Last summer at a company picnic, a coworker showed up with his 57 Thunderbird and another Antique car. What was funny was I wasn't the slightest bit interested and didn't even wander over to take a look. Similarly, I was staying a a Hotel once and their was a Major Car show across the street and everyone was going....and I wasn't the slightest bit interested. And when the office motor nuts gather together to exclaim the virtues of Camaro vice Porsche 911, I'm the last one who will join the conversation...

And yet I spend more Wrench time than anyone at work or anyone, period. And I enjoy it and love it. My collection of used junkers are all over 200K in mileage and I spend quite some time ensuring they run and everything works. And thats the reason I love my Mercedes 300D. I love it because its not a car, its kind of ....well, like the family dog. It has a life and a spirit of its own and because its an anti car and its me. I mean who else would change out the springs on a rusting old hulk with 300K + miles on it when he put one's that were slightly taller than normal on them? (its no longer rusty, i welded patch metal recently and fixed and painted all the cancer)

And yet you could hand me the keys to a 2006 Lexus or Porsche ....and i would be totally bored and disinterested.....

I think I know exactly what you mean. Before I got into diesels, it was all about the car, and the fuel was just gasoline. Now if it doesn't have a diesel, I can't care less.

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'83 240D with 617.952 and 2.88
'01 VW Beetle TDI
'05 Jeep Liberty CRD
'89 Toyota 4x4, needs 2L-T
'78 280Z with L28ET - 12.86@110
Oil Burner Kartel #35

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b1...oD/bioclip.jpg

I dunno. I can definitely appreciate an engine that doesnt run out of steam at 4000 RPM. Gasoline engines and diesel engines have their advantages and disadvantages and I like both.

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1985 CA 300D Turbo , 213K mi

I like to talk cars, and the virtues of a 327 Camaro with 350 heads, etc. I do like my diesel better though. Kinda like the new Corvette, Mustang, 350z, etc. It's ok, but like all the other stuff out there, it has become too common. That coupled with minor body tweaks, the same vehicle lists for thousands more just because of a Caddilac, Lincoln, or Infiniti badge.

Old cars are not common any more. Any one can fix and hot rod the new gassers all they want. Problem is, catalytic converter exhaust and fart cans all sound the same.

Old, reliable diesels are in an uncommon class of thier own, and being MB is Mo Bettah!

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RRGrassi


70's Southern Pacific #5608 Fairmont A-4 MOW car

13 VW JSW 2.0 TDI 193K, Tuned with DPF and EGR Delete.

91 W124 300D Turbo replaced, Pressure W/G actuator installed. 210K

90 Dodge D250 5.9 Cummins/5 speed. 400K

..all have better cars than me! Go take a look at the parking lot!!! Some of them own SUVs and SAAB's. Anyone can have a "RIDE" these days.

But can anyone have a Mercedes Diesel? You have to be able to fix it, appreciate it and weld it and find parts at a yard yourself. Very few people can own one these days, actually. Because most places do not know how to fix it.

I agree unless we're talking about a big ol' V12 gas engine then i'd be drooling.

But if it were a ShopForum Diesel GTG i'd bet that you would be all over it.

--Matt

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KI6CCA

Current Stable:
1987 300SDL
1980 450SEL

Out to Pasture:
1982 300D KIA (Rice Rocket vs. 123: He hit me at 80-100MPH I walked away he went to the hospital. Sounds fair to me!)
1985 300D EURO Scrapped (got more money from state than car was worth)
1979 & 1980 300SD Great Cars!

I'm a dieselhead and there's no secret about it, I dislike cars and find driving to be a tedious bore. The reason I own a car is because I'm a pro drummer, so my 240D is really just a utility vehicle. I've enjoyed the work I've done on it, and proud to have been burning Biodiesel for almost 4 years now. Getting to know this car has helped me discover that less is more. In my opinion, the only things it's lacking are airbags and adequate emmisions controls. In my 20's, I would gawk at cars from time to time, but now I just admire my fellow cyclists as they weave in and out of the traffic I'm stuck in.


Otto

I think the question should be "do dieselheads dislike gasoline cars?" and I can definitely include myself in that group. I think part of this has to do with being different. I wonder how I'd feel about diesel cars if 98% of the American public drove diesel cars. I probably wouldn't like them as much. I guess that partly explains why I don't like gasoline cars, though it also has to do with their inefficiency and inability to run on alternative fuels without heavy modifications. I'm mostly into alternative fuels, and given how rare diesel cars are, I consider diesel an alternative fuel too. I'm also somewhat interested in vehicles powered by natural gas or electricity. To me, there's hardly anything as boring as a plain gasoline vehicle, especially a truck or SUV.

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL

I've been into machines for a long, long time. Before I found diesels that run on renewable fuel, I was into speed. I built a 280Z into a speed demon on the cheap. Now it's in the garage, waiting to be converted to E85.

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'83 240D with 617.952 and 2.88
'01 VW Beetle TDI
'05 Jeep Liberty CRD
'89 Toyota 4x4, needs 2L-T
'78 280Z with L28ET - 12.86@110
Oil Burner Kartel #35

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b1...oD/bioclip.jpg

I like old cars but I hate their engines. It's not just because of a diesel bias either. Body designs stand the test of time. A '69 Mustang or '58 Impala will always be a beautiful thing and an American icon, but the garbage under the hood gets staler with age. 350 CI and 200 horsepower? Maybe good in its time but that can be done now with an engine a third the size with considerably better emissions and mileage.
I have a '78 F-150 that I would love to do a Cummins swap with some day. It's a pretty truck that was built for one purpose and that's why I love it. Newer trucks hold little appeal to me.

