BRILLIANT MICROECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE CA$H FOR CLUNKER$ WELFARE PLAN

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[Hit the "cash for clunkers" tag below to get all of the Truth on the Cash for Clunkers boondoggle]

The USA Today discussion of "Cash for Clunkers" had the following exchange that points out the pernicious and short-sighted welfare aspect of these bills:

I'm not poor, and I am what most people in America consider to be "the future of this country." This will benefit young professionals who are trying to make a good start in this economy. My husband and I own a 1995 Mustang [NOTE: A HIGHLY COLLECTABLE CAR THAT SOME CLUELESS "APPLIANCE MOTORIST" WANTS TO DESTROY FOR A WELFARE VOUCHER] because as college students it was what we could afford. Now, with careers we are ready for a new more fuel efficient car. With this voucher (which would cover our car and the 22mpg Venza [NOTE: A FOREIGN CAR] we would like to buy, not a tin foil car to whomever mentioned that above) we would be able to get some value out of our trade to take about $50 a month off a new car payment. This voucher DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE! And yes, it will cost $4 billion dollars, but it's an investment [CLINTONESQUE NEWSPEAK BUZZ-WORD FOR A TRANSFER OF WEALTH TO SOMEONE WHO DID NOT EARN IT] for the future. Many of my friends are in the same situation as we are and the Obama campaign is taking the steps to get us started in this terrible economic time.
____________________________________________

If you're the future of America, then we are all screwed. You want us to believe that trading you 95 mustang in for a $3500 voucher will allow you to own a new car rather than drive a clunker, yet you admit the difference will only be about $50 per month. So for $1.60 per day from Obama, you will be lifted from the desperate situation of driving a 14 year old car and blessed with the opportunity to do something with your life, all for $1.60 a day. I wonder how much money you spend on frivolous BS each and every day.

The future taxpayers be damned, I want my $1.60 per day!

OBAMACA$H FOR CLUNKER$: THE SENATE VERSION IS NOT MUCH BETTER!

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The Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) version of the federal war against grassroots motorsports and automobile collecting known as “Ca$h for Clunker$” is even worse than the abysmal CARS Act passed by the house!

The Schumer-Feinstein AUTOMOTIVE WELFARE-BAILOUT bill “calls for consumers to get the credits if they trade in passenger cars, SUVs, and pickups that get less than 17 mpg for vehicles that get at least 24 mpg. There would be $2,400 for those trading up to a vehicle that gets at least 7 mpg more than their old one; $3,500 if the trade yields a net 10 mpg gain; and $4,500 for a net 13 mpg gain.”

Even under the Schumer-Feinstein version, hundreds of thousands of collectable V8s, parts vehicles, and donor vehicles would be senselessly destroyed under the GreeNazi Schumer-Feinstein proposal for publically-funded vandalism of our automotive heritage. Schumer and Feinstein have joined the 298 enemies of automotive free-markets in the U.S. House of Representatives (see list on the sidebar), notwithstanding the puny 1 m.p.g. reduction in the eligibility threshold.

A competing senate bill by Automotive freedom-hater and treasury looter Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) is similar to the awful house-passed Betty Sutton (D-Ohio) AUTO WELFARE bill.

Yet none of these proposals are enough to satisfy the radical, anti-automotive liberty greeniacs. Although the Sierra Club has reportedly endorsed the Schumer-Feinstein Auto Welfare Bill, free market hater Ann Mesnikoff, director of the Sierra Club Green Transportation Campaign told BusinessWeek that"Automakers already produce a fleet of cars that exceed the current 27.5 mpg average…so we should ensure our tax dollars go to help sell cars that are above that average."

No Ann, we shouldn’t. It is not a legitimate function of government to give welfare checks to anyone for the purchase of any vehicles, regardless of their fuel efficiency. It is also not a legitimate function of government to further destroy the free market and to function as the “800-pound gorilla” by limiting consumer choice in the market (which is exactly what cutting the supply and driving up the prices of vintage V8-powered vehicles will do).

