My 1936 Austin Seven does about 38 mpg, almost exactly the same as my 2012 petrol Yeti - now there's progress !

A 1936 Austin 7 Ruby was my first car in 1960. Mine did a bit less to the gallon because I absolutely floored it everywhere all over southern England. It was also fantastic in snow and mud - it could be driven anywhere off road! About as good as the Yeti.

Edited 13 December, 201213 yr by Norry

.In French, after 69 it becomes "60+10", "60+11" after 79 it becomes "4x20" and so on.

.

Gaelic does this after 20, so thirty is 20 and ten, 31 20 and 11 etc

Even worse in Aviation.

We used to uplift fuel in Kilos required.

Most Airports pumped fuel onboard in litres, which was then converted by the refueler into Kilos using the actual specific gravity of the fuel (usually around .8)

The Americans were different, uplifting in US gallons,and converting to pounds .

Then ,if a non-US carrier,converting that figure to kilos.....

No chance of any error there I hear you say...... :wonder:

If you get confused about buying litres and working out your current miles per gallon then you will see the logic in tyre sizes as well:

225/40/18

225 mm (width)

40% of 225mm (= 90mm)

18 inches (rim size) all makes sense eh :think:

The funny thing is, nobody finds that odd.

22's Pah!

A set of 45.7's look really good on the octavia.

Double post

....22's Pah!

A set of 45.7's look really good on the octavia.

You lost me there, somewhere....?

The OP wanted an explanation, well, You start with the French Revolution-an early example of just how revolting they can be and then you proceed to Napoleon who won some pool matches but lost both finals, thereafter you can see a definite pattern of long term attempts to irritate the winners. Driving on the wrong side of the road and operating an entirely made up system of measurements based on flawed notion of the circumference of the earth and a system of weights based on a metal bar they keep under lock and key and a measurement of which -less than precise but good enough to suit them-is said to found an entire "metric" system. Metric operating on base ten which suits well those who regard counting on their fingers.

Scientists have a series of measurement systems which are appropriate to the degree of precision which science requires but for everyday purposes our set up works conveniently.

A scooter?.............a British scooter no less

I saw in a recent edition of the IAM magazine someone had managed to collect an example of every British scooter produced

He was interviewed on BBC London Robert Elms show earlier this week.

All on show. In the midlands I believe.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I bet oriki wished he had not asked the question now!

When I was a lot younger, fuel was delivered in gallons; I measured it in Inches. Taking careful consideration of the level of the tanks and the specific gravity of the fuel in the tanks and of the delivery fuel, entered various charts, came out with a figure in pounds (weight that is - not cost). I then compared this with what the fuel gauges read in pounds. In later years that did change to litres and kilograms.

Mass of fuel is a more accurate way of measuring fuel consumption of combustion engines, so perhaps we should measure it in kilograms per 100 miles...

Edit: Sorry did not see bilun777's post - but roughly the same. He will remember the Air Canada Boeing 767 which the Canadians used kilograms but the airplane was new from Boeing and the "gages" read pounds, so when they asked for about 70,000kgs of fuel - they got 70,000lbs of fuel - about half of what they required - it ran out of fuel in mid air!

Oh, they all survived.

Hello Tristar and my other friends,

No, I am not at all sorry I asked the initial question,on the contrary.

I am happy to have managed to awaken you lot from your dormant state and got you going...

The confusion is apparent and the opinions are enlightning.It will take me some time to absorb and learn the information.

Besides,it is apparent most of us forum members are at least 40 years young , and it is indeed a pleasure to take a stroll down memory lane,dont you agree?

Edited 14 December, 201213 yr by oriki

The OP wanted an explanation, well, You start with the French Revolution-an early example of just how revolting they can be and then you proceed to Napoleon who won some pool matches but lost both finals, thereafter you can see a definite pattern of long term attempts to irritate the winners. Driving on the wrong side of the road and operating an entirely made up system of measurements based on flawed notion of the circumference of the earth and a system of weights based on a metal bar they keep under lock and key and a measurement of which -less than precise but good enough to suit them-is said to found an entire "metric" system. Metric operating on base ten which suits well those who regard counting on their fingers.

,,,,

and if all that not enough they invented the SCART plug.

Did it include the Velocette based on the LE engine?

I have passed the magazine onto a friend so I can't check. I did a bit of googling on the Viceroy and it looks a mighty beast more akin to the 'superscooters of today than a Vespa or Lambretta.

You lost me there, somewhere....?

Standard wheel sizes measured in inches

18" = 45.7 cm

It was a poke at those that fit 22" wheels to 4x4's

Apparently the bigger the number, the cooler the car ?

The scooter thing is currently on a the Coventry Transport museum. Admission free, till early March. A slendid show, as is the rest of the museum. If nowhere else, you can park at Ikea, only a few minutes away. Well worth the detour as they used to say.

I was tortured by having to do all calculations in both systems. While it may work for people who can only count if they have fingers to do it on, and scientists who like to estimate in numbers raised to root of the minus 57th power or whatever, for real world users some of the derived units are just rubbish, arcane and confusing.

Mental exercise.

I litre is 0.219969 imp gallon. So an accurate and "easy" mental conversion to do in your head to check your fuel consumption after filling up is:

Multiply the litres you bought by two. Add the result to itself shifted one decimal place (so if you bought 50 litres, the sum is 50 X 2 = 100 + 10 110, and then shift the point make it look the right amount (11 gallons). Now divide that into your mileage on the tank, say 440 miles, gives you 40 mpg.

Keeps your brain young....

Mental exercise.....Keeps your brain young....

Once you've accumulated enough birthdays ending in '0', you are allowed to use a calculator.

I think I'm correct in saying that the diameter of car wheels is measured in inches, not just in the UK, but throughout much of Europe too. Some cars do have metric wheels, but there are then problems obtaining tyres to fit (I've been told, though this could just be hearsay!).

Petrol prices: I remember that I used to buy my Cleveland Discol petrol at 33p a gallon for my Morris 1000 in 1972, and added a 2p shot of Red-X to maintain upper cylinder lubrication (no hardened valve seats in those days).

Oh, and we drive on the left in the UK and the colonies too. Why? Because when riding a horse, you hold your sword in your right hand and therefore pass the oncoming knight on the left so you can engage him in battle! Simples!!!

I had a lovely old BMW 535 sport with metric wheels.

The cost of tyres was more expensive than the value of the car.

They were scrapped and replaced with some later alloys in inches.

For a weeks use of my first car ( 1961 Mini.)

I used to get 3 gallons of petrol,and enough change for a bag of chips,from a 10 bob note...

Luxury! ...

Eeee, when I were a lad we used to live int shoebox int middle t motorway....

Eeee, when I were a lad we used to live int shoebox int middle t motorway....

Always thought you were from a posh family

Eeee, when I were a lad we used to live int shoebox int middle t motorway....

.......... Eat an 'andful of cold gravel for breakfast, drink a cup of sulphuric acid...........

Sent from my Xperia S using TapaTalk 2

You had a shoe box........I knew you were posh. If we were lucky we would huddle in a corner covered in newspaper.

You had a corner? Luxury!!

You had a shoe box........I knew you were posh. If we were lucky we would huddle in a corner covered in newspaper.

Well, of course, we had it tough. We used to 'ave to get up out of shoebox at twelve o'clock at night and lick road clean wit' tongue. We had two bits of cold gravel, worked twenty-four hours a day at mill for sixpence every four years, and when we got home our Dad would slice us in two wit' bread knife.