V code gas mileage, can it be this good?

[JH27N0B]

Last Sunday the weather was good, so I decided to take my '71 out to Belvidere IL for the annual Chicagoland Mopar Connection Mopar Happening car show.  I left the house with a bit under 3/4 tank.  The 65 mile drive out the tollway to the show was a bit of a grind with the 4.10 gears, 4000+rpm driving 60-65! After a great day at the show, I topped off at a gas station near the show and it only took 8.6 gallons.  Another 65 miles home, pull into the garage and notice the gas gauge is at 3/4 tank!  I know it isn't scientific, but it sure looks like I made the 130 mile round trip using less than 9 gallons of gas! So it looks to me like the car was getting at least 15 mpg and maybe more.  440 6 pack, 4 speed, 4.10 gears. No way?!?
I know the 6 pack runs on just the center 2 barrel most of the time, and with the steep gears the engine is sort of loafing.  But still, seems too good to be true!
Here are my pictures of the show-
https://www.flickr.com/photos/111914442@N04/sets/72157653780425313

[purple1]

It could be that good. But the only way to know for sure is to fill the tank and then drive a number of miles and fill the tank again. All you have to do then is the math. This does however all depend on the od being right. You can check it using the mile markers on the highways.

Does sound too good to be true, I am only getting 8-9 MPG towing the trailer with a 383.

[HP2]

It's possible if you drive with a light foot. The 440 4bbl in my truck could do that.  Obviously the whole combo contributes to that and it may not be the norm, but that doesn't mean its impossible to achieve.

[JH27N0B]

I just double checked the miles from my house to the car show on Mapquest, and it is telling me 55 miles.  Therefore I was off a bit.  But since the gas guage reads higher than when I left, it is still looking like I made the 110 mile round trip with approximately 8 gallons, which is close to 14 mpg!
I've made a few similar length trips in that car over the years and although I didn't pay real close attention, it didn't seem like I was using a ton of gas during those trips either.
I've probably taken my 383 4 barrel Challenger vert with 3.23 rear end out to the Belvidere show at least 10 times over the years, in addition to some other similar distance trips, and I always got the impression it was getting in the 11 to 12 mpg range at doing around 60 on a highway, which certainly isn't anything to write home about.
I was a member of the T/A-AAR Special Interest Auto Club (SIAC) back in the early 80s.  Back then hardly anyone would even think of putting their car on a trailer to take it to a show or event.  I recall members with T/A's and AARs writing bits for the newsletter about their road trips back then boasting about the gas mileage their cars were getting.  Many talked of getting 15-18 mpg on the highway!
Six packs apparently are fairly economical at highway speeds.  Who needs a Prius??   

[KZ]

a couple of comments, IL is relatively flat, add in some hills/mountains and MPG would most assuredly drop, and what was the weather like on the day you were driving? did you have a tailwind? humidity levels? etc.

[69ChargerRT]

that's pretty impressive.  I wouldn't be surprised to see it get those numbers if you were babying it, but when cruising at 4000+ rpm?  wouldn't have thought it would do that!

[polarbear123]

I have a 440 with a 4 barrel 500 HP I can get up to 11 miles to a gal.

[soundcontrol]

I had a six pack on my 440 for a few years in the 80's, was tinkering a lot with the setup to get good milage, the best i got was about 12-13 mpg, and that was with a 727 and 3.23 rear end.

[RzeroB]

Hey Brad, I don't know anything about Six-Pack gas mileage, but I do know some good pics when I see them. You need to post the flickr link to your Belvidere show pics over in the car show section or something. Those are some sweet pics you have in that flickr album. Having them attached as an addendum to your thread on Six-Pack gas mileage they might get overlooked by most people who are looking for pics of the show. A cross post of that flickr link is definitely in order.

[JH27N0B]

Thanks for the compliment!  I just posted over there on the post about the show.  Off to the Downers Grove cruise night now, it's Mopar feature this week, and I'm sure I will add some more pictures to my collection!

[js27]

I drove my 67 GTX--440--Auto--3.23  to Carlisle and back a few years ago and that is a 325 mile round trip and got 17 MPG. Of course I was just cruising along at 65-70 the whole way and stayed out of it.
So Yes you could of gotten that good of MPG.
JS27

[Joe mama]

During my 1,000 mile round rip to Carlisle a few weeks ago my 440 6 pack averaged 15.9 mpg with the A/C on most of the way. Cruising between 70 & 80 mph.
3:54 gear and a tremec 5 speed helps a lot. I actually thought It would be better. I was getting a little over 16 mpg with a edelebrock 750. 

[GoodysGotaCuda]

Definitely consider keeping a log of your fuel economy, 130 miles is way too small of a sample size to be able to put a "mpg" stamp on the car. Also, going off the fuel gauge is remarkably inaccurate as well.

I hate to be a debbie-downer, but you need to get several tankfuls and at least use a "until the first click" method of filling the tank to start to draw any conclusions in regards to fuel economy. I can drive my TDI Golf 100 miles and the fuel gauge doesn't move off full, I can assure you the car isn't getting 100mpg.

[1 Wild R/T]

I just double checked the miles from my house to the car show on Mapquest, and it is telling me 55 miles.  Therefore I was off a bit.  But since the gas guage reads higher than when I left, it is still looking like I made the 110 mile round trip with approximately 8 gallons, which is close to 14 mpg!
I've made a few similar length trips in that car over the years and although I didn't pay real close attention, it didn't seem like I was using a ton of gas during those trips either.
I've probably taken my 383 4 barrel Challenger vert with 3.23 rear end out to the Belvidere show at least 10 times over the years, in addition to some other similar distance trips, and I always got the impression it was getting in the 11 to 12 mpg range at doing around 60 on a highway, which certainly isn't anything to write home about.
I was a member of the T/A-AAR Special Interest Auto Club (SIAC) back in the early 80s.  Back then hardly anyone would even think of putting their car on a trailer to take it to a show or event.  I recall members with T/A's and AARs writing bits for the newsletter about their road trips back then boasting about the gas mileage their cars were getting.  Many talked of getting 15-18 mpg on the highway!
Six packs apparently are fairly economical at highway speeds.  Who needs a Prius??   

Your comment about the SIAC newsletter & members writing bits was something of a flashback... I use to really enjoy reading those... Anyway I had the March-April 83 newsletter handy so I scanned one of the old stories & thought I'd add it.. Probably should consider a new post rather than cluttering yours... If this gets much response maybe I'll start a post & scan more of them....

[1 Wild R/T]

I guess no one else enjoys old Mopar stories..