1981 HMV Freeway

1981 Freeway

I decided to write about the HMV Freeway because it is such a unique vehicle. Below is the history of the Freeway the company was based here in Minnesota. The company was way before its time and I believe if the company would have succeed, we would see these cars everywhere today with fuel prices as high as they are today.

History of the Freeway

Burnsville

In the 1970’s Detroit believe that anything above 20 MPG was considered “ECONOMY “and when they said “IMPROVED” it meant that the car was bigger and heavier than the model year before. Even in the 1980’s Detroit manufactures believe that it was “IMPOSSIBLE” to improve the fleet of cars being made to average 25 mile per gallon. Ask yourself why then are the cars being manufacture today getting 30 to 50 MPG. Part of the reason many of today’s cars have better fuel mileage is because of big government stepping in and forcing manufactures into developing new and better fuel efficient automobiles. But back in the 70’s one man had a plan to build a more economical vehicle. His name was Dave Edmonson of Burnsville Minnesota. Now Dave took the guild lines that the government of the time had set and did just that he built small and light.

Dave started his project in 1970; he would compete in SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) contest where real life mileages were based on actual road driving conditions. By 1977, Dave would come up with a design that would blow the competition away. The design looked nothing like anything anyone else was designing at the time and he would call it the Freeway. Dave would win the contest hands down. The Freeway would blow everyone out of the water with its 80.3 MPG and then again in 1978 with 88.3 MPG’s. Ok so you are thinking to yourself Dave had to be using some exotic technology that he invents but he didn’t. He just use a simple idea that would stump the big 3 for years to come and that idea was to make it smaller and lighter.

With trials finished Dave sought financial backing and found backer who would help get his company off the ground. So in early 1979 David Edmonson would begin production at his plant in Burnsville Minnesota.  He would offer two body styles and three types of engines, the open air Freeway it would be his less expensive model which would feature a smaller engine and a snap down cover. The second choice was the more expensive freeway 2, which was the fully enclosed all weather vehicle it featured a larger engine and more standard features. Both freeway were powered by Tecumseh engines the 340 guaranteed that it would get 100 MPG’s at a steady 40 MPH this motor was the featured engine for the open air Freeway. The 450 Tecumseh was expected to get 80 MPG at 40 MPH but with more power. Top speeds were around 65 MPH with great handling and fast acceleration. There was also an electric model that was offer but because of the range it had was not a popular model, it could only go 20 miles at 40 MPH before it would need to be recharged.

With the factory set up and production schedules posted, documents published and order taken all was ready to begin production.  Then David Edmondson’s financial backing fell through which meant David wound need to restructure his production. One of the moves he made was to scale back production, then move his production facilities to another location and to start manufacturing on a smaller scale. This did not stop him from adding more options to his all weather hard top. He would offer a standard model and a deluxe model. The deluxe model featured front fenders, a bent bumper and dual headlights.

When production began in late 1979 they only had 200 orders, only after posing for a newspaper article with his prototype did the orders begin to pour in. The orders would increase to over a thousand. It was then that they realized that people wanted this car. Many were willing to put up a small refundable deposit for this unique vehicle. But when production slowed down some people withdrew their deposits. David Edmonson would write a letter to them explaining the delay in production many would reinstate their deposits.

Deliveries on some orders were over a year behind originally expected. Some orders were not delivered till august of 1980. Even though David was short of funds David was still able to make new molds and frames along with retooling and completed the first six production cars to roll of the floor in early march. In April they realized that they had enough part to build 50 more cars. It was said that they had shipped out those 50 cars in May of 1980. It soon became hard for the company to get part because of the shortage of funds and many suppliers were demanding cash up front before they would ship part thus making it hard to maintain production and each freeway required 30 hours of work to complete. To make things worst approximately 2/3 of the original order were canceled before they were able to get shipped out.

The Freeway is small but can still be easily seen by other drivers. The high mileage is due to the fact that it is very light and only weights 750 lbs. they structured the body so that the car was very aerodynamics.  The bottom or as others may call it the belly of the car is enclosed in a smooth shell, the drag coefficient is low and surface area even less. The freeway offers two fuel tanks a 3 or 9.5 gallon tank it was estimated that you could get 900 miles on a single tank. When a deluxe model was ordered it was shipped with items that were optional on the standard. This included the oil filter & heater, the larger engine and fuel tank, and a complete instrument package.

Because of their size and for safety reasons you had the choice of having your car painted yellow, orange and red, with other colors optional. The frame used a ladder design for added strength and safety. One of the weak spot was the door area so a 3 point safety harness was standard. It has been reported that the car could rolled or flipped over there have been no reports of anyone suffering more than bruising. There has been a reported of a head on with a full size truck and the Freeway was knocked off the road and the driver only received a few bruised, but the other vehicle and its passengers received far more damage. The fog lights or side marker lights and the single bright headlight offered plenty of light for night visibility. There had been many changes, but the basic design on the freeway remained unchanged.

The Freeway had a variety of engines that could be purchased. The Tecumseh gas engine was available in 340, 390 or 450cc that could produce 12 to 16hp. The Freeway also has an Italian diesel and electric motor powered versions that were also available. The Freeway used a power transferred through a variable ratio belt drive it was the same kind of drive used on snowmobiles this would provided automatic transmission. The rear pulley was mounted on a shaft and that would transfers power to the rear wheel via chain drive. Reverse was available although it was only on the Deluxe models. A small motor drive and gears were used but they could not get them manufactured at an affordable price. A heater was available and it used the oil that was pumped thru the engine then through a filter then through a under dash oil cooler. Some models had the oil cooler moved then they would slip a factory fan housing over it and that would help keep the windshield clear. I have heard that there were 15 or more Freeway that had the electric motor and there were no diesels. The mid-sized 390 engine was another engine that was not used in the Freeway. The stock Freeway had most of the weight on the rear wheel, as both the motor, drive, and 4 batteries were mounted behind the seat. A DOT report states the electrics were extremely unstable cars.

1981 Freeway as displayed here at Schwanke Museum

The Freeway 340 guaranteed 100 MPG at a steady 40 MPH, or your money back now what other company at the time could make that kind of statement. OK Big 3 let’s see if you can top that one even today! About 700 freeways were sold before the company went bankrupt in 1982 but the freeway would live on in June 1982 and Minikin bought the rights to build the Freeway in the bankruptcy procedures but they only produced 15 cars in 1984 and that was a 2 seat convertible.

When HMV went out of business they paid many of their outstanding bills with excess inventory and gave other cars away rather than have them ship them back to the Burnsville plant. In one case 3 cars were given to an employee to compensate for wages.