My first contact with a Benz was in high school where a friend's Mom had a '56 or '57 cream colored 220 sedan. It had the saxomat clutch in it, but rode and drove like a dream. Later in college was driving a DKW, which was 2-cycle and required mixing oil in the gas. Seemed like with all the oil, I was already half way there; so looked at new 190D while in grad school. For an unemployed student though, they were a bit spendy.

So waited till after grad school and found a few year old 190Db, and have been driving MB diesels nearly ever since. Probably didn't hurt that I read an interesting article about the Cummins engine that Clessie Cummins put in an Auburn back in the late 30's and drove across the US for nearly nothing. The fuel price was definately right from the 60's thru the 90's, but has been a bit iffy as of late. However if you figure what we now pay for one of these 123's or 126's, driving is still almost free.

Enjoyed the old 190D, but the 220D was light years ahead of it. The 220D actually had 4-wheel discs and could put you thru the windshield if the seatbelts weren't being used. And that tiny little chrome stick shift with the black ball worked the smoothest tranny I had ever used, even in the dead of winter. Did miss the big white wheel though!!

What I really like about a diesel engine is never having to put up with that sinking/fading/stuttering feeling when a gasser's distributor or spark plugs are only half working.

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