One commenter has gotten it exactly right:

47% of all cars sold in this country are foreign brands, meaning nearly 2 billion of U.S. taxpayer dollars will help finance Japan’s and Korea’s auto industry . . . . [N]ot long ago, most congressmen and senators were opposed to giving U.S. auto makers any money[. N]ow they think it's a good idea to give 2 billion of our money to Toyota, Honda,Kia, etc. UNREAL!

Another predicted:

Next comes them FORCING us to scrap our cars - for our own good, of course. This is America - not Europe - to paraphrase another uniquely American quote: "They'll get my 18 mph '99 Jag XJ8L when they pry it from my cold dead body."

[Of course, that will be a whole lot easier when the GreeNazis destroy the supply of replacement engines and the aftermarket supply chain. The government-funded destruction of potential collector vehicles and V8 engines is tantamount to a Kristallnacht against the automotive hobbies]

All of these "Cash For Clunkers" bills are just an expensive BAILOUT disguised as WELFARE. Alliance of Automotive Manufacturers superlobbyist Dave McCurdy (D-Okla)(another career free-spending, big government “Gucci Gulch” Democrat), claims "The passage of this legislation is good news for manufacturers, auto dealers, suppliers . . . . With just-released May auto sales reporting a 31% drop from just a year ago, we can't afford to wait any longer."

McCurdy, of course, cannot support real, market-based structural reforms and is doing the hired-gun bidding of those thirsting for a laundered, clandestine bailout, such as FoMoCo scion and green-nut William Clay Ford, Jr.

Neither McCurdy nor “Little Billy” are true friends of grassroots motorsports, vintage vehicle collectors, or the thousands of small businesses who serve these niches. Neither McCurdy nor “Little Billy” are true free-market, constitutional government capitalists. Instead, they both lust after special interest raids on the federal treasury for a short term “boost” for the bottom lines of the OEMs.

All of the Ca$h for Clunker$ bills are a declaration of war against grassroots motorsports and vintage vehicle collectors. None of them would be moving if President Obama hadn’t already declared a pogrom against grassroots automotive interests in his demand for a “clunker” welfare-bailout bill.

All of these bills are ANTI-FREE MARKET and would be mostly funded with money we have to BORROW FROM COMMUNIST CHINA or the FED (i.e. the printing press). And a huge amount of the borrowed money will be shipped overseas to Asian automakers. All in all, just the sort of big government stupidity one would expect from a group of power-mad socialists and appliance motorists.

DEFY THE BAILOUTS–DRIVE A V8! WRITE AND CALL YOUR SENATORS TODAY AND ASK THEM TO OPPOSE ALL CA$H FOR CLUNKER$ WELFARE LEGISLATION!

"BIG ED" WHITACRE "DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT CARS"

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On a surreal spring day when a President that was first boosted by the infamous "Chicago Machine," crushed his opponents, shredded the Constitution, and rammed through the transfer of Chrysler to an Italian conglomerate (sometimes known as "Fix It Again Tony") and the U.A.W.'s Voluntary Employee Benefits Association, the proposed chairman of the Obama Administration's other automotive ward, "Government Motors," proudly announced "I don’t know anything about cars.”

Perhaps that made him overqualified for Obama's Car Czar Central Committee of appliance motorists and bus riders.

Of course GM has already tried the "know-nothing-but-it's-just-a-business" approach in 1992-1995 with "Toothpaste King" John Smale. The results were unmitigated disaster.

But among the arrogant looter class of which President Obama was a proud "community organizer," chairing the GM board apparently doesn't require knowing the difference between a Corvette and a Chevette. It certainly does not require any demonstrated comptence or vision in the automotive field or any background in designing, engineering, manufacturing, or selling motor cars.

Perhaps we're lucky that Joe Biden didn't get the job. Of course Gaffe-mouth Joe owns a Corvette, so he's probably overqualified.

All "Big Ed" really needs to know is that Obama, Rahm Emanuel, the greeniacs, and the EPA are "large and in charge." And all "Big Ed" really has to understand is that "the mission" is to build enough tiny, electro-magic fuel sippers (that the market really doesn't want) to pay off the U.A.W. and ensure Obama's reelection.

