This news item brings together two of my favorite topics: effectivism and duct tape!  A guy modded his car by adding a boat tail made of duct tape (and cardboard) and increased his MPG by 15%.  That’s impressive!  (Hat tip to Dan Garcia for bringing this to my attention.)

I have been known to make backpacks out of duct tape, and to repair cars with it as well.  But this is the first I’ve heard of actually improving a car’s fuel efficiency!  Truly, this is a great material.

I don’t see myself (or most of your readers) probably going out and constructing this kind of boat tail car-mod any time soon.  But if you are interested in reading about all sorts of different mods you can make to your car, and the resulting improvements in fuel efficiency, you should check out Ecomodder.  They not only profile impressive projects like the duct tape boat tail, but they have a handy list of recommended ecomods,  rated by impact, cost, and mechanical know-how required to implement.  Some of them involve removing existing parts (e.g., roof racks) or installing off-the-shelf gauges, rather than constructing complex (if awesome) new car parts.  :)  Happy modding!