There was talk sometime back about a diesel in the line up at...... I thought it was Indy. Was there any mention of one this year?

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"If anyone knows other lessons I need to learn, please tell me. I'm tired of learning them the hard way".
by JerryBro

The Glow Plug Wait: This waiting period is a moment of silence to pay honor to Rudolph Diesel. The longer you own your diesel the more honor you will give him". by SD Blue

My normal daily life; either SNAFUed- Situation Normal... All Fouled Up, or FUBARed- Fouled Up Beyond All Repair

62 UNIMOG Camper w/617 Turbo, 85 300SD daily driver- both powered by blended UCO fuels

last time i knew of was in 1950. if my memory is correct freddy agabasian put a cummins lay down on the pole. the engine was so heavy though that it chewed tires all to hell and had to stop about 50 times for tires. they of course changed the rules (i think) the next year so that a diesel was no longer feasible.

there were other diesels in years before that. i think in the thirties one went the full 500 miles without stopping for fuel.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

checked my speedway chronicles. it was '52 and it was a 401 cu in cummins diesel with a turbocharger. i think it was a highly modified truck engine. it was laying on its side. the tires thing was that it wore out the tires in just the four lap qualifying run, but in the race went out at i think it was 71 laps (of 200) with a clogged turbo inlet (sounds fishy).

any way the car was built by frank kurtis. it looked extremely modern compared to the other indy cars, low and very sleek with the driver sitting beside the driveshaft, while all the other cars featured the driver sitting on top of the driveshaft and all up in the air like a sprint car.

btw there was a ferrari v12 f1 car in the race. i am pretty sure that that is the only time ferrari made the race at indy. there was a ferrari engined kurtis perhaps in 54 but didnt make the race, and when visiting the ferrari museum saw a ferrari indy car that was built around the early eighties, tested but never entered because (presumably) it was not competitive.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

My bad. Doing a google search I came up with an article that reminded me the race car I was thinking of was part of the 24hours at Lemans. Check this out

__________________
"If anyone knows other lessons I need to learn, please tell me. I'm tired of learning them the hard way".
by JerryBro

The Glow Plug Wait: This waiting period is a moment of silence to pay honor to Rudolph Diesel. The longer you own your diesel the more honor you will give him". by SD Blue

My normal daily life; either SNAFUed- Situation Normal... All Fouled Up, or FUBARed- Fouled Up Beyond All Repair

62 UNIMOG Camper w/617 Turbo, 85 300SD daily driver- both powered by blended UCO fuels

Thought the cummings engined diesel indy car finished mid pack. Around 1950 sounds about right as well. Have pictures and some details stashed away in dresser. Remember also cummings dropped an engine into an early large packard four door sedan and drove it to washington for about 3.50 in fuel in those days again as i remember. Thought history should have treated this company better than to watch it dissapear into general motors empire as I think is it's present fate.

is that for real?

i went back and checked more ancient history. in 31 the cummins went the distance without a stop and finished 13th. in 34 they entered two, one four cycle and one two cycle. the four cycle finished 19th and the two cycle finished 12th. in 1950 they entered again and finished 29th.

i also noticed that in 47 a mercedes f1 car from before ww2 running 3 liters on gasoline finished 16th, and the same car in 48 finished 19th. probably it was run on methanol not gas. but it wasnt a diesel.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

the cummins in 1931 got 16 mpg for the 500 miles, probably a record low consumption.

in previous post did you mean that cummins is owned by gm? i hope not.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

The earliest use of a diesel in a US made passenger car was when Clessie Cummins put one of his diesel truck engines in a '35 or '36 Auburn and ran it coast to coast for about $3.50 worth of fuel. This was pictured some years ago on the front cover of the ACD Club newsletter. I have pondered at times what I would do if the original Lycoming engine in my Auburn ever gave up the ghost. At this point I think I would replace the 98Hp 268.6 cuin 8cyl with a 3 liter 5cyl MB diesel that puts out 25 more horses.

I do not believe that Cummins Engines is a part of garbage Motors, as the Dodge Ram uses Cummins Diesels exclusively and its not likely they would use gm equipment in the Dodge.

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1961 190Db retired
1968 220D/8 325,000
1983 300D 164,150

I did not believe it inituially either and have no proof about the purchase of cummings. Was told there was a contractual agreement for access to motors by chrysler for seven more years though after the general motors purchase. Glad someone mentioned the thirties diesel racers as thought something was strange about the 50s car chewing up tires and had believed the car that I was thinking about finished mid pack. Anyways cummings did some pretty neat stuff at various times. I make errors as well. Yes it could have been an auburn they dropped that motor into just do not know why i thought it was a packard. Talk about my insulting ACD owners. Also was not aware their diesels went to indianapolis more than one or two years mind them being so far apart.

I don't mean to pick nits, but it is CUMMINS, not CUMMINGS. There is no G, nor has there ever been a G. Pet peeve of mine.

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Keep everything as simple as possible-but no simpler--Albert Einstein

You are right Habenero. Cumming is a town in georgia or an obscene word The last major loophole in Indy rules was before the split between CART and IRL when Penske raced a Push rod Mercedes Engine(not sure if it was an Ilmore or straight from benz.) There was some rule that allowed a more powerful push rod engine as opposed to the traditional overhead cam turbo charged alcohol powered engines at the time. The engines lasted and Penske dominated the race and that started Mercedes involvment in CART replacing chevy as sponsoring the Illmor engines.

No diesels in any US auto sport other then Tractor pulls. I watched a tractor pull with stock and modified semi tractors on speed one time. Wow that was cool! There were lots of advertisements for A/C generators you can add to your full size diesel truck to turn it into a small power plant.

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My Daily : 96 E-300 Diesel with 195,000 miles
Retired: 92 300D 2.5 T 345K miles and for sale
Retired: 95 E320 157K miles and currently parked with blown engine

Both retired cars are for sale as is my w124 shop inventory

the pushrod engine with the benz label was indeed built by illmore and did win with either al jr or emmo at the wheel.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Cummins put one of their 4 cylinder marine engines in a used Packard sedan in 1929 or 1930. That was the one that got the publicity for driving from the Cummins plant (in Indiana?) to the New Your Auto Show on $1.85 in fuel.

I have heard the claim that Auburn offered a diesel powered car in 1935 or 36 but did they sell any? Have never seen any pics or documentation.

Checked out the CUMMINS ENGINE web site today and found no evidence of any purchase by gm. The Corporate headquarters is still Columbus, Indiana and they have their original stockmarket ID as CMI. The attached photo showing Clessie Cummins in the Auburn mentioned above was on the web-site. Don't believe any diesel powered Auburns were actually sold by the Auburn Co. itself.

www.cummins.com

Attached Thumbnails

 

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1961 190Db retired
1968 220D/8 325,000
1983 300D 164,150

sorry. i read that in 07 the dodge will come with a mb diesel. i am looking forward to that.

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.