411 REFERENCE · Wiktionary
Mexican overdrive
Reference material by Wiktionary contributors. This retains its source identity and is not 411 news reporting.
English
Etymology
Synchronically, coordinate with other variants of overdrive in this sense of the word, whereas some of the variants certainly denigrate outgroups (e.g., Jewish overdrive, Polish overdrive) and others might not be denigrating but rather celebratory (e.g., Georgia overdrive); diachronically, this one has been said to be based on NASCAR teams' experience in the early 1950s in the legendary Carerra Panamerica, where the long hills would have otherwise overrevved the engines, although this may be a folk etymology for just another outgroup-denigrating variant.
Pronunciation
en En-au-Mexican overdrive.ogg AU
Noun
-
en US slang automotive en angel gear.
en He shifted his car out of gear, at the top of the hill, and coasted down in Mexican overdrive.
References
Playboy Magazine once answered a reader's question about the meaning of this term.
https://web.archive.org/web/20060328232254/http://www.markcarey.com/spamdb/discuss-increase-your-gas-mileage.html
en terms derived from toponyms