In other words, it's the "What a Wonderful World" view of management:

Don't know much about history
Don't know much biology
Don't know much about a science book
Don't know much about the french I took

But I do know that I love you
And I know that if you love me too
What a wonderful world this would be

[With apologies to Sam Cooke]

Whether the automotive community will really "love Big Ed" remains to be seen. But it is consistent with the entire Inside-the-Beltway approach to the auto business to put someone in charge that hasn't even proven he can change a tire on his own.

Whitacre might be good news for fans of GM's participation in NASCAR, though. Although some have suggested that the Obama Administration will force GM and Chrysler out of NASCAR at the end of 2009, Whitacre's AT&T, nee SBC Communications, nee Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. saw the value of NASCAR racing. Perhaps "Big Ed" was paying attention at the meetings discussing the NASCAR sponsorship. Whitacre is also an Exxon-Mobil board member, which is another company that has dabbled from time to time in motorsports sponsorships.

And NASCAR's BRIAN FRANCE arguably "don't know much" about running a sanctioning body, so that gives him something in common with "Big Ed."

Still, helming the GM board is a poor place to serve an apprenticeship in the auto business. Of course, most of us also thought that the White House was ill-suited for on-the-job training prior to the emergence of the mulatto reprise of "Camelot."

CARS ACT: THE DEMOCRAT-RINO WAR AGAINST V8s

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It reads like an endangered species list . . . Mustangs, Cougars, Jaguars, Panthers,Thunderbirds.

These are just a few of the collectable cars caught up in the insane greeniac dragnet of the so-called “Ca$h for Clunker$” bill passed by 298 automotive free-market haters in the U.S. House of Representatives.

These vandals of our American automotive history, led by Freedom-hating, green-welfare-sugar-mama Representative Betty Sutton (D-OH) and encouraged by Supreme Enviro-Socialist Commander Barack Hussein Obama (when he’s not groveling at the feet of Islamic Mullahs or calling the shots for “Government Motors”) have declared war against the V8 engine, auto collecting and grassroots motorsports.

Aided by 58 Republican-In-Name-Only (RINO) collaborators (each of which who ought to be immediately ejected from the GOP), the power-mad “Greenazis” are poised to borrow up to $4,000,000,000.00 from the Communist Chinese and the Fed (e.g. the printing press) to buy up V8-powered collector cars and destroy them.

Here’s how HR2751, the so-called “Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Act” works (in its own words):

WHAT COLLECTABLE VEHICLES ARE TARGETED FOR DESTRUCTION?

(

7) the term `eligible trade-in vehicle' means an automobile or a work truck (as such terms are defined in section 32901(a) of title 49, United States Code) that, at the time it is presented for trade-in under this Act--
1. (A) is in drivable condition; [NOTE THAT IT DOESN’T SAY COMPLETE, SO THEORETICALLY A GUTTED, INSURED ROLLING SHELL THAT MOVES UNDER ITS OWN POWER WOULD BE “DRIVEABLE”]
(B) has been continuously insured consistent with the applicable State law and registered to the same owner for a period of not less than 1 year immediately prior to such trade-in;
(C) was manufactured in model year 1984 or later [WHICH IS CONTRADICTED IN ANOTHER SECTION OF THE BILL]; and
(D) in the case of an automobile, has a combined fuel economy value of 18 miles per gallon or less [NOTE THAT THIS IS THE NEW, LOWER EPA RATINGS, AND IS BASED ON THE VIN CODE. THE CARS BILL APPARENTLY OMITS ANY REQUIREMENT OF AN ORIGINAL ENGINE, WHICH MAY LEAVE OPEN THE DOOR FOR CREATIVE PRE-TRADE ENGINE SWAPS];

HOW DOES "BIG BROTHER" DEFINE FUEL ECONOMY?

