A Grease Mobile Sighting

On my way home this evening I spotted another car driving down the interstate sporting a bumper sticker identical to ours stating it was powered by vegetable oil. I needed to exit before I could approach any closer to the vehicle but it made me smile to view another vegetarian driver.

A Doorbell Rings

Earlier today the guy who mows our neighbor's lawn came over to the house to speak with Craig. Now if you saw our yard you would understand why Craig assumed that he was crossing the street in an effort to gain more business. But instead of talking about lawn care he wanted to discuss our grease car. Seems the gentleman is interested in converting his diesel truck but has experienced some difficulties as well as substantial expense attempting to produce homemade biodiesel. Craig detailed our experience with WVO, showed him around our simple fuel station and gave him the websites for Greasecar and GoodOil. I think one of the advantages of our system, over other options, is that it truly seems like the easier softer way. To steal Geico's marketing slogan it really is so easy a caveman could do it!

Our Greasecar

We picked up our greasecar this evening at GoodOil! The proprietor was kind enough to take considerable time showing us all the features and answering my many, many questions. Basically, they removed our spare tire and replaced the space with a second fuel tank which holds the waste vegetable oil (WVO)

We'll continue to start the car using diesel but then after the engine reaches 190 degrees there's a toggle switch which we use to change over to WVO

An extra gauge was added above the steering wheel so we can monitor the consumption of vegetable oil - but at 40 mpg on the highway the needle doesn't move much

Here's a photo of the engine with it's extra hoses and filter


Craig drove the car to his volleyball game tonight and one of the first comments his teammate made was "it looks just like a regular car"

It Is Ours!

We finally found the dealership, signed the papers and drove away in our diesel Jetta Wagon. Craig's been on the phone ordering a greasecar kit and scheduling an appointment with GoodOil to install the system. The Jetta has great storage space which will come in handy when we're packing all our camping gear. Now it's back on the road for Louisville (509.06 miles for those who are wondering) with a brief respite in Asheville for lunch.

Road Trip

The scenery is a huge benefit of our odyssey. Driving through the mountains of West Virginia I am reminded of similar trips with my family when I was much younger and my mother would encourage us look out the windows of the RV instead of wasting our afternoons napping. How can anyone not be a "tree hugger" after exposure to our country's splendid vistas. Waste vegetable oil (WVO) is the only carbon neutral fuel available to us at this time and our determination to utilize less crude oil by substituting an alternative fuel source is a small step toward reducing our carbon footprint.

We Won!

We won the Jetta Wagon! YEAH!! And we actually purchased it for a few hundred dollars less than what we budgeted plus we are paying less than the Blue Book Value. Now for the bad news - at least from my perspective - the car is located outside of Charlotte, North Carolina and we are presently in Newark, Ohio for a difference of 463.41 miles. Tomorrow morning I have a consultation with the ophthalmologist about options for Lasik and then we start our road trip. Fortunately I packed extra clothes (and underwear) before we left the house last Tuesday.

Another E-bay Car

There's a Jetta Wagon listed on E-bay! It has a few more miles than I would prefer but it's the first wagon we found for sale. Craig placed a bid on it and now I refresh the page compulsively to see if we're still winning the auction. Unfortunately the auction doesn't end until Sunday (half an hour after the Soprano's finale) so my obsessiveness is only likely to increase.

Bidding On a Car

Craig calls me today at work to say he's bid on a Mercedes diesel over e-bay. When we got home he was still in a bidding war but ultimately lost by $100. Finding a diesel car has been somewhat harder than I expected. We don't want to purchase a new vehicle because of fears that the conversion will void any warranties plus there is the whole issue with depreciation. We're primarily looking at Volkswagen Jettas and Mercedes with hopes (real long shot) of a Jetta wagon to lug all our camping gear.

Talking About a Greasecar

I've been talking to my honey about obtaining a greasecar - mainly to reduce our expenses but also due to environmental concerns. Although he wasn't too enthusiastic he agreed to speak with the guys from GoodOil when they came to our church's sustainability fair and after their song and dance he became a convert. So now we're searching for a used diesel car to convert into a grease mobile.