Next week on MTV, it's a "Very Special Edition" of Pimp My Ride. In honor of Earth Day coming on April 22, the crew of the popular MTV show that proves on a regular basis that having a large budget in no way guarantees good judgment will be updating a 1965 Chevy Impala. Generally, the best way to have a 65 Impala help the environment would be to tow it to the nearest car crusher and then melt it down to make new cars. That, however, wouldn't be nearly as entertaining as the approach taken by the crew at Galpin Auto Sports, and it certainly wouldn't merit inclusion here. Instead, they've tossed the old pre-EPA engine that was in the Impala. GM provided the team with a brand new Duramax diesel V-8 as is used in the automaker's full size trucks and SUVs, and after a few minor tweaks, it was installed in the Impala. Result: the GAS crew took the engine from 360hp to 800hp running on biodiesel! Stay tuned for more on the veggie oil special later this week.
[Source: MTV]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
chuck goolsbee @ Apr 14th 2007 5:53PM
Note: If you are burning through 4048 acres of Canola to drive 1000 miles, it isn't exactly "green." ;)
--chuck
HC @ Apr 14th 2007 5:57PM
Hood rich indeed!
Rob @ Apr 14th 2007 6:50PM
If you read "The Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices" melting it down to make new cars is a really poor choice. Sure, new cars get better MPG and have cleaner tailpipes, but the energy associated with melting down old metal, refining it, all the energy required for the production of the car, the factory, the machinery needed to produce all those parts, the waste products, the paint, and all the plastic.... it starts to go the other way. The best thing for the earth is to keep ANY car maintained so it's on the road as long as possible.
Mike @ Apr 14th 2007 6:51PM
On the plus side if your tank starts getting low you can just stop by the grocery or ask the fry cook at McDonald's for help....
Snix @ Apr 14th 2007 7:52PM
It would have been REALLY impressive if they had used a VW 4 cylinder TDI. Modified versions of these are making 400+lb/ft of torque. But I guess they wanted to keep it all Chevy?
800 hp? Do they realize how much torque this V8 will make? I hope they reinforced the chassis on this old ride. Then again, they can get the 3 wheel hydraulic effect when they twist the chassis like a pretzel.
Jaymez @ Apr 14th 2007 8:20PM
Why ruin such a beautiful car by letting MTV get a hold of it? Even if it was a rats nest pulled out of a field it'd be in better shape than after MTV got its hands on it.
How many TVs will it have? How takcy will the paint be? How ridiculously large will the wheels be? That's all anyone who watches that dumbass show cars about.
Big jim @ Apr 14th 2007 10:28PM
this is why i hate Pimp My Ride they take American Classics and ruin them. OVERHAULIN' RULES!!!
Jimmy @ Apr 14th 2007 10:47PM
You can get more details and listen to an interview with the folks who really did the conversion, SAE Energy, here: http://domesticfuel.com/?p=1876
SAE Energy started out installing Duramax diesel engines in Hummers, and now they install them all sorts of vehicles.
Used car market @ Apr 14th 2007 11:52PM
It's cool!
http://www.18auto.com/forumdisplay.php?lang=en-us&f=15
Mr. Red @ Apr 14th 2007 11:54PM
That is pure BS, no car before 1985 should have anything other than a v8, its just absurd.
http://www.burnedbytheman.com
HotRodzNKustoms @ Apr 15th 2007 2:29AM
I'm all for biodiesel, minus the smell of french frys, and it being a little more pratical.
Bryan @ Apr 15th 2007 3:04AM
Jaymez--I know what you mean. I was flipping channels tonight and saw PMR on. They destroyed a 65 Thunderbird. Poor baby. Although, they did replace the motor with a 351 with 500 HP!
C E W @ Apr 15th 2007 7:05AM
I'M APPAULED AT THE PERSON WHO WROTE THIS!! "CAR SHOULD BE "RECYCLED"!! The "WRITER of THIS ARTICLE Has NO Bussiness Composing an Article Not Being Able to SPOT A CLASSIC!! The WRITER NEEDS TO BE "RECYCLED" and Another with AUTOMOTIVE INTELLIGENCE Take His Place!!!!!
goat @ Apr 15th 2007 8:42AM
"Generally, the best way to have a 65 Impala help the environment would be to tow it to the nearest car crusher and then melt it down to make new cars."
This is just ignorant. And completely inaccurate. Everything I've read suggests that the energy use and pollution generated by the manufacture of a new vehicle more than outweighs the difference in emissions between and old and new car.
Anyway, this sounds like a neat project.
Guenther @ Apr 15th 2007 10:28AM
While it wouldn't have been as MTV worthy, a much better choice would have been a nice 250hp 6.5 hooked to a 4L80. Would have fit better, made more sense, and could actually have gotten really good economy.
As for the fuel economy claims on the Hummer conversions- that's a HUGE stretch. More than a 50% improvement is just not there.
SirBrodrick @ Apr 15th 2007 10:55AM
I bet you though, this car got around 40 miles to the gallon originally, the sad thing is the cars they try to push now a-day is that they say, Great gas mileage, and such, but they get worse gas mileage than the cars did 30 years ago.
Sam @ Apr 15th 2007 11:06AM
"I bet you though, this car got around 40 miles to the gallon originally, the sad thing is the cars they try to push now a-day is that they say, Great gas mileage, and such, but they get worse gas mileage than the cars did 30 years ago."
No. Just no.
This car probably got 14 city/18 highway in its heyday, when new.
Dylan @ Apr 15th 2007 11:09AM
Good fot mtv for at least making an effort but what would have been really cool is if they could have figured out a way to make it a plug in EV.
Biodiesel is not the future of environmentally friendly energy sources, it not only costs more to make than the money they can charge for it or the energy you get back from it but its also impossible to make enough of it for it to be even a secondary source of fuel for automobiles in the states or canada. Therefore a car that uses much more of it in its 800 hp engine is just really amplifying all of those problems to a whole other level.
Barney @ Apr 15th 2007 12:14PM
My favorite car, also came with an inline six besides a 429 V8. That particular diesel is too much for this car.. It's a truck engine!
Damien @ Apr 15th 2007 12:31PM
I totally disagree with this article! In fact i find it completely closed minded. What about looking at the fact that the '65 Impala is part of American history. I think it is a shame that these cars are being destroyed, if anything they should be preserved. They are all classics, from the Model "T" to the AMC Marlin, and everything in between. Personally when I go to a car show, and I see a '55 Bel Air or a '45 Willy's coupe, I am taken back to a day where America was # 1 and life was much simpler. Instead of going after cars for destroying the environment, what about going after factories that dump waste in our streams and rivers. The environment is not getting worse because of classic cars, or even muscle car for that fact. Crushing one classic car in America will not stop a factory in China dumping waste in the Yangtze River.