(

5) the term `combined fuel economy value' means--
1. (A) with respect to a new fuel efficient automobile, the number, expressed in miles per gallon, centered below the words `Combined Fuel Economy' on the label required to be affixed or caused to be affixed on a new automobile pursuant to subpart D of part 600 of title 40 Code of Federal Regulations;
(B) with respect to an eligible trade-in vehicle, the equivalent of the number described in subparagraph (A), and posted under the words `Estimated New EPA MPG' and above the word `Combined' for vehicles of model year 1985 through 2007, or posted under the words `New EPA MPG' and above the word `Combined' for vehicles of model year 2008 or later on the fueleconomy.gov website of the Environmental Protection Agency for the make, model, and year of such vehicle; or
(C) with respect to an eligible trade-in vehicle manufactured between model years 1978 through 1984, [HERE’S A DEAD GIVEAWAY THAT THEY’LL BE BACK AFTER PRE-1984 MODELS] the equivalent of the number described in subparagraph (A) as determined by the Secretary (and posted on the website of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) using data maintained by the Environmental Protection Agency for the make, model, and year of such vehicle;

SO WHAT SORT OF POTENTIAL COLLECTOR CARS ARE ON DEATH ROW?

Virtually any vehicle with a V8 engine built after 1984 and before 2000 is potentially at risk of being crushed if its been in the hands of the same greedy, welfare-loving owner for a year and has insurance. Most certainly, the few V8-powered vehicles built after 2000 probably have enough “trade in” value left to exceed the $3,500-$4,500 government bid.

But scores of collectable and donor vehicles built during the Clinton and Reagan Administrations are at risk.

For example, Every Mustang GT (except the super-rare turbo 4) and all SVT Cobras with trade-in values of less than $4,500 are potential victims of the Congressional vandals, as well as competitors, such as Pontiac Trans Ams and Chevrolet Camaros. The Kelly Blue Book values suggest that V8 Mustangs built before 1996 are most significantly at risk.

Any vintage Jaguar built after 1984, including the exotic V12 XJS and the legendary six-cylinder XJ6 will qualify for crushing.

Every V8-powered Lincoln built after 1984 qualifies for the senseless slaughter, including such collector standouts as the Mark VII LSC, the 32-Valve Continental, and the Mark VIII (each of which represent types of milestone cars that will NEVER BE BUILT AGAIN UNDER THE DRACONIAN 2012-2016 OBAMA CORPORATE AVERAGE FUEL ECONOMY REGULATIONS)

No Panther-platform Ford, Lincoln, or Mercury escapes. Crown Victorias, Grand Marquis, Police Interceptors, Town Cars and even Marauders fall below the arbitrary “clunker” line set in the CARS Act.

Even a few rare FWD models are targeted, such as the 1989 Pontiac Grand Prix Turbo, the Oldsmobile Aurora, and the Cadillac Allante.

But most mass-produced, smoking junkpile FWDs are ineligible. In other words the kid with the oil-burning Honda ricer (a true anti-American clunker that will never be collectable anywhere) can’t trade in his beat-down, primered, unsafe-at-any-speed heap for some quick ObamaCa$h. But he can trade in his Grandma’s pristine, seldom-driven Crown Victoria on a new KIA . . . .

SO HOW MUCH ARE THE WELFARE PAYMENTS?

1) $3,500 VALUE- The voucher [A NEWSPEAK WORD FOR WELFARE] may be used to offset the purchase price or lease price of the new fuel efficient automobile by $3,500 if--

(A) the new fuel efficient automobile is a passenger automobile and the combined fuel economy value of such automobile is at least 4 miles per gallon higher than the combined fuel economy value of the eligible trade-in vehicle;

(B) the new fuel efficient automobile is a category 1 truck and the combined fuel economy value of such truck is at least 2 miles per gallon higher than the combined fuel economy value of the eligible trade-in vehicle;

(C) the new fuel efficient automobile is a category 2 truck that has a combined fuel economy value of at least 15 miles per gallon and--

(i) the eligible trade-in vehicle is a category 2 truck and the combined fuel economy value of the new fuel efficient automobile is at least 1 mile per gallon higher than the combined fuel economy value of the eligible trade-in vehicle; or

(ii) the eligible trade-in vehicle is a category 3 truck of model year 2001 or earlier; or

(D) the new fuel efficient automobile is a category 3 truck and the eligible trade-in vehicle is a category 3 truck of model year of 2001 or earlier and is of similar size or larger than the new fuel efficient automobile as determined in a manner prescribed by the Secretary.

