David EilersJanuary 23, 2017

A Jeep Story

Thanks to Roberto Flores for spotting this story. Someone named Cliff authored a story about his family's WWII jeep, which he has inherited. He titled it "JEEP - FAITHFUL AS A DOG, STRONG AS A MULE, AGILE AS A GOAT"

https://www.stellabooks.com/article/jeep-faithful-as-a-dog-strong-as-a-mule-agile-as-a-goat

PHOTO CREDIT: Cliff. Look closely at the 1956 picture in the back. You can see the small petrol tank mounted in front of the windscreen. The jeep was started using petrol but the main tank under the driver's seat was filled with TVO (Tractor Vaporising Oil)

6 Comments

Bill ShawJanuary 23, 2017 at 2:42 PM
Gasoline, Kerosene. The British come up with some odd names. I had a Case tractor that ran that way, you started on gasoline when it warmed up switched to kerosene. For the same reason gas was what 12 cents kerosene about 3 cents.
MorganJanuary 24, 2017 at 2:57 PM
This struck a memory chord from years ago. An old codger told about growing up on a hog farm in Pa. They had a very old diesel tractor (Case?) with a gasoline pony engine to pre-heat the fuel for the diesel engine. The pony engine sent its exhaust pipe through the diesel fuel tank somehow, heating the fuel to help it flow. But, the kicker for me was that he said they would jam hog fat into the diesel fuel tank, the pony engine heat would melt the hog fat which would in turn run the diesel engine ! I have wondered sometimes if this story was true or if it was just an old-timer having fun with a youngster. I'm aware of Rudolph Diesel's original intent in creating the diesel engine to run on peanut oil, and I know a diesel engine can run on various fuels, veggie oil or kerosene. However, I've never heard of using hog fat for fuel before or since. Does anybody have some knowledge about such a thing ?
David EilersJanuary 24, 2017 at 3:13 PM
Morgan, Your story seems plausible. Several articles on the internet suggest that pig lard, like other animal fats, can be used to create biodiesel (I've never done anything with biodiesel, so I can't speak to how practical or not this is). One story claims a liposuction doctor in Los Angeles has two cars running from human fat he removed from patients (http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/surgeon-uses-human-fat-to-run-his-cars-1211431.html). - Dave
MorganJanuary 24, 2017 at 6:18 PM
ha ha ha, omg, what a story ! Thanks Dave
LewJanuary 25, 2017 at 4:16 PM
Human fat as fuel source. Conjures up so many thoughts, but I just read this ---->(Note to self: Resist the temptation to say something here that will only make you regret it later).
David EilersJanuary 25, 2017 at 5:06 PM
Lew, we should all have that note tattooed on the back of our hands so we can see it while we type :-)