Silo owner offering "Grease Car" conversions

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Contributed Photo AFFORDABLE GAS: Alan Hastings stands by his grease-fueled car. The owner of The Silo restaurant in Lewiston uses leftover grease from the Silo kitchen to fuel his family cars. Now, his auto repair shop has begun to convert other cars to grease driven engines. --

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November 4, 2012

Silo owner offering "Grease Car" conversions

Staff reports Niagara Gazette The Niagara Gazette Sun Nov 04, 2012, 02:00 AM EST

Niagara Gazette — Alan Hastings has found a way to beat the high cost of gasoline. His diesel 2008 VW Golf has been running on vegetable oil since 2008.

Hastings, owner of the Silo Restaurant in Lewiston, is now hoping to help others do the same with their cars by offering a conversion service in his Youngstown auto shop.

The mechanics at Heritage Auto will be converting diesel engine automobiles so they can run on used vegetable oil as well, something Hastings now does in three of his family’s cars.

The auto shop has become a distributor for a company called Grease Car.com, which is a

specialist in manufacturing the conversion kits.

Utilizing aluminum and copper components, along with a computer, cars and trucks

burning waste vegetable oil (WVO) burn cleaner and do not sacrifice miles per gallon, according to Hastings, who says that the driver sees no operational difference, other than typically lower fuel costs.

While Hastings benefits from a continuing supply of veggie oil from his restaurant’s deep friers, his future

plans include establishment of a fuel cooperative to provide used vegetable oil to others.

Meantime, Heritage Auto will continue to sell and install conversion kits

and teach other motorists how to process veggie oil on their own.

The full service auto repair shop, located at 201 Lockport Street in Youngstown, has been in the Hastings family for several years.

An environmental activist at heart, Hastings has also gone “green” when it comes to

his restaurant, where he introduced bio-degradable utensils, recycled napkins, and

environmentally-friends cleaning products a few years ago.

This year, the restaurant began serving “free range” chicken and certified humane, steroid and hormone-free beef that is grass-fed and lean. In a sense, even The Silo itself is the product of recycling, since it was created from a vintage coal silo dating back to 1927. To learn more, visit www.greasecar.com or www.lewistonsilo.com.

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Silo owner offering "Grease Car" conversions

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