(2) $4,500 VALUE- The voucher may be used to offset the purchase price or lease price of the new fuel efficient automobile by $4,500 if--

(A) the new fuel efficient automobile is a passenger automobile and the combined fuel economy value of such automobile is at least 10 miles per gallon higher than the combined fuel economy value of the eligible trade-in vehicle;

(B) the new fuel efficient automobile is a category 1 truck and the combined fuel economy value of such truck is at least 5 miles per gallon higher than the combined fuel economy value of the eligible trade-in vehicle; or

(C) the new fuel efficient automobile is a category 2 truck that has a combined fuel economy value of at least 15 miles per gallon and the combined fuel economy value of such truck is at least 2 miles per gallon higher than the combined fuel economy value of the eligible trade-in vehicle and the eligible trade-in vehicle is a category 2 truck.

Nothing in the bill seems to limit the WELFARE VOUCHERS to American vehicles, so plenty of collectable American milestone vehicles will be “replaced” by soulless, boring FWD imports of dubious future collectability (and minimal grassroots motorsports potential).

Destruction of ONE MILLION VINTAGE VEHICLES will decimate many small businesses involved in used car sales, auto repair, customizing and grassroots motorsports.

The Senate can still stop this madness. Call and write your senators today.

If the idiotic vandals get their way and the CARS WELFARE/BAILOUT ACT becomes law, perhaps the best resistance is to buy a 1984-1999 V8-powered potential collectable (while you still can afford to) and DRIVE IT. And be sure to send photos to President Obama!

And at the mid-term elections, be sure to tell Obama, Sutton, Pelosi and the other Democrats and RINOS to keep their FILTHY HANDS OFF OF OUR VINTAGE V8s!

HORRIBLE "OBAMACA$H FOR CLUNKER$" BILL PASSES THE U.S. HOUSE TODAY

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The U.S. House of Representatives passed the huge, Bill Ford urged, "Cash for Clunkers" bailout/giveaway on June 9, 2009.

Here's a list of the 298 enemies of automotive free markets who voted for the Cash For Clunkers bailout bill (the so-called Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Act (Also see the Infamous "Enemies of Grassroots Motorsports" list on the sidebar))

FIFTY-NINE WORTHLESS "RINO" REPUBLICANS ABANDONED PRINCIPLES OF FREE MARKETS AND FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY TO "SHACK UP" WITH A MAJORITY OF POWER-MAD, CAR-HATING DEMOCRATS TO PASS THIS HORRIBLE BILL!

House leaders have settled on a compromise proposed by
Representative Betty Sutton of Ohio that would offer vouchers to
consumers worth up to $4,500 to help pay for new, more
fuel-efficient vehicles.

Lawmakers, aides and lobbyists expect the
Democratic-controlled House to approve by a comfortable margin
the bipartisan measure, known as "cash-for-clunkers." A
two-thirds majority is needed for passage under rules
established by leadership.

This moronic bill amounts to a war on American collector vehicles and grassroots motorsports, funded by money borrowed from the Communist Chinese and others. It will harm hundreds of thousands of small businesses that depend on affordable used vehicles.

The car-hating appliance motorists, radical greens, and the anti-collector vehicle elements in the U.A.W. and the Detroit 3 have outmanuvered grassroots automotive interests, automotive collectors, salvage dealers, and the aftermarket. These anti-free market forces want to tap the federal treasury to subsidize their meddling in the used vehicle and used auto parts markets. Such meddling will drive up prices, balloon the federal deficit, and will have minimal effects on the environment. The gutless lapdogs of the anti-collector/anti-free market special interests in Congress and the Obama Administration are all too willing to destroy a large part of our automotive heritage.

And our children and grandchildren will get a double bill for it. First, they will be deprived of hundreds of thousands of collectible vintage vehicles and parts vehicles. What vehicles and parts that survive the onslaught will be much more scarce and expensive. Second, our children and grandchildren will get stuck with the bill for the billions in bailout cash laundered through the "ObamaCa$h For Clunker$" program to the big automobile manufacturers.

