fuel efficient classic american cars?

The 1966 Ford Mustang with a 6 cylinder! How about the Volkswagen Bug?

Our 1968 Dodge Dart (slant 6) got 22 high way.

The Fairlanes and Comets I owned got 19 with a six and 18 with the V-8 221 engines.

The Corvair I owned got 16 mpg.

As other have mentioned, the Pinto and Mustang II also got in the 25 mpg range (at least the ones I owned with the 2300 engine).

If these same engines had today's computer controlled injection systems, who knows what mpg they could have gotten. After all the 3.0 L SHO I owned got 30 on the highway. Which was not as good at the 72 Corolla (35 mpg) but a whole lot more fun (the SHO that is).

You need to remember gas was thirty five cents back then or less. During those times anyone who tried to produce a fuel efficient car as their main product went belly up. The only ones interested in conserving our resources were the poor.

It is nice to see conservation being practiced more widely now. I remember the ridicule I received for buying a small car like the Corolla. But when the gas crunch of 74 happened I was the one that looked smart.

Pretty much any compact car form the era will be more fuel efficient. And generally, they came with in line 6 cylinder motors. Chrysler and AMC made some bullet proof motors and drive-trains as you mentioned the Darts. Also look into 6 cylinder Mustangs, and Falcons from Ford. From AMC, look into Ramblers. All of these came with 6 cylinder motors. The same goes with the first generation Chevy Nova and any Chevy Corvair (those were boxer air cooled 6 cylinder cars).

On the rare side, there was the compact offerings from Oldsmobile Buick and Pontiac in the early 60's. I believe they had the precursor to the famous GM 3.8 L V6 that was predominant during all of the 80's.

Also, look into 6 cylinder turbocharged Buicks and Oldsmobiles from the mid 70's.

I have no idea about the mileage of a lot of the cars I mentioned, but from experience I can tell you that the GM offerings will be more fuel efficient since they had better transmission ratios.

In the late 70's there were some special edition economy offerings from the US auto makers. There was a Cosworth Chevy Vega, turbo Mustangs, and AWD AMC Eagles with the 6 cylinder motor.

Finding some of these will be a good challenge, as most collectors go for the small cars with the big V8's. Or they sometimes use the economy offerings as donor parts cars for their V8 edition restorations. On the plus side, that makes your econo car even more desirable due to rarity over time. You won't believe how many 6 Cylinder Mustangs have been converted to V8 cars over the past 24 years...

Ford made some 4 cylinder offerings in Pintos during the early and mid 70's too. Don't forget the Chevy Chevette - not the prettyest thing on the road, but it was built for punishment.

you can find old fords with I 6 engines that can get 25 for sure. i know that the old 200 ci ford 6 with high gears in a falcon can get 25 or better. even the older ford flat head engines could get 25 with the overdrive boxes that were used on some models in the 50s. to get the most milage tuning is important. get this, the model T could get 20 or so!

Chevy Chevette

Chevy Monza / Vega

Ford Pinto

my 64 falcon with the 170 I6 and three speed trans averaged 19mpg, and my 66 mustang with the 289 V8 averaged 18mpg. both will do much better when i do some upgrades. but i know of people who are getting as much as 30mpg with their six cylinder fords, though the average seems to be around 25mpg.

in my experience, Japanese vehicles of all shapes and sizes are an excellent buy,,,,,,,,,Korean cars are also well worth looking at,,,,,,,,,,, just remember, you are a new driver with an awful lot to learn,,,, start with a vehicle which is easy to drive,,,,,,,,,,forget vehicles which turn heads,,,,,,,,,,,,you will be driving for many years so plenty of time for exotic stuff,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,good luck