1953 to 1955 MPG

[Russ U.]

A couple of weeks ago I decided to just drive the heck out of my Corvettes. At some point, either my body or the government will tell me to stop driving old Corvettes. So I am going to just enjoy the cars while I can. I drove my 53 to work yesterday, which is a 180 mile roundtrip (to Sacramento and back). I averaged 16.6 mpg going about 65 to 70mph most of the way (with the hopped up 261 block, 4 speed and a 3.70 rear end). Probably 95% freeeway, 5% city driving. I should note that 60 mph is a much more relaxing speed to drive (lack of wind noise and lower rpms) but 60mph is not very realistic on California freeways.

What mpg's do (or did) you get in your 53 to 55 cars, including the 55 V-8s?

Based on a Motor Trend mid-1954 article, the 6 banger Corvettes averaged about 18.5mpg at a steady 60 miles an hour and 16.2mpg at a steady 70 miles an hour. Thus, all things considered, my 16.6mpg is hot too bad. But I am really curious as to the experience that others may have.

Thanks,

Russ

[Roy B.]

Re: 1953 to 1955 MPG

Driving my 55 for over 30 years now I'm lucky to get 15 mpg at 60 mph, but again who cares when you love driving an old Corvette and having people wonder what your driving and asking is it a Nash ,t-bird and so on!! Hell! I even have people driving a new Corvette ask me the same thing

[Russ U.]

Re: 1953 to 1955 MPG

Driving my 55 for over 30 years now I'm lucky to get 15 mpg at 60 mph, but again who cares when you love driving an old Corvette and having people wonder what your driving and asking is it a Nash ,t-bird and so on!! Hell! I even have people driving a new Corvette ask me the same thing

Interesting Roy. I was hoping to hear from you.

I expected a bit higher than 15 mpg from the 55 V8. After seeing your post, I took a quick look at the C1registry article database. I found an Oct 1955 article by Consumer Reports comparing the 55 Corvette to the 55 TBird. That article tested the 55 Corvette at 17.3 mpg at a steady 60mph.

Actually, the mpg's for the 6 banger and the V8 Corvettes don't look all that much different if you compare the 54 article to the 55 article. The V8 had 30% more power than the 6 cylinder engine, was 30lbs or so lighter, and offered the same fuel economy. Pretty amazing really.

Russ

[Roy B.]

Re: 1953 to 1955 MPG

It could be because I pull a tear drop trailer to meets ( to carry wife's stuff) and that's when I notice the gas mileage.
Other wise like I said who cares
I do get funny looks from members tho

[Bill W.]

Re: 1953 to 1955 MPG

A couple of weeks ago I decided to just drive the heck out of my Corvettes. At some point, either my body or the government will tell me to stop driving old Corvettes. So I am going to just enjoy the cars while I can. I drove my 53 to work yesterday, which is a 180 mile roundtrip (to Sacramento and back). I averaged 16.6 mpg going about 65 to 70mph most of the way (with the hopped up 261 block, 4 speed and a 3.70 rear end). Probably 95% freeeway, 5% city driving. I should note that 60 mph is a much more relaxing speed to drive (lack of wind noise and lower rpms) but 60mph is not very realistic on California freeways.

What mpg's do (or did) you get in your 53 to 55 cars, including the 55 V-8s?

Based on a Motor Trend mid-1954 article, the 6 banger Corvettes averaged about 18.5mpg at a steady 60 miles an hour and 16.2mpg at a steady 70 miles an hour. Thus, all things considered, my 16.6mpg is hot too bad. But I am really curious as to the experience that others may have.

Thanks,

Russ

Russ,
Good on both you guys! I hope you are wrong (but fear you may be correct) that our old car driving days may be limited. My '66 now has 123K on it, I hope to put at least another 50K on it before they send me to the funny farm. Bill

[Jim L.]

Re: 1953 to 1955 MPG

Eleven years ago, my son, a couple of NCRS friends, and I drove my '54 and '63 roadster from Georgia to California (picture below was made on I-80 in Wyoming). The '54 set the pace and that was a tachometer indication of 3100 RPM (the speedo quit in Kentucky). For the trip, the '54 got right at 18 MPG and, as I recall, the '63 nudged up against 20 MPG.

Ya gotta like the '54's front plate, "RUN 235", a purely randomly assigned plate.

Jim

[Russ U.]

Re: 1953 to 1955 MPG

Neat pic, Jim.

What does 3100rpm on your 54 tach translate into in terms of MPH? I think you have a bone stock setup - original block, head, PG tranny and 3.55 rear end. I'm guessing you averaged about 60mph to hit the 18mpg.

Thanks,

Russ

[Jim L.]

Re: 1953 to 1955 MPG

Neat pic, Jim.

Thanks. It was a super neat experience, too. My son talks about it, still.

