Better Gas Mileage

Weatherly man’s collection may hold key to
future

■ Willard Turnerhasaguide published in 1980 that claims to have the secret to creating a 200-mpgcarburetor. ByJOSEPHKRINGER Staff Writer Some may consider Willard Turn­er a pack rat. ScatteredthroughouthisWeather­ly home are all sorts of antiques he has collected throughout his 78 years. But somewhere in his clutter of old car headlights, letters and speeches written by former United States presidents, lies a key to the future. A manual written by Allan Wallce and published in 1980 tells of a car­buretor that— he claims— would allow a car to travel 200 miles on a gallon of gas. Turner said the manu­al was created with the help of the Ford Motor Co. in the 1970s. Tweaking the part At age 25, Turner in 1955 was hired on the spot by the Ford Motor Co. at its plant in Mahwah, N.J. He started out in the commercial department where he “handled everything.”Theplantemployed thousands of people who worked 12­hour days, six days a week. They assembled large-scale pick-up trucks and mass dump trucks. “We made everything there right fromscratch,” Turnersaid.“The assembly line would put out between 45 and 50 vehicles per hour. ” Turner worked the assembly line from one end to the other during his 15 years with Ford. After becoming closefriendswithplantManager Ernie Poley, Turner began helping out in the shop and would go on the road for the company to play the “mediator.” A few years later he found himself stepping up yet another rung on the company ladder. With no college education, but much experience, Turner soon found himself working right alongside the engineers at Ford. “Imodifiedcarburetors,”he explained. Constantly experimenting with the different parts of the machine, Turner says he discovered a secret togettingbettergasmileage. “By cutting the weight off of the ball jack, it increased the mileage. The more you shaved off, the more gas mileage you would get.” The research continued over the years, as did several alterations in order to create a more fuel-efficient carburetor. When it was near com­pletion, Turner said, Ford had its revolutionary pro ject patented. But why, 30 years after its cre­ation, are there still hardly no vehi­cles on the market that can get 50 miles per gallon, let alone 200? According to Turner, not long after the carburetor was patented, the five maj or oil companies at the time got together and purchased all the patent rights to the carburetor and similar pro jects. “These carburetors aren’ t in cars today for the simple reason that the gas companies bought the patents andkeptitfrombeingpubliciz ed,” he said. Numerous phone calls by the Standard-Speaker to ExxonMobil, Tex aco and Shell seeking comment were not returned. A few miles farther In the early 1970s, the Ford plant closed its doors because of a tax dis­pute with the town of Mahwah. “Thousands of people lost their jobs,somewerewillingtorelocate,” Turner said. With a son to take care of, he decided to stay in the area and found work in other places. No matter what kind of other work he took part in, Turner always continued to tamper with car parts, tryingtogetbettergasmileage. “I’ve always been involved in this typeof thing,” hesaid.“Them things are like a challenge to me. ” To this day, Turner does any­thing he can to push his vehicle a few miles farther. With a 1996 GMC Jimmy, which originally got 18 miles to the gallon, Turner bought a $180 part and made some adj ust­ments. Testing the modification was the nex t step, so he drove it to Florida, blasting the air condition­ing alltheway.Hesaidheaveraged 26 miles per gallon for the trip. Similar modifications can bring big savings today, Turner said. “The gas prices today impact everybody. I’ve done everything I could on my cars to get better gas mileage,”hesaid.“Itsoneof those things that really makes me mad withthegascompanies.” A big reason Turner gets so frus­trated with the oil situation is because he says there are many solutions that could fix the prob­lem. “There are things that could be taken off these cars to get better fuel efficiency that would also meet pol­lution standards,”hesaid. Alternative energy sources are another option, he said. One, which is not usually associated with cars, is solar energy. According to Turner, it is possible for a car to run entirely off of solar power. “I don’ t know why they don’ t go to solar, heat could even be generated atnightfromthemoon,” hesaid. Politics also play a role in what kind of changes are made within the industry. “To make a change, it’ s got to go through Congress. Politicians have to act and push to have these things released,” Turnersaid.If thepublic wants to try to get these things out, they should write or put in calls to congressmen and state senators to apply pressure to begin resolving some of these issues, Turner sug­gested. editorial@standardspeaker.com