Low-Cost Homemade Car Runs 40 Miles Per Gallon (Jun, 1950)

Low-Cost Homemade Car Runs 40 Miles Per Gallon

With the frame and wheels of a 1934 Ford, a 12-horsepower four-cylinder water-cooled engine, a clutch, transmission and rear end from a junk yard, a former instructor at Dakota Wesleyan University built a unique automobile. The body of the car was made from scrap lumber, covered with hardboard and held together by two boxes of screws. Headlights, tail-lights, radiator grille and windshield were obtained at minimum prices. The hood ornament was the container for an airplane’s loop antenna and a glass dome for the top is from a refrigerator. The builder, Nelson Beck, devoted six weeks’ work and $76.68 to his project which has begun to repay him by running 40 miles to the gallon at an average speed of 55 miles per hour.