What does 3100rpm on your 54 tach translate into in terms of MPH? I think you have a bone stock setup - original block, head, PG tranny and 3.55 rear end. I'm guessing you averaged about 60mph to hit the 18mpg.

That engine speed equates to approximately 63 MPH.

I would have loved to have driven faster, especially once we got to the wide open spaces out west. But with an engine that, in 55 years, has never been out of the car, doing so just didn't seem like a good idea.

Jim

[Russ U.]

Re: 1953 to 1955 MPG

Thanks. It was a super neat experience, too. My son talks about it, still.

That engine speed equates to approximately 63 MPH.

I would have loved to have driven faster, especially once we got to the wide open spaces out west. But with an engine that, in 55 years, has never been out of the car, doing so just didn't seem like a good idea.

Jim

18mpg at 63mph looks pretty darn good for an old unrebuilt engine. Did you start to lose mpg's when the rain hit and you added all the extra weight to the car?

[Jim L.]

Re: 1953 to 1955 MPG

18mpg at 63mph looks pretty darn good for an old unrebuilt engine.

Noooooo kidding. The only issues with that old engine were oil consumption, about 3 quarts for the trip, and fouled plugs when we hit high altitude. I changed plugs in Denver.

Did you start to lose mpg's when the rain hit and you added all the extra weight to the car?

MPG was the least of our worries when we got to Salt Lake City and hit the first rain of the trip. NCRS buddy, who was driving at the time, reported that the aerodynamics of the car were causing a jet of water to enter on the passenger side, between the side curtain and the soft top, and shoot across the interior, soaking his right shoulder!

It's funny now.....

Jim

[Troy P.]

Re: 1953 to 1955 MPG

One of my 54's is a local car from here in rainy Washington. It had about 20 drain holes drilled in the floor, carpet removed and floor painted red. I tracked down the owner that did this. Waterproof? Yeah, right.

BTW, Chevy did the spray test for quality control on the newly assembled Corvettes starting in 56. Probably lots of complaints from 53-55 owners.

With the 6 banger over carbed I'm not surprised the MPG isn't very different than the 55 V8.

[Michael A.]

Re: 1953 to 1955 MPG

Jim - I love the picture of your cars in Wyoming. Great adventure with your son! I can relate. My son and I drove the length of Route 66 in 2008 and returned via the interstates through Utah and Colorado. It's a hoot and everyone ought to find a teenager and take their old Corvette on a road trip. It'll create incredible memories for both of you as well as create a future Corvette enthusiast.

As for fuel mileage, we drove our 66 SB pretty hard, particularly on the return run with lots of driving above 80mph. For the 5210 mile round trip we averaged 14.9 mpg. During the summer of 08 that was pretty painful with gas upwards of 4.95 per gallon in California! We had two days where we filled up 5x. Good thing the credit card kept working!

I'm always intrigued with the comparative mpg discussions. MPG is a function of horsepower demand and each engine's designed efficiency to convert the energy potential in the fuel to mechanical energy at the flywheel. If those old articles were comparable, a 6 cylinder 54 driving steady 60mph would have virtually the same horsepower demand as an 8 cylinder 55 at the same speed. If the horsepower demand is equal, and both cars were running with the same transmission and rear end ratios, then the relative efficiency of the two engines would explain the difference or similarity of the two engines at steady speed. Perhaps Duke or some other expert on this forum could comment on this but my guess is that the 265 V8 and the Blue Flame 6 were pretty similar in steady state BSFC (brake specific fuel consumption) at highway speeds.

The real difference between the V8 and the 6 would probably be found in real world driving. I don't know about others, but when I have more HP available, I use it... and I love it. The thing is that whenever you use more HP, you use more petrol. The biggest influence on fuel mpg is usually the weight of the driver's right foot!

At the end of the day, I figure 15mpg is the going rate for the smile I get when I drive my 66. :-)

Cheers,

[Russ U.]

Re: 1953 to 1955 MPG

One of my 54's is a local car from here in rainy Washington. It had about 20 drain holes drilled in the floor, carpet removed and floor painted red. I tracked down the owner that did this. Waterproof? Yeah, right.

BTW, Chevy did the spray test for quality control on the newly assembled Corvettes starting in 56. Probably lots of complaints from 53-55 owners.

The October 1954 Popular Mechanics Survey of early Corvette owners is a real treasure. C1 registry has the full article here - Early Corvette Owner Survey. Lots of interesting quotes, both good and bad about the car. The actual survey %'s are reflected below. No big surprise - a whopping 35% of the respondents complained about water leaks. As you say, I suspect GM took note of this fact and started testing cars for waters leaks shortly thereafter. GM also changed the other high complaint problems - the soft top and hood catches - relatively quickly too.

Russ