I suppose I should have checked to see if the Olds 88 was a diesel. But then the odds of that are essentially zero. Meanwhile, there’s old Mercedes diesels everywhere here. What a missed opportunity for GM.
CC outtake: Two Early 80s Sedans At The Thrift Store
– Posted on July 21, 2018
The one I saw a couple of hours ago
My wife’s uncle put well over 100K miles on his ’79 88 Delta Diesel without major issue. Him being a retired trucker must have had something to do with it. During a brief hospital stay, his wife drove the Olds, and blew the motor on Day #2.
The Olds is a 1980 Delta 88.
Nice Hillman pickup. Good find 🙂
If it were a diesel I think it would have a square hood ornament. This appears to be a rectangular rocket hood ornament.
To think that GM had an association with Isuzu in the 1970’s and had, as part of its conglomerate, Detroit Diesel you would also think it could have done better with a Diesel engine, at least for the pickup trucks. Does anyone remember the Isuzu I-Mark diesel? I believe the car was also sold as an “Opel” at Buick dealerships after the German Opels were no longer sold in the U.S. A minister acquaintance had an I-Mark diesel which saw all three of his daughters through college with no problems and got what was considered ridiculously good fuel mileage for the times.
I would bet that the gas powered Oldsmobile is lower cost to maintain and drive (even with the gas mileage penalty) than the Mercedes.
I am proving that theory now by replacing my Audi 5000 with a 1979 Ford Thunderbird 302 V8 and commuting 520 miles a week.