Having grown up in LA I have a soft spot for cars. The right ride could take you through a variety of traumas, ranging from earthquake aftershocks to a stylist who just made your hair too blonde and too straight. For me, that ride had to be vintage. You can keep your GPS and fuel-injected blah blah, blah. I’ll take a 1965 Rambler over a 2006 anything. Form over function all the way down Interstate 405. That was my motto at least, until my most recent trip to LA.
I was walking through LA’s Chinatown on a balmy winter night last month with my oldest and dearest gal-pal, Katie, who had something to tell me. I could tell by her face it was big. . . a new boyfriend, maybe a new baby? Imagine my surprise when she walked to the curb and introduced me to her latest acquisition, a perfectly restored 1983 300SD Mercedes. I was thrilled by my friend’s aesthetic sensibility, from the sharp maroon paint job to the impeccable stock interior; this stylish ride oozed a dignified decadence that preceded the year of its design by decades. Not only that, but Katie, the mother of two boys and an ideal candidate for soccer motherhood, opted against buying the practical minivan or fuel-efficient hatchback, instead she drove headfirst into the world of impractical choices.
Owning this diesel dinosaur is clearly an act of rebellion. But as I admired the exquisite lines of the dashboard, Katie laid the real bombshell on me. “It runs on vegetable oil.” At first I ignored her comment. It seemed preposterous. Then she told me that she gets the fuel gratis from the guy who converted its diesel engine into one that runs on vegetable oil. That’s any kind of oil… corn oil, soy oil or the oil that Burger King used all day for deep-frying. That’s when I realized that she was not making this up.
My sense of déjà vu was growing. Suddenly I flashed back to April 20th, 1970, the very first Earth Day. I was a grammar school kid who took academics and fashion seriously and planned to become a go-go boot-wearing dermatologist, but on this day the promise of a smog-free future was the main thing that stuck in my mind. My teacher, who made “ecology’ the vocabulary word for the day, also gave me the impression that all that pink goo in the LA air would be gone by the time I reached junior high. Thanks to Buckminster Fuller, we’d all drive electric cars and factories would be solar powered. But by the time I reached voting age I was sadly disabused of this fantasy.
A moment later, Katie’s declaration of satisfaction at “sticking it to the oil man” snapped me back to reality. The image of running Dick Cheney and his corpulent cronies over and out of Washington with a fleet of vegetable powered Mercedes was satisfying indeed, but it also illuminated a dilemma. Since moving to NYC I have basked in the self-satisfaction of not contributing to “America’s addiction to oil.” I get around via public transit and hoof it whenever possible. But honestly, my car-less state is a result of my economic state. If I got a raise or sold a few more paintings, I’d be back in the market for an automobile tomorrow - one that was designed at least twenty years before gas hit two dollars per gallon. I’d want to drive a fuel-guzzling dinosaur, but how to reconcile this dream with running Dick out of Washington? How do I drive a masterpiece of automotive design and still pay homage to that over-the-top eco freedom fighter sentenced to jail for torching a fleet of Hummers? The vegetable oil powered Mercedes Benz is the answer.
As the subtle perfume of deep fried food wafted through the interior of the Benz, Katie answered some of my practical questions. She even took me over to LoveCraft Biofuels in the Echo Park section of Los Angeles, where her Benz was converted from a diesel dependent engine to one that runs on either vegetable oil or diesel fuel. To my inexperienced eye the facilities looked like a regular garage except cleaner. And there were a large number of pre-1985 model diesel powered Mercedes including a spectacular ’65 Mercedes bus awaiting conversion. Apparently these older diesel cars are easier to convert than current computerized models or cars with gasoline engines. For a more detailed description of the conversion process check the LoveCraft Biofuels website, which provides plenty of useful information in a clear, concise manner.
I was thoroughly impressed by the economics and practicality of driving this ecologically sound vehicle. Katie only paid $700 for her conversion. While she sometimes buys soybean oil at Costco for about $2.50 per gallon, she can also pick up used vegetable oil for free from restaurants that normally have to pay to dispose of it. The used oil must be filtered, but that process is simple and relatively painless, especially as gasoline edges up to three dollars per gallon.
It should be noted that there is a minor downside to this. Vegetable oil tends to coagulate in cold weather (as does diesel fuel). This isn’t a big problem in the warmer states, but in the Northeast one might need to add a can of Heet or an anti-coagulant to keep the engine running smoothly. Just talk to your friendly LoveCraft experts about cold weather driving.
The vegetable powered engine is a true revelation. While the automotive industry may be slow to catch on, the term “convertible” is taking on a new meaning to those in the know. The market for early model diesel cars is escalating and the demand for conversions is keeping the LoveCraft people busy. I hope to be among their customers soon, but given the latest news from Texas, I’ll be waiting for a sunny day to fulfill my fantasy of running the Vice President over in style. If my vegetable oil powered Mercedes Benz stalls I could end up with a face full of bird-shot.
I really like the idea of a veg-oil car, for obvious eco- and political reasons. The only problem with them (aside from the diesel-symptoms in cold weather) is that they STINK! I was driving behind one one day and thinking 'what is that goddawful deep-fried smell?".. it was the oil-fueled car ahead of me.
I wonder if there is some way of solving that problem? It's not that insignificant when you think about it... I can envision it might create a whole new set of health problems. And then of course, widespread adoption of the oilcar would require a huge infrastructure rebuilding to accomodate it, and a heavy burden on the growing areas that would supply the raw veg.
I dunno- It's tough- getting people around fast and safely is an art that has no magic shortcuts- King Physics rules our fragile little monkey bodies have to pay a price for such magic.
-Dave
Nicely written. You didn't mention, however, the limitations of vegetable oil. There's plenty of reject oil now, but if a lot of people started driving these things I don't think we'd be able to supply them. My guess is that the amount of vegetable oil available would be relatively tiny compared to the amount of gasoline we consume. Not that it isn't cool, anyway.
I've always had my sights set on cellulose transformation, since we don't use the cellulose for anything anyway -- for example, corn husks. Plants are always-on solar converters that don't care if the light is low or if it's cloudy. And most of what they collect ends up as cellulose. See this article: www.treehugger.com/files/2006/02/the_next_big_fu.php I think this can happen a lot sooner than Hydrogen, which is very difficult and expensive to retrofit for. Biomass conversion produces liquid fuel that could be handled by the trucks and gas stations we already have, but it would be much cleaner because it's a simpler hydrocarbon.
I agree, there won't be enough vegetable oil to go around if everyone converted, but this is the first time I've actually seen someone try a radical (non-corporate) alternative to gasoline. My guess is that vegetable oil will be just one of several alternative fuels.
As for the smell, I checked in with Katie and she hasn't experienced odor problems but she's consistently used clean well-filtered oil.