[For more, see Truth With Speedzzter's prior posts on the "Ca$h for Clunker$" boondoggle at the tags below]

WHITACRE: PHONING IT IN AT GM?

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According to the Automotive News:

Edward Whitacre Jr., former chairman and CEO of telecommunications giant AT&T Inc., today was selected to become chairman of the new General Motors when the automaker emerges from bankruptcy

.

Apparently in Obama-land, running "Government Motors" isn't really any different from being the head honcho of Ma Bell.

The son of a railroad engineer, Whitacre grew up trapping frogs and shooting rabbits with his shotgun in the fields of Ennis, Tex., a small railroad town about 40 miles south of Dallas. In high school, he played first base on the baseball team and defensive end on the football squad.

"Big Ed" drove "an old Ford" to college at Texas Tech and spent four decades with the telephone company. Reportedly he drove a Cadillac before he chuted out of AT&T with a whopping $158.5 Million retirement nestegg.

That ought to make him an expert on automobiles . . . .

To further stir the "Government Motors" political intrigue, someone named "Edward Whitacre" in San Antonio has allegedly contributed to Obama Chief Attack Dog/Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Vice President Hillary Clinton, and Democrat Senator Mark Pryor.

Politics aside, the Whitacre pick recalls Jim Wangers' recent commentary on the death of Pontiac published in Pontiac Enthusiast magazine. Instead of the "bad decision" approach taken by Truth With Speedzzter, Wangers "named names" in a "wrong person" approach. His thesis was basically that GM had saddled Pontiac with a Chernyenko-like succession of clueless leaders. The last couple of savants in charge of PMD, according to Wangers, were exactly the sorts of non-automotive "brand managers" favored by some Wall Street/generic consumer product marketing types. They, of course, didn't really understand what Pontiac was and helped drive GM into the ground.

Is Whitacre another train wreck? Does he make even the "appliance motorists" on the Obama Car Czar Central Committee look like a group of Henry Fords?

Stay tuned.

JUSTICE GINSBURG CALLS A "TIME OUT" ON THE FIAT-IZATION OF CHRYSLER

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Liberal U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has temporarily stayed the Section 363 sale of Chrysler's assets to FIAT.

Exactly what caught Justice Ginsburg's attention is unknown. Greedy trial lawyer pirates oppose the deal because it will cut off the products liability gravy train (at least until the "new" FIAT-controlled Chrysler builds something the Naderites consider "unsafe at any speed").

The plight of the Indiana pensioners might have also snagged Justice Ginsburg's attention. The Obama Administration-orchestrated 363 sale has upended normal bankruptcy expectations and stands to crush Chrysler's secured creditors (to the benefit of unsecured obligations to Chrysler's unions).

FIAT has threatened to bail out if the sugary deal isn't closed by June 15, 2009. But with the U.S. Treasury fronting Chrysler's post-petition financing, FIAT's "drop dead date" is clearly artificial.

The pause may be only temporary. Ginsburg could dump the stay on her own (probable if she's sensitive to the liberal trade winds pushing the FIAT buyout). Or a majority of the Supreme Court could rewrite bankruptcy law by pragmatically deferring to the judgments of the inferior courts.

But for the moment, Obama's rocket-sled bankruptcy of Chrysler has stalled like a rust-eaten Plymouth Volare' in rush-hour traffic.

HP2G/PELMEAR V8: ONLY 200 POUNDS?

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Team HP2g's departure from the Progressive Automotive X-Prize and the June 2, 2009, announcement of an Ohio production facility for the Pelmear "mystery" motor has a number of internet wags in a tither.

Some internet "experts" are quick to brand HP2g and Pelmear as frauds.

Others, question whether any V8 in a twenty-two-year-old Mustang could ever achieve 80+ m.p.g. and 400 horsepower.

A few, including "Truth With Speedzzter" are withholding judgment until we see more.

