[PeterPrinciple]

Folks, this is an interesting article. I look at these miles per gallon for new cars in 1951. They aren't much different than today. All these environmental laws have not done anything to improve things. Most likely have made things worse. Give this out to all your green friends.

[x1stcav]

I'd take issue with you that, while these old girls did well in new condition, the maintenance interval was probably 4 or 5 greater than today, and in terms of acceleration, etc there's no comparison.

My '61 Alfa Romeo Spider will get over 30 MPG on a trip. Wouldn't want to use it as a daily driver, however.

[Auntie Mame]

This is really surprising. Interesting.

[Jack of all Trades]

Interesting, except that today you can buy a car with more than double the horsepower of the winner (Nash Rambler) with the roughly the same mileage performance. If one were to hold power and vehicle weight constant (82 bhp, and 2500 lbs for the Rambler), and apply modern engine controls, the resulting fuel economy number would probably just about double.

Add to that the ability to start instantly in hot and cold weather, and run through over 100K miles without major repair (typically), and I would say that there has been more than a little improvement in engine technology in the past five decades. These are direct results of emissions controls.