1936-38 Yosemite Gilmore Economy Run -- Graham Supercharged Six, Chrysler Airflow, Studebaker Dictator and More

A 1937 Chevrolet on the Yosemite Run

Very little has been written on the seminal years of what became the Mobilgas Economy run, namely the Gilmore Yosemite Economy Run. Few photographs of the event exist, for example. During the years 1936 to 1940 inclusive, stock current automobiles competed in annual gasoline economy tests. These tests were sponsored by the Gilmore Oil Company and sanctioned by the AAA. The name under which these runs were publicized was the Gilmore Yosemite Economy Run or the Gilmore Yosemite Mileage Run. I am including results for the first three years of this Run, and will keep you posted as I work on this topic. I plan to review local news papers, and also look at archives located in Los Angeles. I'll be chugging along, as I also have other topics to work on as well -- and I will post progress on those also.

Results of 1936 Yosemite Run

Price Class	Cars	Weight with Passengers	Ton Miles	Ton miles per gallon	Miles per gallon
1-A	Willys 4	2980	524.5	49.48	33.21
	Willys 4	2845	500.7	45.52	32.00
	Willys 4	2610	459.4	33.77	25.88
2-A	Graham Crusader 6	3760	661.8	47.61	25.33
	Plymouth 6	3845	676.7	43.10	22.42
	Chevrolet 6	3255	567.6	41.43	25.70
3-A	Pontiac 6	4000	704.0	47.89	23.93
	Terraplane 6	3790	667.0	45.37	23.95
4-A	Studebaker Dictator 6	4200	739.2	50.98	24.24
	Nash 400 6	4140	728.6	46.11	22.28
	Pontiac 8	4100	721.6	45.10	22.00
	Oldsmobile 6	3740	658.2	44.47	23.78
5-A	Graham Supercharged 6	4160	732.2	55.47	26.67
	DeSoto Airstream 6	4155	731.2	48.11	23.16
	Chrysler 6	4450	783.2	46.62	20.95
	Hudson 8	4060	714.6	46.40	22.85
	Auburn 6	3900	686.4	46.07	23.62
	Hupmobile 6	4100	721.6	45.96	22.42
	Nash Ambassador 6	4665	821.0	45.61	19.55
	Oldsmobile 8	4000	704.0	38.68	19.34
	REO 6	4180	735.7	31.99	15.30
6-A	Studebaker President 8	4760	841.3	48.63	20.35
	DeSotot Airflow 6	4470	786.7	48.26	21.60
	Hupmobile 8	4740	834.2	45.84	19.34
	Nash Ambassador 8	4800	844.8	44.46	18.53
	Packard 120 8	4440	781.4	44.40	20.00
	Auburn 8	4240	746.2	42.40	20.00
	Chrysler Airflow 8	5820	1024.3	53.35	18.33
7-A	Lincoln Zephyr 12	4400	774.4	38.91	17.69

1936 Sweepstakes Winners

1. Graham Supercharged Six – 55.47 Ton Miles Per Gallon
2. Chrysler Airflow 8 – 53.35 Ton Miles Per Gallon
3. Studebaker Dictator 6 – 50.98 Ton Miles Per Gallon

1937 Yosemite Run

Price Class	1937 Cars all sedans	Weight with Pasengers	Ton Miles Per Gallon	Miles Per Hour	Miles Per Gallon
A	Willys 4	3485
	Willys 4	3404
B	Master Chevrolet 6	4300
	Plymouth 6	3982
C	Terraplane 6	4400
	Pontiac 6	4400
	DeSoto 6	4502
	Nash Lafayette 6	4380
D	Graham 6	4245
	Pontiac 8	4500
	Oldsmobile 6	4340
E	Graham 116 Supercharger 6	4460
	Hudson 8	4600
	Chrysler Royal 6	4480
	Nash Ambassador 6	4380
	Packard 6	4480
	Oldsmobile 8	4780
F	Nash Ambassador 8	4880
	Chrysler Imperial 8	4900
	Lincoln Zephyr 12	4620
G	Packard 8	4836
H	Cord 8	5000
	Chrysler Airflow 8	5580

1937 Sweepstakes Winners

1. Graham Supercharger 6 – 53.4 Ton Miles Per Gallon
2. Graham 6 -- 52.246 Ton miles Per Gallon
3. Hudson 8

1938 Yosemite Run

Price Class	1938 Cars (all 4-door)	Weight with passengers	Ton Miles	Miles Per Gallon	Ton Miles Per Gallon
A	Willys 4	3203	503.67	30.534	48.900
	Willys 4	3210	504.77	29.392	47.175
	Willys 4	3200	503.20	28.080	44.929
B	Ford 60 8	3519	553.36	28.850	50.767
	Chevrolet 6	3955	621.92	21.993	43.491
	Plymouth 6	3808	598.81	21.250	40.460
C	Terraplane 6	3915	615.63	25.779	50.461
	Nash Lafayette 6	4379	688.60	22.305	48.837
	Pontiac 6	4312	678.06	21.840	47.087
	Dodge 6	3990	627.43	21.107	42.109
D	Pontiac 8	4460	701.34	20.967	46.756
	DeSoto 6	4144	651.64	20.691	42.871
E	Studebaker Commander 6	4250	668.31	24.380	51.807
	Oldsmobile 6	4338	682.15	19.177	41.595
F	Nash Ambassador 6	4530	712.34	23.647	53.559
	Graham 6	4279	672.87	24.764	52.982
	Hupmobile 6	4402	692.21	21.840	48.070
	Packard 6	4458	701.02	20.290	45.227
	Oldsmobile 8	4545	714.70	19.061	43.315
G	Hudson 8	4336	681.84	22.790	49.409
	Nash Ambassador 8	4840	761.09	19.650	47.568
	Studebaker President 8	4540	713.92	20.691	46.968
H	Graham Supercharger 6	4339	682.31	25.779	55.927
	Hupmobile 8	4794	753.86	20.556	49.272
I	Lincoln Zephyr 12	4665	733.57	23.470	54.744
J	Packard 8	5742	902.93	16.211	46.543

1938 Sweepstakes Winners

1. Graham Supercharger 6 – 55.927 Ton miles Per Gallon
2. Lincoln Zephyr 12 – 54.744 Ton Miles Per Gallon
3. Nash Ambassador 6 – 53.559 Ton Miles Per Gallon

A Graham Supercharger -- until the 1990s, no American firm made more supercharged cars than Graham! They were reliable, and saved perhaps 7-15% on fuel.