2005 Dodge Stratus For Sell Gold Color Sxt 4 Door, In Great Condition on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Hypermiling a Ram 1500 EcoDiesel to 38.1 mpg

You never quite know what Wayne Gerdes has up his sleeve. The man who coined the term hypermiling is always looking for adventurous ways to prove that anyone – even you... yes, you – can eke out more miles per gallon just by changing the way you drive. Saying that is easy. Proving it by going on outlandish cross-country drives is hard. But for Gerdes and his team of fuel economy fiends over at CleanMPG, hard is half the fun. Our latest adventure appeared, at first glance, to be nearly impossible. Which is why we always answer the phone when Gerdes calls. He likes to take journalists along on his drives, not only to try teach us how to hypermile but also to prove that we can be taught. The first time I 'helped' him and his team was when we got over 30 miles per gallon in a 2011 Ford F-150 XLT with the EcoBoost 3.5-liter V6. The EPA rated that truck with at just 16 mpg in the city and 22 on the highway. So, we'll count that trip as a success. Next up was a cross-country drive last fall in a trio of Audi TDI vehicles to prove that you don't need to drive extra slow to beat the EPA numbers. In fact, we made it from Los Angeles to New York City in just over 46 hours, cramped but not cranky. We had once again proven that how you drive is hugely important to your fuel usage. Our latest adventure appeared, at first glance, to be nearly impossible. The EPA says that the Ram 1500 EcoDiesel we would be driving gets just 22 combined mpg (19 city and 27 highway). Gerdes' idea was to drive it as far north from Houston, TX towards Detroit, MI as we could go on one tank. The day before we left, our itinerary got an extra stop. Instead of taking one of the official Shell Eco-marathon prototype vehicles to Detroit, it was decided to bring the winning diesel-powered prototype from the just-finished event to The Henry Ford Museum, where it had been arranged the car would be displayed. The winning car was built by a small team (just four students) from Sullivan High School in Sullivan, IN, who managed to beat a number of college teams with a score of 1,899.32 mpg. That target would be a bit out of reach for the Ram, but could we get 1,000 miles from the tank? Since the truck has a 26 gallon tank (officially, anyway), that would mean the EPA says we could only go 702 miles, assuming all highway driving. Could we make up 300 miles with careful driving? That spells both challenge and fun.

2023 Grand National Roadster Show Mega Photo Gallery | Hot rod heaven

POMONA, Calif. — From an outsider's perspective, it would be easy to assume that the Grand National Roadster Show has always been a Southern California institution. After all, it celebrates the diverse postwar car culture of the region — hot rods, lead sleds, lowriders, and more. However, the show had its roots in NorCal in 1950 when Al Slonaker and his hot rod club showed their custom cars at the Oakland Expo. The GNRS moved to Pomona, California, in 2004. By then it had grown exponentially and seen about a dozen more car customization trends come and go. However, the show and its centerpiece award, the America's Most Beautiful Roadster prize, celebrate what is perhaps the first of those trends: the American hot rod in its purest form. Today, in its 73rd year, the GNRS is the oldest indoor car show in America. Annually it welcomes 500-800 cars, gathered into special themes like Tri-Five Chevys or Volkswagen Bugs. At this year's show, which was last weekend, a special hall was dedicated to pickup trucks built between 1948-98, including mini-trucks, groovy camper bed conversions, and resto-mods.  However, of all the vehicles presented, only nine are eligible for the America's Most Beautiful Roadster award. Winners get their names engraved on a 9-foot-tall perpetual trophy that was, according to The Ultimate Hot Rod Dictionary, the largest in the world when it debuted in 1950. Slonaker chose the word "roadster" initially because "hot rod" bore slightly negative outlaw connotations in 1950. Only American cars built before 1937 of certain body styles — roadsters, roadster pickups, phaetons, touring cars — are eligible, and they cannot have roll-down side windows.  Cars in the running for the cup cannot have been shown anywhere else before their debut at the GNRS.  Contestants for this accolade essentially build their cars to the a platonic ideal of a hot rod. This year the honors went to Jack Chisenhall of San Antonio, Texas, for his "Champ Deuce," a 1932 Ford Roadster. It's exactly what you picture when you think of a hot rod, but distilled to its absolute essence.  Other standouts included "Green Eyes," a two-tone green 1959 Chevy El Camino  with a heavily metal-flaked bed, "Blue Monday," a 1964 Buick Riviera lowrider, and a personal favorite, "Purple Reign," a purple and black 1951 Mercury. Cars may have started out as tools, but there aren't shows like this filled with custom refrigerators.

Dodge puts kibosh on Challenger ACR rumors

In 2011, after the end of the Gen IV Dodge Viper and its ACR trim, Dodge took a Challenger ACR concept to the SEMA show. In October of last year, trusted FCA-focused outlet Mopar Insiders heard from its sources that something of the kind could finally be in the works, word being the automaker "is quietly working on a surprise to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Challenger nameplate." Last week, trusted FCA-focused outlet Allpar got more details from its own source, "Muther," on the specs and aspirations for a Challenger supposedly meant as a last big hurrah before the next generation appears in 2023. Now, we find out the Challenger ACR is a ghost, Autoweek reporting, "According to a spokesperson from Dodge, it's not happening." That brief denial is all the automaker had to say about it. Assuming Dodge isn't hiding anything, we're more surprised at detailed erroneous intel being shared with both MI and Allpar than we are about the track-day seducement Challenger ACR being bogus. A tale about Dodge engineering a Viper-like makeover for its number one muscle car so as to shame the 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 and Camaro ZL1 around a track would have been compelling enough. But word that Dodge wanted the Challenger ACR to breathe down the dearly departed neck of the Viper ACR around Road America, well, that was a crate of Hemi-powered wild. The implied impertinence of such a target is worrisome enough, and the weight loss goal would have added an extreme dimension to the ACR brand. The Neon ACR and Viper ACR didn't give up more than 100 pounds compared to their standard counterparts. The insiders spoke of the Challenger getting under 4,000 pounds, in part thanks to an optional passenger's seat. The diet would have required losing 400 pounds in a best-case scenario, which would still leave the big coupe 500-plus pounds heavier than a Viper ACR. Back to that impertinence... We'll likely never know what really happened with the Challenger ACR, so we'll stick it in the X-Files drawer between Big Blue and Chinga. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.