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1978 Ford F-150 351M
2002 Kia Spectra 1.8l 5-sp
1985 Volkswagen Scirocco 8V 1.8l 5sp
1985 MB 300D Turbo California

"Die Natur verabscheut Vakuum"

i've had numerous muscle cars of the 60's: 68 ss427 impala 4sp,70 w-30 olds,70 w-31 olds,more 442's then i can count.66 tri-power gto,sd beaumont.i've got rid of all of them,but one.my 66ss chevelle i bought when i was a junior in high school,that was in 79.all the stuff i drive now is diesel.i prefer the simplicity of em.these new gassers have more weight in emissions crap then the engine actually weighs.neighbor brought over his 99 camaro about 2 weeks ago.it had a miss,i looked under the hood and swear to god you had to remove the dash board to get at the back spark plugs.

Hearing belts and fans over the sound of the engine itself is disappointing. Gasoline is an aviation fuel.

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1992 300D 2.5T 249k - Parked with a bad transmission
1981 300SD 142k - Daily driver

To me, regardless of fuel, the sound of a turbocharger is better than any music.

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'83 240D with 617.952 and 2.88
'01 VW Beetle TDI
'05 Jeep Liberty CRD
'89 Toyota 4x4, needs 2L-T
'78 280Z with L28ET - 12.86@110
Oil Burner Kartel #35

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b1...oD/bioclip.jpg

I'm NOT a wrench, but there is a car club in town, and I went to their meetings a few times, and got the cold shoulder when I told them what car I had.

These guys are into the street rod thing, the '32 Ford coupes, Corvettes, Pink 57 Tbirds, with braided hoses, that kind of stuff. I do like the muscle cars but that's about it. They are usally about 100 of them, all of them white guys in their 50s, 60s and 70s.

There are some old Diesels, 123 and 126 around, but look cosmetically sorry.
There is a guy trying to start a communal biodiesel fleet, on a sharing basis, and he has an old Ford F150 pickup and an old W123 Diesel so far.

I like the 123 diesels especially the 240 with a stick, and back in the early 80's tried to buy one, in those days lots of mint low milers were thick on the ground, but the banks wouldnt loan on anything that slid out the bottom of the blue book. I gave up and bought a Delta 88 Royale Olds, which never saw 1990 alive, was already literally in the junkyard. But I bet the 240 D would still be running though

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1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

I think there may be a line of demarcation that takes place with most MB diesel owners on this board.

Folks who drive MB diesels around here 'tend' to like older car designs and also... tend to be frugal people who are a bit off the beaten path.

While looking down the list of cars here I noticed that virtually everyone has at least one car that is 15 years old and many folks have vehicles that are more than 20 years old. That's virtually unheard of for most enthusiast circles as it pertains to daily drivers.

I actually liquidate over 10,000 vehicles a year (an auctioneer by trade) and I currently have a 1995 MB E300 that is unfortunately in the shop. However, I truly like diesels because they are durable vehicles that can last a very long time if they're maintained appropriately.

My daily driver before this was a 1994 Toyota Camry coupe that registered 237 k and still ran like a top when I sold it for $2500. It drove well, got 27 mpg between city and highway, and was extremely easy to maintain. The Benz can get about 35 mpg but I actually think that the added cost of maintenance more than offsets it. However it's not really the reason why I bought it.

The main reason why I got it is that I really do like the clean design of the vehicle, and, it's simply so different from everything else I see in my daily work. My other daily driver right now is an immaculate burgundy 1996 Saab 900 S 4-door hatch with a 5-speed, leather, sunroof, and dealer records. I bought it for $1300 and I actually prefer that over the 2001 Volvo S80- T6, 2001 Aurora 4.0 V8, and 2000 Volvo V70 Wagon that are currently on the driveway. However when it comes to all the driving that I do the Mercedes is simply a more complete vehicle for it's time and should still stand the proverbial test of time. I think the Saab represents that level of value as well. The others... well... I think they won't be seen as classics or good values as time marches on.

I guess I just like older cars, and older car designs in general. My 88 Celica All-Trac, 83 Lincoln Mark VI , and 78 Mazda RX-7 were my favorites along with the Saab and Mercedes, and not a single one of them cost me over $1500 with the exception of the Mercedes (a repo I bought for $4700).

Perhaps another factor is that I see so many late model vehicles at the sale, and they all use the same tricks... oversized tires, lots of weight, and features that are just plain useless. The sameness of features (literally from the same parts bin) and the massive consolidation of manufacturers during the past 10 years has made true distinctiveness that much harder to find.

An older car usually gives you a lot more interaction with the driving experience and in a few select cases (Jaguars and large Benzes) they serve to relax you by giving you a nice comfortable degree of separation from it.

I will say that this Benz and the Saab are extremely enjoyable to drive on the one lane roads of North Georgia. I can take 60 mph apexes with precision and still get 32 mpg with either vehicle.

No car these days can match that level of economy and on-road performance except... well.... a diesel.