First time I saw a Diesel, 1959 at the age of 12. It was on my Uncle's fishing boat and he had a 671 Detroit Diesel. This was a left over from WWII and still runing strong in 1970 (the last time I went to Alaska). Loved the fact of no spark plugs, etc, loud and at cruising speed, turned 1500 RPM's. Later on another fishing my, they had a CAT D10 (again left over from WWII) and this one ran wide open from Seattle to Ketchikan at 950 RPM for 73 hours.

Other fishing boats still had gas engine, slower and hard to start in cold wet weather.

Saw my first MB Diesel (1967 in Seattle) and from then until this year, I always wanted a Diesel Car. I did get an Isuzu Diesel pick up, but this still was not a Diesel.

My 1981 240D , 4 speed manual, is the slowest car I ever drove, but will not give. I always knew from just reading about cars thru the years, that the 240D's are about the best MB ever made.

bob 1981 240D

In 1977 I bought a 68 Camaro with no engine. I wanted to install a diesel but couldn't find a used one so I put in a 250 Chevy and forgot about diesels.
Then in 1999 I was looking for a cheap way to tour Europe for a few summers and decided to buy a European motorhome. In looking at what used MH's were available over there, the only models that had anything in common with models in US were Mercedes. The Ford, GM, French and Italian chassis were never imported to the US. I wanted a model that had similar engines on both sides of the pond so I could gain some mechanical experience with it over here. Since diesel is a lot cheaper on the continent, I settled on a Mercedes diesel and bought a 1985 307d just outside London, from the internet, sight unseen for $1800. I flew over, picked it up, fell in love with the 616 5spd and decided I had to have one in the US too. If the 616 could power a 22' Class A motorhome for 125k miles and still be running strong, then it should run forever in a car. We used the motorhome for 3 yrs in Europe, sold it via the net, but diesel has been in my blood ever since.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

As a kid in South Africa aged about 8 I remember an uncle of mine who owned a farm buying a 240D 4 speed manual. He was a Mercedes diesel fanatic and subsequently bought a 300D. I remember my father joking with him about it sounding like a tractor. I had wanted one ever since. But I had to pass thru three gasser MB's and twenty nine years before I finally managed to acqire my first Mercedes Diesel here in Phoenix. 81 240D, 4 speed manual.

- Peter.

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2021 Chevrolet Spark
Formerly...
2000 GMC Sonoma
1981 240D 4spd stick. 347000 miles. Deceased Feb 14 2021
2002 Kia Rio. Worst crap on four wheels
1981 240D 4spd stick. 389000 miles.
1984 123 200
1979 116 280S
1972 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1971 108 280S