Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.
|
|
| Author |
Message |
Bitumen Boy
Joined: 26 Jan 2012
Posts: 1735
Location: Above the snow line in old Monmouthshire
|
 Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2023 1:05 pm Post subject: |
 |
|
| ukdave2002 wrote: | | alastairq wrote: | I an still get LPG[if I needed it] at my local fuel station, a mile down[or up?] the road....
Made me wonder whether it would be 'worth my while' getting one of those Dacia Sanderos, which are 'dual fuel?'
Mind, they had to junk the spare wheel, on account of the LPG tank being located in the spare wheel well. |
When I ran a car on LPG, around 20 years ago, there were numerous places local to me (south Cheshire) to get LPG, now that Morrisons have stopped selling it as have the local Shell stations, the nearest is a caravan centre that's around a 40 mile round trip and its 89p a litre! Diesel is around £1.32 a litre locally with the MPG/L difference I can see why LPG is not as attractive as it was a few years ago.
Shame because 20 years ago I saved a fortune! I did around 150,000 miles using LPG in an Omega, a good chunk of which was on company business, and 20 years ago my company didn't have a different mileage rate for LPG, so I was paid the Petrol rate 
Dave |
I feel I had a lucky escape with LPG... A couple of years ago it was readily available round here courtesy of Morrisons; and I bought a (pretty cheap) petrol modern to use for work, planning to have it converted for LPG.
Long and short of it is that I bought a lemon, and the LPG conversion never came close to happening as it never really ran well; it did duty as spare for a couple of years and is now on SORN waiting for some useful bits to be stripped off before it goes for scrap. But if it had run as well as it did on the test drive (too short as there wasn't much petrol in the tank) and I had shelled out for the LPG conversion I would have been left with an even bigger lemon... Soon after I bought it Morrisons stopped selling LPG at several of their local sites and the special out of my way journeys to fill up would have wiped out any saving.
Nowadays if I was travelling to look at a used car I would be inclined to take at least half a gallon of the appropriate fuel in a can with me, so that if the tank was nearly empty I could put enough in to at least get the engine hot on test... there was a reason that car was running on fumes when I was trying to test it! |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Ray White
Joined: 02 Dec 2014
Posts: 6318
Location: Derby
|
| Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2023 1:20 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| There must be thousands of old gas guzzlers like my 4.6 litre Range Rover that have been left high and dry with the withdrawal of LPG. Personally, I would not buy a 23 year old 4x4 with a 14 mpg thirst and I can't imagine anyone else wanting one either. I suppose I could try offering it to one of these "we buy any car" type scams but I could probably only get the scrap value if I was lucky. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ray White
Joined: 02 Dec 2014
Posts: 6318
Location: Derby
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Miken
Joined: 24 Dec 2012
Posts: 544
|
| Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2023 6:01 pm Post subject: Re: Synthetic fuel |
|
|
It seems a good application for use on construction sites. The hopeless inefficiency of using a hydrogen bowser to bring it on site probably doesn't matter. I imagine it would be really difficult and impractical to get portable electric charging stations on site if the earth movers were electric. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Bitumen Boy
Joined: 26 Jan 2012
Posts: 1735
Location: Above the snow line in old Monmouthshire
|
| Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2023 10:19 pm Post subject: Re: Synthetic fuel |
|
|
| Miken wrote: |
It seems a good application for use on construction sites. The hopeless inefficiency of using a hydrogen bowser to bring it on site probably doesn't matter. I imagine it would be really difficult and impractical to get portable electric charging stations on site if the earth movers were electric. |
Well, you could charge batteries on site, but it would mean using massive diesel generators and realistically it's more efficient to have the plant using diesel directly as happens now. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
badhuis
Joined: 20 Aug 2008
Posts: 1391
Location: Netherlands
|
| Posted: Thu Jul 06, 2023 12:51 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Ray White wrote: | | There must be thousands of old gas guzzlers like my 4.6 litre Range Rover that have been left high and dry with the withdrawal of LPG. Personally, I would not buy a 23 year old 4x4 with a 14 mpg thirst and I can't imagine anyone else wanting one either. I suppose I could try offering it to one of these "we buy any car" type scams but I could probably only get the scrap value if I was lucky. |
Cars becoming worthless, we had this in the Netherlands 10 years ago, although a bit different.