Thus far, Doug Pelmear has kept the "miracle" Mustang's hood locked tighter than Fort Knox. However Pelmear did suggest some interesting details to the local Ohio press about the Pelmear V8:

While the E85-only engine was not on display for the general public, Pelmear did reveal that it was quite a bit smaller than the normal engine of today and only weighs about 200 pounds. He also showed the documentation that he had taken it to an Ohio EPA station last Friday for an emissions test. His emissions were half of the legal limit and that mark was achieved without a catalytic converter.

Is the HP2g/Pelmear "mystery" motor in fact a pocket-sized, ultra-low-friction, forced-induction engine with an array of electronic engine management strategies and perhaps some sort of unthrottled, lean-burn prechamber ignition? A downsized Miller-Atkinson-Otto (MAO) cycle engine that is turbocharged within an inch of its life on 85-percent Ethanol could possibly produce significant increases in low-power fuel efficiency.

Given that Pelmear has suggested that some of the proprietary technology was first envisioned by his grandfather back in the 1940s, could the "mystery" motor be some sort of high-tech Ford V8-60 derivative?

The original V8-60 was a 136-cubic-inch (2.23 liter) flathead engine designed to skirt European displacement taxes and U.K. bore size taxes. It simply lacked the torque necessary for satisfactory performance in Ford's full-sized cars, but was a modest hit in American midget oval track racing. The V8-60 had a tiny 2.6" bore and a short 3.2" stroke.

A modern turbocharged "2 liter" V8 could take advantage of multiple overhead valves, direct injection, cylinder deactivation, and valve timing alterations to dramatically boost low-speed efficiency.

But 200 pounds?

That suggests that maybe even two liters is on the high side of displacement estimates. Most certainly it excludes cast iron as a predominant material and the antique V8-60 as anything more than an inspirational starting point.

The last of the Cosworth Indy V8s (the XF) was approximately 162 cubic inches (2.65 liters) and weighed in at a svelte 264.6 pounds (120 kg). That's about 1.6 pounds per cubic inch. Theoretically, downsizing the XF to two liters at the same CID-to-pounds ratio could result in a new engine around 200 pounds dry. However, the XF was hardly a low-cost production-style engine.

And while a 400 h.p. road-car V8 would have only half the horsepower of the low-boost, 12,000 r.p.m. XF, it would need to go 1,000 times longer between rebuilds to be practical. Moreover, a fairly dominant percentage of the road-car V8's duty cycle would be at net power outputs of less than 30 horsepower (and would necessarily be so to achieve fuel consumption within the ballpark Mr. Pelmear suggests).

But a road-car V8 would not need to be a structural member of the chassis (which was a key feature of Cosworth V8s starting with the legendary DFV) which theoretically could allow for some additional lightening.

Current power density assumptions suggest that about the minimum displacement for a 400 h.p. alcohol-fueled engine of reasonable potential durability would be in the 66-100 cubic inch range. For example, RB Racing sells air-cooled Harley-Davidson style Vee-twin turbo "Orca" engines with similar power-per-cube outputs (notwithstanding only two valves per cylinder). Of course, even making an off-the-shelf 400 h.p. motorcycle engine function adequately in an automobile would be a daunting task. Moreover, nothing suggests that any of the turbo Orcas would yield 80+ m.p.g. in a lightweight motorcycle, much less a compact automobile. Thus, the HP2g?Pelmear "mystery" motor would have to be something more than just a tiny V8 with a turbo.

The design challenges of creating a hyper-efficient micro-V8 for highway use would be significantly different than for an 800 h.p. turbocharged Indy Car engine or a 500h.p. Harley. Whether HP2g/Pelmear have achieved such a "breakthrough" remains to be conclusively proven. It is premature to speculate either for or against the Pelmear "mystery" motor.

NOTE: This news story contains unverified information based on forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 27E of the Securities Act of 1934. Statements contained in this report that are not historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain. Actual performance and results may differ materially from that projected or suggested herein due to certain risks and uncertainties including, without limitation, ability to obtain financing and regulatory and shareholder approvals for anticipated actions.

Truth With Speedzzter is wholly unaffiliated with HP2g, LLC, Doug Pelmear, Revenge Designs, Inc. or anyone affiliated with these entities. All trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective holders and any use herein is under the "fair use" provision of U.S. Copyright law.