The 350 Diesel Idea

Incase you did not notice, GM cars where pretty big back then..as in size..usually powered by a nice size V8 with a 4bbl, these cars where rather quick for their size and on top of that, quiet. However during the gas crisis, these American cruisers started to become undesirable for most, with expensive gas prices and thirsty engines..Fuel economy is what was sought after, which is what made cars from Japan and Europe very attractive for most. With their compact sizes, and small 4 cylinder gas and diesel engines as well as reliability, the market for European/Asian cars got popular pretty fast..I'm not exactly how many years it took Oldsmobile to finish the 5.7 Diesel, but by late 1977, they had designed a motor similar in looks to the 350 gas engine that was also available in the same car..however, the interesting part was the cars with the Diesel option got almost the same economy of the smaller imports of less than half the size..and this was a 350 V8..There was an age of Diesel Cars in the US in the late 70s through to the mid 80s..Volkswagon, Mercedes Benz, BMW, Volvo, Isuzu, Mazda,Toyota, Nissan, GM and Ford all had Diesel Options in the cars sold in the US...Some Wierd Diesels I have seen have been the Diesel Monte Carlo, with either the 4.3 V6 Diesel or the 5.7 Diesel..and the Diesel Lincoln, powered by an I-6 BMW Diesel..The Import Diesels turned out to be pretty popular..especially the Mercedes Benz Diesels..The Oldsmobiles and Cadillacs where the most popular cars sold with the 5.7 Diesel..which was offered in about every car and some trucks in 1980..The 5.7 Diesel had problems in the begining..but I talk about that alot in other parts of the web site...





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