I thought this would be a fun and interesting thread. We all learned about diesels and came to the same conclusion. That is why we own them now. It might be a short or long stroll down memory lane...

I'm 41. I learned about the virtues of diesel in the 80's. We lived in the sticks and helped our neighbors with wheat and cotton harvesting. Every piece of equipment was diesel, including thier pick-up trucks. Thier cars were gassers. So at that time I did not care about which fuel powered vehicle I drove.

Anyone remember the made for TV movie, "The Day After"? After the nuclear explosion and the EMP that stalled all the cars? It was the same farmers that explained that diesel engines were not affected by EMP, unless they had electrical controls. That made sense, but my first car was a used gasser. It was fast and I was not worried about the cold war. Being 16, who really cares as long as you could roll down the highway with rock n roll drowning out the road noise?

We, ourselves had an old Ford 8N tractor. Flat head 4. It was fast for a tractor (top speed 35 mph) but it bogged down easily when worked. My father sold the 8N, and bought a Yanmar 220D. It was a 3 banger, non turbo diesel tractor. It was a 4x4. It was slow, but that thing would not bog down. Talk about stump pulling torque.

I started thinking about wanting a diesel. Fast foward to college...I still had my gasser, but wanted a diesel, just could not afford one. After college, a friend of mine had an 82 300D. The car was 6 years old when my friend let me drive it. I was sold. That same car, he sold in '93 with 500,000 miles on it.

Anyway, I longed for a diesel all the way until 2005. That is when we bought the TDI. I had to do a lot of convincing to get my wife to consider a TDI. Gas prices were high, and when she saw the cost savings and longevity of a diesel, we were able to bite the bullet. That TDI takes one fill up per week, where the Altima (in my sig) took 3.

I bought my '82 300D in August of this year. I am converting to diesel one vehicle at a time....dreams do come true!

Merry Christmas everyone!

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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.

99 W210 E300 Turbo Diesel, chipped, DPF/Converter Delete. Still needs EGR Delete, 232K

90 Dodge D250 5.9 Cummins/5 speed. 400K

Gone and still missed...1982 w123 300D, 1991 w124 300D