Ralph Moody and the Moodymobile

So I was at work, and working in a hospital, we began discussing healthcare and the financial problems that are resulting from the low reimbursements which are directly impacting patient care. The conversation then progressed to other ways the government I screwing people, and ended with this ...

My coworker has an uncle whom I had not heard of, Ralph Moody. She said she forgets what he did, but he created an 80+ mpg car 30 years ago, that garnered offer from foreign interests in excess of 20 million. She said her uncle was very patriotic, and turned them down wanting to sell the technology to an American car company perhaps, but not to a foreign group. This car, which did not start out as a low MPG project, utilized a carburetor they created to achieve these outstanding results. The federal government showed a lot of interest in the car, so much that they confiscated it. My coworker said the car still sits in a storage area in North Carolina and that her family is allowed to use it, but the property can not be passed down, it no longer belongs to them. I am not one to believe in these magic carburetors, I would love to know more about this particular car.

Here is an article about it from 1979. Please keep to the specific topic at hand and do not go off topic with other "suppressed" technologies.
www.people.com...

Here I the wiki of the man, he's very interesting.
en.wikipedia.org...

A few questions come to mind (that you may not have answers for)...

1. Why didnt he just build a second one? Or just the carburettor itself?

2. Why didnt any of his collegues at the Mike Shetley workshop build any of their own?

3. Why didnt he just tell anyone who would listen about how it worked? (He did live for many decades after)

4. Why didnt any of his collegues at the Mike Shetley workshop just tell anyone who would listen about how it worked?

5. Since he was into motor racing, and fuel economy is a massive factor in determining the number of pitstops, then why didnt he take ANY of what he'd learnt and transfer it to make race winning cars?

6. Since the family can still use the car and take it for drives, then why hasnt ANYONE in the family had a look "under the hood" to see what makes it work?

Its like all those other miracle machines. There is only one, its the whole machine, and the fundamental basis of the technology isnt ever mentioned. Its like you have to buy the whole fully built machine, or nothing.

The story as it stands doesnt make sense.

Another article from 1980 (a year after the big publicity) sheds more light on the topic.

First, they didnt want to sell the engine to the car companies. What they wanted was the car companies to sell them cheap bodies so that they could fit their own engines and sell the whole car.

Second, "a similar" car from the same workshop did undergo third party testing and failed.

32 miles per gallon in city driving and 52 on the highway...
"The mileage isnt bad, but there are cars with better"

Nobody associated with that workshop took it any further. Car, carburettor, or engine.

link

Originally posted by OccamsRazor04
My coworker said the car still sits in a storage area in North Carolina and that her family is allowed to use it

According to what was posting in this message forum...

I can verify the existance of the Moodymobile because we have it in our shop here in Delaware. My grandfather, Melvin Joseph, worked with Ralph on the project after he and Shetley parted ways.
We still tag the car and drive it ocassionally.

then the car would be at this address here...
link
25136 Dupont Boulevard
Georgetown, DE 19947
Phone: 302-856-7396

Time magazine article...

1979 Mercury Capri that they contend gets more than 57.2 m.p.g. in city driving and nearly 80 m.p.g. on the highway. They say that it also accelerates from 0 to 60 in 17 seconds

Moody's Magic Machine

Part of the tell is the 0 to 60 in 17 seconds. Its underpowered to conserve fuel for one. I think they did the best to tweak the design for maximum performance. Fuel mileage was still misunderstood back then. People vied for more and more but eventually realized you need horse power and load carrying capacity too. And maybe survivability. You can ride a lawn mower to work too, but it takes forever and could be dangerous in traffic.

Both OP article and this one said they used a Capri car body. Is anyone able to find a pic of the actual car?

Originally posted by alfa1

A few questions come to mind (that you may not have answers for)...

1. Why didnt he just build a second one? Or just the carburettor itself?

I asked this very question. I said even if the car was taken, why not just put the blueprints out there. She said he was hoping to eventually be allowed to make money off of his patent.

2. Why didnt any of his collegues at the Mike Shetley workshop build any of their own?

She claims he has a patent for it.

3. Why didnt he just tell anyone who would listen about how it worked? (He did live for many decades after)

Same answer ass #2 I imagine.

4. Why didnt any of his collegues at the Mike Shetley workshop just tell anyone who would listen about how it worked?

Would have to ask them.

5. Since he was into motor racing, and fuel economy is a massive factor in determining the number of pitstops, then why didnt he take ANY of what he'd learnt and transfer it to make race winning cars?

Maybe they did. Maybe the big breakthrough was the only thing that had a drastic improvement and that is the one thing the government made him not use.

6. Since the family can still use the car and take it for drives, then why hasnt ANYONE in the family had a look "under the hood" to see what makes it work?

I asked her this question to make sure I understood it. He was allowed to still drive it. Now that he I gone, she thinks one other person is allowed to see it, it can no longer be driven by anyone, and he only know of one person who I allowed to even look at it.

Its like all those other miracle machines. There is only one, its the whole machine, and the fundamental basis of the technology isnt ever mentioned. Its like you have to buy the whole fully built machine, or nothing.

The story as it stands doesnt make sense.

