Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
It's funny how the more things change the more they stay the same. I remember the 70's as a kid, sitting in the back of my Dad's 73 Buick Regal, waiting to get 5 gallons of gas, because of the OPEC embargo. The Regal was a factory 455 with dual quad carbs (yes, that was an option) and completely debadged, white on white... beautiful car.
In an effort to offset the fuel crisis, the government imposed the 55MPH speed limit; the thought was that if we rolled slower, we used less fuel. I suppose this worked, but I remember it taking forever to get from Shrewsbury to York, PA. Then, in the 90's the speed limit was raised, in most places, to between 70MPH and 80MPH on Interstates.
Now we find ourselves getting nearer to the 70's again, but in a different way. Oil production isn't being reduced, but it isn't being augmented either. Fuel corporations are, of course, in the business of making profit, so they have no qualms about passing along the increases they're seeing, as obscene as it may seem to us, the little guy.
As a result, I am rethinking my daily use of my beloved Dodge Ram. As it gets older, like me, new problems pop up. This time, it's fuel consumption. I have watched my mileage steadily drop, from 19MPG steady to 12MPG. My driving habits have not changed, so I suspect that the VP44 is starting to die, slowly but surely; I've already changed my LP to an AirDog FP100.
Since I'm a SSG in the US Army, and I don't make a fortune in this career, I don't have the luxury of buying another car, even used... . not yet anyway. I have been a die-hard "Buy American" kind of guy my whole life, but I see that American car companies' profits have been slipping over the years; Foreign car companies don't seem to see these losses.
My point to this rambling diatribe? Simply put, until I can afford to get a daily beater and temporarily retire my Ram to hibernation, I am throttling back to 55MPH. My mileage is staying at around 17MPG now, which I can live with for now. What I can't live with is living with $4. 18/gal for diesel. Even with the further refining processes needed for ULSD, I can't fathom why diesel costs more; Global supply/demand be damned, I don't buy it.
If we all try throttling back to 55MPH, we might use less fuel which, in turn, will hit the fuel companies a bit... . not much, maybe, but enough to hopefully make them notice and take action.
I don't consider this political, but practical sense to pass along to the rest of the TDR.
In an effort to offset the fuel crisis, the government imposed the 55MPH speed limit; the thought was that if we rolled slower, we used less fuel. I suppose this worked, but I remember it taking forever to get from Shrewsbury to York, PA. Then, in the 90's the speed limit was raised, in most places, to between 70MPH and 80MPH on Interstates.
Now we find ourselves getting nearer to the 70's again, but in a different way. Oil production isn't being reduced, but it isn't being augmented either. Fuel corporations are, of course, in the business of making profit, so they have no qualms about passing along the increases they're seeing, as obscene as it may seem to us, the little guy.
As a result, I am rethinking my daily use of my beloved Dodge Ram. As it gets older, like me, new problems pop up. This time, it's fuel consumption. I have watched my mileage steadily drop, from 19MPG steady to 12MPG. My driving habits have not changed, so I suspect that the VP44 is starting to die, slowly but surely; I've already changed my LP to an AirDog FP100.
Since I'm a SSG in the US Army, and I don't make a fortune in this career, I don't have the luxury of buying another car, even used... . not yet anyway. I have been a die-hard "Buy American" kind of guy my whole life, but I see that American car companies' profits have been slipping over the years; Foreign car companies don't seem to see these losses.
My point to this rambling diatribe? Simply put, until I can afford to get a daily beater and temporarily retire my Ram to hibernation, I am throttling back to 55MPH. My mileage is staying at around 17MPG now, which I can live with for now. What I can't live with is living with $4. 18/gal for diesel. Even with the further refining processes needed for ULSD, I can't fathom why diesel costs more; Global supply/demand be damned, I don't buy it.
If we all try throttling back to 55MPH, we might use less fuel which, in turn, will hit the fuel companies a bit... . not much, maybe, but enough to hopefully make them notice and take action.
I don't consider this political, but practical sense to pass along to the rest of the TDR.
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