Monday, July 02, 2007
JEREMY GRAY: News staff writer
At first glance, Lee McKee thought the 1959 Fiat rusting in the sun outside Talladega’s International Motorsports Hall of Fame and Museum might have a few parts worth salvaging.
Inside the trunk, however, was documentation indicating the car had been souped up by Shell scientists in 1969 to get 244 miles per gallon of gas as part of an annual company contest.
Included in a file folder were records and an article about the car from a 1969 edition of Popular Science magazine.
McKee and Alan Apel, owner of Pelham’s Empire Autohaus, a shop where McKee is a mechanic, purchased the car from the museum in February.
Later they found out the Fiat was once owned by NASCAR founder Bill France.
They will not disclose the purchase price of the small, Italian-made car, at the request of museum managers. But they hope to restore it to its former fuel-efficient glory.
The contest is still an annual event for Shell, although it is now referred to as an Eco-marathon, and competitions are in America and Europe, according to Shell’s Web site.
In April, the winning entry in the 2007 U.S. competition, a vehicle that more closely resembled a bobsled than a car, got 1,902 miles per gallon.
“It was basically a bar dispute. The scientists were arguing who could get the most miles out of a gallon of a gas,” McKee said of how the contest started.
In order to get triple-digit gas mileage, the scientists in 1969 sacrificed many of the comforts and basic safety features of the common automobile, McKee said.
The Fiat has no reverse gear, radiator, fan or water pump and at the height of its fuel efficiency only traveled 16 miles per hour.
“They did things you can’t do to a normal car and still drive around town,” McKee said.
“Everything is about keeping the engine super-hot. It uses every drop of gas,” McKee said.
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