I agree. As I said, I am always pointing out the flaws in these theories. What do you think about the article I listed though? Well known publication and it lists actual government officials that rode in it and backed it up. This is the first story I have read where I have seen that.

reply to post by alfa1


Thanks! I will send her the info. This is exactly why I made the post I did not believe it was true, and was hoping people here at ATS might be familiar with it.

Originally posted by intrptr
Time magazine article...

1979 Mercury Capri that they contend gets more than 57.2 m.p.g. in city driving and nearly 80 m.p.g. on the highway. They say that it also accelerates from 0 to 60 in 17 seconds

Moody's Magic Machine

Part of the tell is the 0 to 60 in 17 seconds. Its underpowered to conserve fuel for one. I think they did the best to tweak the design for maximum performance. Fuel mileage was still misunderstood back then. People vied for more and more but eventually realized you need horse power and load carrying capacity too. And maybe survivability. You can ride a lawn mower to work too, but it takes forever and could be dangerous in traffic.

Both OP article and this one said they used a Capri car body. Is anyone able to find a pic of the actual car?

She said Capri as well. So I am sure that is what it was.

A Capri was Mercury's version of a Ford Mustang. The article didn't specify the year model used but I imagine a mid 70's Capri/Mustang....which were actually little economy cars then, they called them Mustang II's. One point of contention; There would not have been any "magic" carburetor used. As side from the fact that those are a myth, this car used a diesel engine. Diesels don't use carburation' they are fuel injected....all ways have been. In the late 70's it would have been mechanically injected. The article said it was a modified "Perkins" diesel. Never heard of a Perkins diesel, I'll wager it was a small 4 cylinder industrial/farm equipment engine.

reply to post by EdSurly

The article didn't specify the year model used but I imagine a mid 70's Capri/Mustang....which were actually little economy cars then, they called them Mustang II's.

Check again, it said '79 Capri. I've owned both a mustang II and a "Crapi". They are different automobiles. Ones Ford and one Lincoln Mercury. Bydone era. Thanks for the input about the engine.

Originally posted by intrptr
reply to post by EdSurly

 

The article didn't specify the year model used but I imagine a mid 70's Capri/Mustang....which were actually little economy cars then, they called them Mustang II's.

Check again, it said '79 Capri. I've owned both a mustang II and a "Crapi". They are different automobiles. Ones Ford and one Lincoln Mercury. Bydone era. Thanks for the input about the engine.

Ok, in 79 they weren't the little econo cars. That was the first generation of the Fox platform for the Mustang/Capri. And if it was 79, the only differences between a Mercury Capri and a Ford Mustang was the trim. It wasn't until the late 1990's that the Capri was brought back after getting the ax in the 80's....this time on a different platform than the Mustang. It shared a platform with the Ford Probe/Mazda 323 iirc.

reply to post by EdSurly

Okay, got it. Thanks for pointing it out. I owned an earlier Lincoln Mercury Crapi. I hated working on that car, one half of it was Standard American thread and the other Metric. It was made in England and the US.

I googled it and found out I was mistaken about the years. Mine is the top row center and the 79 is top right. Like A mustang II, like you said. They look a lot alike. My Mustang II was a "fast back". By the way, also a Piece of "Crap". I forget what year it was.

Ca pri and Mustang II

One day it caught fire all by itself in the parking lot and burned to the ground despite all efforts to put it out.

As I recall (and this was a long time ago) it had intermittent electrical problems. Anyways, thanks again for pointing out the mistake.

a reply to: OccamsRazor04

I just happen to run across this article on Ralph Moody and this is my 1st time to post here. I know very little about the hows and whys but one thing I am sure of is that Moody sold his patent to White Motors (manufactures of the Perkins Diesel Motor) in Canton Ohio circa 1979 - 1980 - 1981. I know this to be true because I lived near Canton, Ohio during that time and the sale made headlines in the Canton Repository (local newspaper), for about a week! I have not heard anything since then.
I called the Stark County, Ohio Local Library to see if they have a record of the Repository headline. I was told that they PROBABLY did, but that it would be on microfiche & the only way to find it would be to look at the daily headlines of the 3 years that I mentioned above. Sorry, I just can't remember the exact time, but I know it was between 1979 & 1981. I think that it was in Spring or early summer but am not really sure of that either.
I am a Florida Snowbird that will return to the Canton, Ohio area in June. If I remember, I will try to spend an afternoon or two at the library to find the stories. If I find the headlines I will take a picture of the story and post it here.

originally posted by: EdSurly The article said it was a modified "Perkins" diesel. Never heard of a Perkins diesel, I'll wager it was a small 4 cylinder industrial/farm equipment engine.

I operate and own a number of perkins diesels.

I speculate that a bully-boy system could have been used and involved tick-over on a cav pump with a pressurised heated petrol vapour introduced into the air intake.

these engines are beasts and recently I salvaged some parts off two that owners had neglected. all solid gear timing
chests, mint!

f.

a reply to: OccamsRazor04

Hello, found this old post of yours, curious who your coworker was. Were they from MA. I am Ralph's goddaughter and 3rd cousin. Thanks - Colleen