Back then, cars over 25 years old were exempt from paying tax. A whole industry was built around this rule: companies importing >25 YO cars, companies specialising in adding LPG to >25YO heavy cars, garages specialising in maintaining and restoring >25YO cars.
Then the rules changed: over 25 years became over 40 years.
As an effect of this new rule, cars between 25-40 years lost much of their value. Garages lost many customers. A lot of companies went bust, I personally know of at least 4 or 5.
@Ray - many cars like your Range Rover, large American cars, heavy Jaguars and Mercedes, became almost worthless overnight.
Before the rule change, I imported a three door Range Rover from France. I had always longed for one and it took me a long time to find the perfect example for me. Good condition, many upgrades (4 speed automatic, air con). I installed an LPG system myself, used an underfloor tank and a newly made small petrol tank. As such I ran it happily for only two years when the car also became victim of the new rule. It was 30 years old then, and I now had to pay €200 per month tax instead of €0. The car's value dropped to next to zero. I had invested quite some money in this car to get it in a good condition. I did not want to throw away that money so took the decision to store it for 10 years. Many called me insane.
My RR will be tax free again in 8 months time. I will retrieve it from its storage in the next months and get it up and running again. It will need new tyres and probably new brakes and probably other parts. But I will have the last laugh.
I have written down the story of my Range Rover here:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/cars-of-a-lifetime/coal-17-1984-range-rover-three-door-a-british-icon/
_________________
a car stops being fun when it becomes an investment |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ray White
Joined: 02 Dec 2014
Posts: 6318
Location: Derby
|
| Posted: Thu Jul 06, 2023 9:28 am Post subject: |
|
|
I used to have one of those 3.5 litre Range Rovers but back then it was the 4 door that everyone wanted!
I must be getting old because I can remember seeing the unveiling of the original Range Rover when I went with my Dad to the Earls Court Motor Show in 1970 !
At the time Dad wanted one but was put off by the fuel consumption. I was more interested in the newly released Morgan Plus 8 with the same engine... and bright orange paint!   |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
alastairq
Joined: 14 Oct 2016
Posts: 1954
Location: East Yorkshire
|
| Posted: Thu Jul 06, 2023 10:57 am Post subject: |
|
|
A friend used to run a LWB series 3 petrol Land Rover.
He was a 'bit' of an enthusiast, although it suffered from lack of short term reliability when used as part of his business.
He fitted LPG to it, which made a good deal of difference to its running costs.
However, it was an ex-milly LR, with a 24 volt system, which created a whole bunch of headaches for him, as he fitted all sorts of [cheap] modern aids to driving.
He went through gearboxes like no tomorrow, towing...
Then he decided to convert to a TD LR diesel engine....One of the sort fitted to the latest milly LRs....
Fuel consumption was a revelation, although reliability still wasn't.
Hence why I ended up frequently loaning him my 02 Suzuki GV to tow his trailer, so he could continue working [tree surgery].....while the LR sat on my driveway awaiting fixing, again.
The Suzuki performed bravely enough, for a petrol....
My other daily, a 94 Daihatsu 4Trak diesel, of the old school generation, managed to tow his dead LR with all wheels locked, several hundred yards along the road to get it up on my [wider than his] driveway....Quickest solution to a lane-blocking issue.
4trak currently parked up, since price of diesel went through the roof last year, compared to petrol....It still starts, still moves, even after being sat for 11 months. 30 mpg diesel compared to 35 mpg petrol?
Mind, VED on 4Trak about a tenner a month lower than that of the Suzuki...
_________________
Dellow Mk2, 1951 built, reg 1952.
Fiat 126 BIS
Cannon special [1996 registered. Built in 1950's]
----------------------------------------------
Ford Pop chassis, Ashley 1172 bodyshell, in pieces. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Bitumen Boy
Joined: 26 Jan 2012
Posts: 1735
Location: Above the snow line in old Monmouthshire
|
| Posted: Thu Jul 06, 2023 11:17 am Post subject: |
|
|
| badhuis wrote: |
My RR will be tax free again in 8 months time. I will retrieve it from its storage in the next months and get it up and running again. It will need new tyres and probably new brakes and probably other parts. But I will have the last laugh.
|
Until the government decides to move the goalposts again, perhaps? Politicians never seem to learn from their mistakes... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
php BB powered © php BB Grp.
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
