1944-01-01
The Effect of WARTIME FUEL Developments Upon POST-WAR AUTOMOBILES 440143
THE post-war automobile has received generous attention from the feature-story and human-interest writers, but little from the practical engineers who will build these cars.
To bring a more realistic viewpoint into the post-war car picture, Mr. Colwell interviewed 81 of the leading oil and automobile engineers of America. He has formed a weighted average of the combined opinions of all the engineers consulted. Briefly, these conclusions are:
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1.
Immediately after the war, 1942 models will be built. No new models will be on the market for at least 18 months.
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2.
Although oil companies hope that eventually only two grades of gasoline will satisfy all demands, it appears that immediately after the war, four grades will be marketed: aviation, of 100 and 100-plus octane; premium, of 85-87 octane; regular, of 75-77 octane; and third grade, of 70 octane.
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3.
Compression ratio will go up, although ratios above 8:1 are not foreseen for the immediate future.
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4.
Although cars will be lighter, the small European-type car is not foreseen. A smaller car with 4-cyl engine, however, is likely to become more popular to meet certain economic conditions.
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5.
Future car design will stress economy rather than performance.
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6.
Engine size and displacement will not change much with present-weight cars, although engines will be lighter within economical limitations.
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7.
Automatic transmission will receive great attention.
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8.
Supercharging will be used on heavy-duty vehicles, but not on automobiles in the immediate future, as long as the dominating factor is economy, not power.
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9.
Fuel injection will be used on some heavy-duty vehicles, but not on passenger-car engines.
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10.
Pressure cooling will be widely used.
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11.
Many engine parts, such as bearings, valves, piston rings, fuel systems, and the combustion chamber, will be improved in various ways, because of higher compression.
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