It IS amazing. And not just that. There used to be Ford Escorts with Mazda diesel engines, Lincolns with BMW made diesels, Chrysler K-cars with Mitsubishi-built diesels... anyone know that the Jeep XJ/MJs (Cherokee, Wagoneer and Comanche) could be optioned with a Renault-built 2.2 turbo diesel from '84 to '87? At the altitudes around here, it was the most powerful option as the Chevy-suppled 2.8 V6 gasser, already a piece of crap, was completely emasculated in the thin air. That Chevy engine was the worst engine ever put into a Jeep....
America had quite a love affair with diesels in the late 70s/early 80s, before the 5.7 litre GM diesel showed how wrong it can go when a company tries to make a diesel out of a gasser. Even vaunted Mercedes-Benz, considered the leader in diesel-engined passenger cars, managed to create a lemon in the 350SDL, notoriously dubbed "the rod bender".... OUCH!
My father bought a first-year Chevette in 1976. My high school buddies got real excited when I told them we had a new 'Vette. They were mighty disappointed when they first saw what we actually got. It became the "Shove-it" shortly after....
Mark in Centennial, CO
From: "vwnate1@yahoo.com [diesel_mercedes]" <diesel_mercedes@yahoogroups.com>
To: "diesel mercedes" <diesel_mercedes@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, August 8, 2016 10:38:56 PM
Subject: [diesel_mercedes] Diesel Chevette
That's amazing ;
I wonder how solid the car is , that's a lot of miles for such a cheaply built car .
I like Chevettes , we called them "
1/4Vette " when we had them in our Municipal Fleet , gasoline models only , tiny , under powered City only cars by design but they thrashed along just fine and as usual , GM's AC was the bees knees .
-Nate
Max wrote :