MAX Update No. 57: The Avion Goes 100+ MPG from Canada to Mexico

Reader Contribution by Staff
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Craig Henderson is my hero. He was an automotive technology student at Western Washington University when he and his friend, Bill Green, designed and built the Avion. Other than paint and graphics, it doesn’t look much different than it did in 1986, when it first broke 100 mpg on the highway.

Well heck, who cared back then? We had plenty of gasoline in the pipeline and gas was a cheap as firewood. The Guinness folks gave them a world record (103 mpg) and they considered building a kit, but in those consumptuous times, nobody wanted an eco-freako-dorkmobile no matter how cool it looked. So Craig put the Avion under a tarp for 20 years and founded Bullfrog Boats to hone his fabrication skills.

Fast forward to today. Energy is an issue again and the Avion is no longer ahead of its time, it’s right on schedule. Craig built another Avion with a modern engine, from a diesel Smart Car, and made a set of molds so he can crank out more car bodies if the world calls for Avions — and how better to get the world calling than another long distance record attempt; from Canada to Mexico on one tank of fuel. He found a sponsor to pick up the travel tab, and so the Avion Economy in Motion Border to Border Goodyear Assurance Fuel Max Challenge was born (sponsored by Goodyear, in the name of its Assurance Fuel Max tires.

Craig set out from the Canadian border crossing at Blaine, Washington, on Sunday morning, August 29, and reached the California/Mexico border on Wednesday, September 1. He was accompanied by an SUV containing an engineer to handle the fuel, and a publicist to handle the press.

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