When Hank Hill of King of the Hill fame grills, he likes to “taste the meat and not the heat”. Oddly enough, I don’t recall either of his red Ford pickups running on propane.
If it was the right combination of available and affordable, and a LONG list of the many other parts that I probably won’t find, but I’ll keep an eye out for them.
As usual, I got the yard car to drop me off in the antique section so I could explore while they pulled the part I needed. I ended up leaving with that and bought the part I wanted, plus two other things not on the list that I had to go back for the following weekend. I did pretty well. To recap, I bought exactly as much stuff from the list as I did not from the list, but where I went to school, 50% is still considered a poor win, so I’m taking it.
During my walk, I saw some pretty cool stuff. Lots of International trucks, which is a real oddity, and more smashed-up modern Volkswagen Beetles than I’ve seen at one time anywhere, most in the popular yellow colour. A Sassygrass Green Plymouth Duster, or rather Ruster upon closer inspection, and even the oddest of the Mopar A-bodies, a Plymouth Scamp. In reality, seeing anything in the auto wrecker isn’t that odd, as every vehicle on the road today can potentially end up at one of the local wrecking yards at some point. The strangest one I saw was one I would never have guessed ever graced our local roads. A late-70’s Trans Am isn’t that odd, but a propane-powered one certainly is.
What looked like your typical underpowered disco-era muscle car left to rot in the field of broken dreams was, in fact, so much different. Not more, not less, just different. The trunk was open and absolutely packed with the fuel system. Consisting of a giant tank, valves, hoses, and other equipment that was plumbed into the mix. Ironically, there were guards welded over all of the connections, as if there were room to put anything else in the truck that might hit them. The fuel door, a locking one at that, was also open, revealing the Acme threaded fill fitting and spit valve. There was a special inspection sticker on the rear window, but I can’t remember when it was from. What I have to ask is why? I’ve done lots of research in the past on automotive propane versus gasoline, and have never found a solid argument for the conversion. The tank is bigger, heavier, and never fits where the gasoline tank was. On top of the special equipment, special inspections are required for safety. Propane can support higher compression and burns cleaner, but it also creates less energy than gasoline, meaning fewer miles-per-gallon. Also, gasoline is available everywhere, where auto-fill propane isn’t even available everywhere that propane is sold due to special equipment requirements. I don’t know why this Trans Am exists, but I’m glad it does, solely for the fact that I’ve never seen a car like it converted before, and it gives me a reason to look further into why one would go to the effort and expense.
Have a question or comment for Kelly? Post it at lmtimes.ca/kirk
