High mileage memories

According to Time magazine, 50 years ago, 44-year-old Woody Bell drove a Rambler American Deluxe to a 25.2878 miles per gallon victory in the 1959 Mobilgas Economy Run. The marathon mileage competition was run over five days and 1,898 miles from Los Angeles California to Kansas City, Missouri.

Sure, it was a Rambler but even a Cadillac 62 managed 19.03 mpg.

Yesterday the Obama Administration announced that it wants the new car/light truck fleet average to be 10 mpg higher than what the Rambler was capable of a half century ago. Considering how far we’ve come in other areas: aviation, space travel, personal electronics, this nutty Internet thing, etc., and the fact that CAFE ratings peaked in the 1980s and have leveled off or declined slightly since (while 0 to 60 mph times have ramped up drastically) isn’t it about time this happened?

One thing is for sure, with Chrysler and GM on government life support, they won’t be in any position to resist. Here’s what GM President And CEO Fritz Henderson had to say yesterday:

General Motors commends President Obama’s leadership to establish a harmonized National Program to improve vehicle fuel economy and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Energy security and climate change are national priorities that require federal leadership and the President’s direction makes sense for the country and the industry. Harmonizing a variety of regulations will benefit consumers across America by getting cleaner, more efficient vehicles on the road quicker and more affordably. In turn, GM and the auto industry benefit by having more consistency and certainty to guide our product plans.

GM is fully committed to this new approach. As the President has previously said, all stakeholders must come together and act with a common purpose and sense of urgency to address the nation’s energy and environmental priorities.  We agree and this collaborative spirit is reflected in our viability plan.  Delivering innovation and solutions that will strengthen America’s energy security, economy and competitiveness are a central part of GM’s reinvention.

Maybe it’s just me, but why has this taken so long? Thoughts?

Image courtesy of The Old Car Manual Project