Alcohol Fuel Powers this Experimental Truck
(Page 7 of 8)
September/October 1979
The Mother Earth News editors
Nope, after we'd done all of those things, we loaded that "fuel-fixing" still of ours in the back of our alcohol-powered truck and set out on the road . . . to bring the good word about renewable ethanol fuel to folks—in the govern ment and "on the street"—who hadn't gotten the message yet!
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TRUCKIN' ALONG
Once we'd "gotten our feet wet" with an introductory press conference and distillation demonstration held out on MOTHER's square-mile research property, the "moonshine-powered" pickup wound its way toward New York City . . . making news—along the way—in Greenville, South Carolina . . . Charlotte, North Carolina . . . and Towson, Maryland.
MOTHER's alternative fuel caravan arrived in the Big Apple on the weekend of June 23—which just happened to be the peak of that city's summer gas crunch—and you can bet that the truck (with "Experimental Alcohol-Powered Vehicle" emblazoned across its sides) attracted a lot of notice. But when—on Monday, June 24—MOTHER's researchers turned independent taxi driver Willie Bly's vehicle into an alcohol-burner (the car then ran like a top, and passed the EPA emis sions tests with flying colors), the city really sat up and paid attention!
The on-the-spot taxi conversion drew excited reviews from all three major television networks . . . and attracted the interest of New York Congressman Mario Biaggi, who—along with North Carolina's Senator Jesse Helms and Iowa Congressman Berkely Bedell ... both of whom have been strong supporters of the home-produced alcohol movement—urged MOTHER to take her "show" to Washington, D.C.
So the still and truck—now joined by an enthusiastic Willie and his alcohol-burning taxi—headed out on the highway again. Our D.C. display took place right on the Capitol grounds, and gave a number of Senators and Congressmen—as well as representatives of NBC television, the Associated Press, and the Washington Post—a chance to see for themselves that a reasonably priced, efficient, backyard liquid fuel is not many years and several multimillion-dollar research grants down the road but is ready to be used today!
All in all it was quite a trip, and the weary researchers headed for their North Carolina mountain homes—after stopping in Baltimore and again in New York City for interviews and so forth—feeling pretty good about how well they'd spread the word on renewable fuels.
After a scant half-day's rest, however, the trusty truck was fired up again ... this time to return to New York for a live demonstration on the Today program and a chance to show over eight million folks—all across the United States—just how easy it is to convert their cars to ethanol.
AND THAT'S NOT ALL . . .
As MOTHER NO. 59 goes to press, the alcohol fuel "bandwagon" shows no signs of slowing down. Here's just a sampling of some of the events in store for MOTHER's researchers: They'll be featured in an issue of Time magazine (which should be out long before you receive this copy of MOTHER . . . so check your local library if you missed the story), a very possible appearance on Good Morning America, a trip to Oshkosh, Wisconsin for the Experimental Aircraft Association Fly-In—where the boys plan to convert an airplane to alcohol fuel, fill it up from the still, and put "moonshine" in the sky!—as well as continued coverage of our experiments by newspapers, radio stations, and television stations everywhere.
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