From Washington to Mexico on 12.4 Gallons of Diesel

Friday, 03 September 2010 14:00

From Washington to Mexico on 12.4 Gallons of Diesel

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Craig Henderson drove 1,478 miles from from Blaine, Washington to Mexico without stopping to refuel, burning just 12.4 gallons of diesel for a stunning 119.1 mpg.

And he did it in a car he originally designed in 1984.

Henderson rolled into Chula Vista, California, at the wheel of the Avion four days

after he left home. The Avion is a car he built with Bill Green 26 years ago as a prototype high-mileage vehicle he hoped to sell. The business floundered, but Henderson never abandoned the Avion. Over the years he’s kept tinkering with it, improving its powertrain and aerodynamics.

At the border.

The car was built with two things in mind: Light weight and aerodynamics. To hit the featherweight 1,500-pound target, the car uses an aluminum monocoque frame with steel crash and suspension subframes at the front and rear.

The body, of carbon fiber, Kevlar and fiberglass, is riveted and bonded to the body, yielding a very stiff vehicle. An 800cc diesel engine is transversely mounted behind the driver and powers the rear wheels through a five-speed gearbox.

Because it’s so light and aerodynamic, the car needs just three to four horsepower to maintain 55 mph. That’s perfect for the tiny diesel to chug along while only sipping fuel. Henderson recently landed a sponsorship from Goodyear, so he’s installed a set of the company’s low rolling resistance Fuel Max tires and has been averaging about 115 mpg.

As a promotional stunt, Henderson decided to make a run for the border — the Mexican border. He planned to make the trip on one tank.

He hit the road on Aug. 29 and stuck largely to Interstate 5, stopping only for food, bathroom breaks and to sleep. When he rolled up to the border near Chulla Vista on Wednesday he’d burned 12.4 gallons for an amazing 119.1 mpg. That topped the 103 mpg the car achieved, and Guinness classified as a world record — during a similar border-to-border run in 1986.

The trip is done, but development of the Avion continues. Henderson plans to revisit his dream of producing the car in limited quantities.

You can get a blow-by-blow account of the trip via the updates at the Avion Economy in Motion Facebook page.

This story was written by Ben Wojdyla and originally published by Jalopnik on Sept. 2.