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As the Auto Age Dawned, Gasoline Wasn't King
The Maxwell Model Q touring car got better fuel economy than a horse and buggy in a six-day road test in 1910. The car went 458 miles and got about 13 miles to the gallon.
(Antique Auto Museum)
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And Americans were guzzling gasoline like partygoers around the punch bowl.
Drivers were urged to extend the range of each gallon of gas. The National Motorists' Association declared in 1923 that Americans wasted $180 million in gasoline each year because they operate their automobiles unwisely. "The average car owner . . . does not appreciate the role the proper functioning of his engine plays in cutting his own fuel costs," the association said.
Motorists were told to drive at a fixed speed as much as possible to decrease gas use -- no herky-jerky pressing and releasing of the gas pedal. "On a long, steady drive the fuel consumption may be cut down enormously by a careful use of the accelerator," The Post told readers in 1921.
Auto aficionados sought better mileage in proper tire inflation -- it was listed as one of the "commandments" of good car care in The Post in 1928: "Thou shalt remember to inflate the tires at least once a week, oftener if necessary." A firmer tire, it was thought, promised better mileage than a squishy one, discrediting earlier guidance. In 1915, The Post had told readers a soft tire delivers better mileage because it "will wrap around bumps and road obstructions, while the tire, if hard, will mount them, thus consuming more power."
Technology held out the hope -- in some minds -- of squeezing a fantastic number of miles out of a gallon of gas. Charles F. Kettering, the chief of research at General Motors, asserted in 1922 that autos in the near future would get as much as 100 miles to the gallon because of changes in the gasoline refining process.
Kettering was a titan in the industry, with many accomplishments to his credit, and his word was revered. He was the one who eliminated the hardship and injuries caused by the crank-start engine with his invention of an electric, self-starting system. But as a prophet he, too, sometimes got ahead of himself.
However poor the mileage and however steep the costs to operate, the motorcar was here to stay. The love affair was in full swing. To hear the enamored tell it, a motorist at the wheel was like a musician in concert.
"Doubtless it will be a surprise to the average motorist to be told that his car possesses many of the characteristics of a musical instrument," Frederick C. Russell wrote in the New York Times on Oct. 25, 1925. "There are plenty of discordant notes of which he is aware but perhaps he had not stopped to consider that other people get better performance because they put more 'feeling' into the playing of their cars."
