The myth comes full circle

I have recently been interviewed by several different media sources about my new novel The Myth Makers (2012 Venture Galleries). Thanks to a great PR campaign, several media outlets around the country are finding it a fascinating story. 

But yesterday during a phone interview with Andy Tolbert, a freelance writer from Oregon, I had the shock of a lifetime. His father was the man who actually invented the carburetor that got the real myth off the ground. At least according to Andy.

They lived in Bakersfield, California and in his garage, his father created a special carburetor that allowed their 1965 Chevy Impala to get over 40 miles per gallon. Today, 40 MPH doesn’t sound like much, considering we now have cars getting well above that range. But in the late 60’s that was a huge leap; especially considering the heavy chunks of iron that gasoline engines were pushing up and down our highways.

I asked Andy what happened to the car. The myth was that his father sold it to either a car manufacturer or the government and then he disappeared along with the car.

“He drove it for two years then the motor burned up. Dad junked the car and moved on to another invention. Radio controlled garage door openers, if I remember correctly, only some guy already had a patent for them.  As far as I know, the car was crushed and re-smelted into pig iron and used to build sewer pipe of something. And Dad lived to be 79 when he died of cancer in our home in Oregon.”  Andy’s mother had passed away a few years earlier. No mysterious plot. No murder. No shadowy figures hanging around the neighborhood.

Did anyone ever show interest in the car’s amazing feats?

“Nope. Not according to Dad. Not to buy, anyway. He showed it to a couple of automotive engineers who predicted the demise of the engine. (Running too lean was their theory.  It proved out true.) But for a while he had the ‘next big thing.’ Several times people from Detroit would visit and look at the car and at the invention but would go away shaking their heads. Most thought Dad was a crackpot. He was not an engineer, but rather a tinkerer and a maintenance man for a small manufacturing company. He had access to a complete metal and mechanical shop, and that is where he fashioned parts for his 'miracle' carburetor. 

"He wasn’t the only one working on this theory. There was a man in Michigan who came to see us, as well as a Canadian who had invented a similar device. They all shared notes. And they came to the same conclusion — their inventions were going nowhere. The world wasn’t ready for them because gasoline was still so cheap. And before the world had a chance to get ready for them,the inventions proved to have a huge inbred design fault.” Andy paused. “Your book is a lot more fun.  A lot more involved, with a lot more intrigue. Dad’s invention was just a set of wires and metal tubing and a mesh screen. His wasn’t interesting enough to be a book, at least not a thriller like what you wrote.”

It was strange. I had forgotten who was interviewing whom. I questioned him about his dad’s car and engine for several minutes. Andy’s story was interesting. I wish I had tripped over it before writing The Myth Makers. Not sure I could have worked in the murder twist. But at least I now know for sure where the myth came from originally. Like my book, it started in a dirt-floor garage out in the desert.

So the next time you are in a gas line and someone says, “You know there was this guy who invented something to go on an engine of a car that increases is fuel mileage…”  Remember my book. And remember Andy Tolbert’s father. Aren’t myth’s fun?