

MPG is interesting, I had a 69 fairlane that got 26, an 84 Lincoln that averaged 23, my brother had a Chevy pickup (don't remember the year thinking late 70s) got 27. Yet today I rarely see cars and trucks of that size come anywhere close to those numbers, and they certainly don't last as long

I'd drive a Duster or Dart like Uncle Tony describes every day if only to have something different from the "cookie cutters" sold today. I'll take one with the 3 speed overdrive thank you! It wouldn't bother me at all if performance was lacking since I have other vehicles to make up for that if I need to.

Thanks for talking about important things that need to be brought up keep people informed.

Back in the day we looked for the feather dusters for our circle track race cars. By the late seventies they they were getting enough miles on them to start showing up in the junk yards and for sale cheap.All we used was the sheet metal skin and the over drive transmission. The overdrives had a aluminum case rather than cast iron so we would gut them and install normal four speed internals for a big weight savings

really looking forward to seeing more on your duster and what i can apply to my slant 6 dart

That’s a great idea that might keep more of these cars on the road. When you talk about reducing weight, one of the big things that we practiced was not keeping a lot of unused stuff in the car. Tool boxes, spare battery., case of washer juice, etc. Just driving an empty car, with properly inflated tires and clean plugs and no vacuum leaks..works wonders.

1984 - - South Carolina service station - - owner shows me a Honda CVCC that he put a CRX 5-speed in. Claimed 75 MPG highway !! CRX HF models with the 1,3 claimed 67 MPG Hwy. We've had "extreme gas mileage" technology for a long time.