MAX Update No. 83: Misers at the MOTHER EARTH NEWS FAIR

Reader Contribution by Staff
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MAX had a playdate at Seven Springs. George Voll and Bill Buchholz brought their high mileage cars to the MOTHER EARTH NEWS FAIR too, and we set up our headquarters (imagine a Calvin and Hobbs clubhouse with a “No Guzzlers Allowed” sign on the front) about a mile south of the festivities. We drove in to the FAIR every morning and lined up where folks could talk with us, and man, we talked a lot.

Something our cars have in common, and I think it’s pretty rare among the ex-X Prize troupe, is we ended up getting daily drivers out of the deal. All three of ours are useful transportation, and they’re such frugal fuel consumers that lately we drive them because, among other things, we’re tightwads.

We’ve had them for years now and much of the novelty has worn off for us, but gosh, it’s pretty handy having a car that’ll drive for 4 cents a mile on non-petroleum fuel (biodiesel, and in MAX’s case, straight vegetable oil is an option). We’re all past the point where every drive is a science experiment, now they’re our first choice vehicles because they’re the cheapest wheels in the garage.

We’re greenies too, and have the usual greenie motives to reduce fossil fuel use (environmental, political, and so there’s some petroleum left over for future generations), and I doubt any of us would have gone to this much trouble just to spare ourselves sticker shock at the fuel pump, but now that we have them, we’re using them. Now that we’ve made our point, we get to enjoy the benefits, particularly the benefits in the wallet.

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