Diesels in the Caribbean

[F18]

I am always in envy of places and people in other parts of this world that I visit where there are almost as many diesel vehilcles on the road as gasoline fueled ones. Saint Kitts & Nevis are among those places.....except for the rust condusive climate....but I guess thats why they have Rain Forests there!

I just returned from a trip to Saint Kitts yesterday and as I was packing to leave, their small Island TV & Radio channel (ZIZ) was talking about the conversion of all fuels available there to BioFuels ie. Biodiesel and Ethanol through a cooporative program with the US ( thats right.. the USA!) and other countries to supply the ingredients such as grains, corn ect. They sited the successful BioFuel programs of other South American nations such as Venezuela which was started in 1999 and how they have achieved independence of foreign oil.

Yep, I am envious! I just wish our government would take a little more interest in making our own country into an independent BioFuel nation......

[R Leo]

The Caribbean is a perfect location for setting up island-based biodiesel production from palm oil.

[rwthomas1]

Originally Posted by R Leo

The Caribbean is a perfect location for setting up island-based biodiesel production from palm oil.

Unfortunately not quite... I am from Barbados and the main export there used to be sugar made from sugar cane grown on huge plantations. Now the main industry is tourisim. Sugar production is a token crop. They make more money from tourisim so the plantations become golf courses where they give free mansions to Tiger Woods (for real) to attract people to the island. Most of my homeland is overbuilt now, there is virtually nowhere you can go and not see a house. This is a problem as land is truely a finite resource on an island 21 by 14 miles. There is little room for biomass crops as long as the wealthy have huge vacation residences and golf courses. Barbados isn't the only island this is a problem on. Okay, rant off.

That said, there are some really cool diesels there! Mitsubishi and Daihatsu make some nice pickups and construction type vehicles that I wish were available here. RT

[F18]

RT....your description of the changed Barbados' economic structure to one of tourism fits just about every island that I have been to down there.
-property values have increased because of development/tourism and squeezed agriculture off of an already limited amount of island land mass.
-the sugar cane thats left is used to make island rum, (mango is my favorite!) to sell to the tourists and not used to make ethanol. (and then the tourist cry when they are sick and blame it on the water when they are really suffering from alcohol poisoning from partying too much!)

So what you have are island nations that need to either continue to import petrol fuels & crude or import the vegetible components to make BioDiesel and Ethanol. Either way they are still dependent on imports for transportation fuel but I think the BioFuel thing is a cleaner deal.

Man your right....they have so many neat diesel vehicles. Pickups, 4x4s, sedans, small vans....made by Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Isusu, Land Rover.
On Saint Kitts and Nevis....all right-hand drive models.

[Jim B.]

I was in the ABC islands (part of a cruise ship tour) about 8 years ago and saw a brand new E class, maroon diesel sedan with full Lorinser package, wheels and ground effects

Most beautiful diesel I have ever seen, too bad it couldn't flex its legs, it sure had the right "shoes" to run in.

And yes, tourism is #1 economic factor in those islands. It affects everything there.

[Diesel Giant]

Way too much greed in this country and good ole boy politicking to ever get the govt to put us on a road to foreign oil independence.

[uberwgn]

We visit the USVI on almost every year. Diesel sighting are rare, whether car or truck.

However, they are proud of their Cummins:

[1983/300CD]

I recently saw a blip on CNN about the cars in Cuba. One guy had a Frankenmobile made from many different cars' parts for drive train, suspension, etc.

Similar story:
http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=inDepthNews&storyID=2006-05-12T121400Z_01_N10308286_RTRUKOC_0_US-CUBA-CARS.xml

They said that they used shampoo and water for brake fluid because they couldn't get the real stuff. I think it was shampoo and water, anyway. Totally nuts! You would think it would boil up and be totally ineffective. Oh well.

[F18]

Originally Posted by 1983/300CD

I recently saw a blip on CNN about the cars in Cuba. One guy had a Frankenmobile made from many different cars' parts for drive train, suspension, etc.

Similar story:
http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=inDepthNews&storyID=2006-05-12T121400Z_01_N10308286_RTRUKOC_0_US-CUBA-CARS.xml

They said that they used shampoo and water for brake fluid because they couldn't get the real stuff. I think it was shampoo and water, anyway. Totally nuts! You would think it would boil up and be totally ineffective. Oh well.

Interesting....shampoo and other liquid soaps contain glicerin (sp?) which makes great longer lasting soap bubbles.....may be it acts as a lubricant and keeps the brake cylinders from seizing. The boiling point would be scary low!

[84300DT]

the us govt is looking at synthetic fuel to run jets. considering the airforce spent over $4bil on fuel last year it might be a good idea....

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/14/us/14fuel.html?hp&ex=1147579200&en=f8857655ffb8a285&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[Jim B.]

Those old Cuban autos are really amazing, made more so by the ingenuity of the Cuban body shops, and mechanics that keep them going.

Even though Fidel took over in January 1959, I believe the newest of these surviving cars is a 1960 Oldsmobile 88 sedan, which belonged to Castro's top Lt., and it is now in a Cuban auto museum, the car is seen in some period movies of about that time with Castro standing by it.

I once thought about a trip to Cuba, just to be able to see those old cars.
I saw pictures of "barn found" 300SLs down there, in a magaqzine also....

Many are cherished family heirlooms, passed from father to son. Some are beautifully restored, and they have their own clubs and tours.

Others have been horribly compromised, just to keep running.

Not only there, but in Peru also. We hired a "Taxi" as part of a tour package which involved a round trip to the Nazca Lines from Lima, an all day trip on the Panamericana, and the taxi was a mint condition 1966 Oldsmobile F85 powered by a Nissan diesel engine. It was really cool.

However the "Petroleros" we saw ran on a mix of diesel, kerosine and whatever else, and they each of these emitted horrible, hideous, clouds of black smoke. A '57 Chevy 4 door petrolero sedan, we saw plying the streets of Lima looked like a bonfire on 4 wheels. Whatever it takes.

But the smog is horrible, even Los Angeles of 40 years ago after several bad days can't even begin to compare. You would wash your hair at the end of the day and black crud, out of your hair would go down the sink.

I vaguely recall a 1967 Mustang that had some kind of diesel engine in it also.
The Peruvians are ingenious also, no body shops, auto parts stores, insurance as we recognize them in the United States. Used auto part flea markets exist as roadside attractions.

Things are changing now, the old US cars and VW bugs are being supplanted by Japanese and Korean subcompacts there.

There are also some interesting old French and American cars still in Saigon, though many were fixed up there, and sold to collectors.