Charlie Self wrote:
....

And it wasn't new. I can't recall the inventor's name--Fisher kept
popping to mind, but I can find no reference--back in the '40s and
'50s about a 100 MPG carb that had been invented. resumably, GM bought
the thing and buried it.
....

This is the first time I ever hear of it being associated to Bill Lear
(and unless it's a different Bill Lear than the electronics and aviation
technology I don't think it is his. It doesn't sound at all like
something he would get involved in--he knew physics and engineering and
would recognize a hoax as a hoax from the git-go).

As a sidelight and back to something that has wood in it (at least the
cabinets did ), my uncle in Wichita had an Armstrong dealership and
did quite a lot of upper-end remodels in the 50s and 60s. He did the
tile work in the Lear's home in Wichita while I was in college. My
cousin, brother and myself would drive down on weekends from Manhattan
and work as tile mechanics while finishing the job as it was so large.
That went on most of one winter/spring before we finally finished it all...

What was the last new car you saw with a carburetor?

Check out NASCAR... I'm not a fan by any stretch, but aren't they
still fully aspirated? I've always wondered why the stay that way, but
presume because they figure it would open up an unlimited number of
_additional_ ways to cheat--uh, get competitive advantage, I mean.

Maybe that's what they need to save a pit stop late in the race.

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