We Were All New at One Time
Grubendol said:
Too true...I'm new to this whole Diesel thing
Thanks!
At one time way back, yours' truly was also new to this
diesel thing.
1966 to be exact. Seem like such a long time ago.
My how fast those 43 years disappeared!
Enjoy. Private vehicles are so much better now than back then.
I wish you could drive an old 1961 190 DB. Shake rattle and run! 55 horsepower, no torque,
four on the tree, three main bearings, but it would get good mileage. 28-32 mpg, whereas
the Olds 88 it replaced got only 10 mph. Diesel was far less expensive back then
than was Premium gasoline, but really hard to find. Had to go to the truck stops.
Now, almost every corner has at least one station that carries diesel
'fuel.'
Back then, there was no place to purchase fuel in T.O. (Thousand Oaks) so I contracted with a Shell distributor in Moorpark, and he would come to my house and fill my two barrels I kept in my garage. He called that his "
keep full service." My wife would call him and he'd come within a couple of days and run his long hose up my driveway and pump 114 gallons into the two barrels I kept and
that would run me for six weeks.
Are you ready for this? 15.6 cents per gallon plus 5.25 percent sales tax.
For 114 gallons she would write the dealer a check for $18.72.
Putting it another way, six tenths of a cent per mile for fuel. ( No road taxes!)
Back then, gasoline was running in the 30 cents a gallon range, so you can see how much
money we saved. Triple the mileage on fuel that cost half as much.
Have had fourteen diesels since then.
Only 75 mph if there was no grade and no wind and only in the daytime.
At night, the D/C generator drew enough power that the
old Benz was down to only 73 mph top speed.
Ah yes, those were the days. See how much better things are now?
