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Does an invention that would guarantee motorists they'd never run out of gas sound like a good investment? Hundreds of venture capital firms didn't think so, but that didn't stop Maryland retiree William Hubbard (MBA '49), a former executive at Shell Oil and Amoco Chemical. According to Business Week (June 29, 1999), using $10,000 in savings and working in a partner's garage, Hubbard discovered a way to remove the volatile elements from gasoline. Rendered inert and nonflammable, the resulting liquid product - dubbed "SpareTank" - can be stored safely in the trunk of a car. When combined with the gallon or so of gasoline that typically remains in a car's fuel system even when the gas gauge reads empty, SpareTank becomes flammable, and presto, you're on your way. "It's one of the great problem-solving products of all time," said Dennis D'Angelo, the merchandising director of QVC, which began selling SpareTank in June.
Now available at Kmart and other chains for less than $20 a gallon, SpareTank could generate as much as $15 million in sales this year and may soon be adopted as a standard feature by a major automaker. Some skeptics contend that SpareTank won't catch on, but as Business Week concluded, "Hubbard hopes to show [them] his taillights, speeding all the way to the bank."
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