Punta Gorda
When I was younger, I didn't shy away from traveling-related escapades. I've also owned my share of vehicles (10) and had a few adventures both in and with them. (Remind me to tell you about rebuilding the VW engine in the living room of the Arkansas drug dealer.) But since returning from Germany, I've become downright stodgy. So next week I'm off on another adventurous trip.
On Tuesday, at 6:45 am, I'm flying out of Wichita, bound for Ft. Myers, Florida. I will be picked up at the airport by Ann Kelly and her family, and driven to her house in Punta Gorda, Florida. Earlier this week I bought Ann's car through Cars.com, and I'm flying down to pick it up and drive it 1,600 miles home! Yes, I'll be doing this alone.
I'm buying a 1984 Mercedes-Benz 190D. It's a diesel version of the smallest Mercedes model from that era. There's currently an eBay auction underway for a car nearly identical to mine. I haven't actually seen the car I'm buying, not even a photo, but I'm told it's green with tan leather interior. This should be what it looks like.
I never imagined I would buy a Mercedes. But I recently undertook a search to find a car with some specific characteristics, and this car came up as the best match. I decided that I wanted to get a car that I can convert to run on vegetable oil. If you're not familiar with the concept, look at the Wikipedia, Greasel and Greasecar websites. All diesel engines can run on vegetable oil, with a tiny bit of modification. In fact, Rudolf Diesel intended for his engine to run on peanut oil. I plan to buy a conversion kit from Greasel.
Where does the vegetable oil come from? The primary source of vegetable oil used for fuel is the restaurant industry. Since they must pay to dispose of their waste oil, they are usually glad to have someone take it for free. The waste oil must be filtered before using it in a diesel engine, but the total cost for filters and fuel expenses generally runs about $.19 per gallon. Not bad, especially in a car that gets 40 mpg!
Mercedes diesels from the 1980s routinely last 500,000 miles or more. They are considered one of the most reliable engines ever built. There are fanatics out there who have more than a million miles on their Mercedes! The car I'm buying currently has 110,000 miles, all of them driven by a little old lady named Ann. She put 4,500 miles on the car . . . in the last 5 years! Now her kids have taken her license away, because of her age, so she has to sell her car. And I'm the lucky buyer. I could only have dreamed of getting a single-owner, senior-citizen-driven, low-mileage, Florida car! Since Mercedes cars are such a status icon, their owners usually take very good care of them. Ann and her 190D are no exception. (How can I possibly know this, you ask, since I haven't even seen a photo? Well, I had a mechanic from Punta Gorda do an inspection and give me a full report.)
Barring unforeseen disaster, I'll be puttering out of Punta Gorda sometime on Tuesday afternoon, headed for Kansas. I'll let you know how it goes.
posted by Jason A. Miller @ 4/28/2006 06:12:00 AM
3 Comments:
sounds like a fun adventure. we're currently running our '95 jetta into the ground. then we need a biodiesel vehicle (we have a biodiesel station nearby) with plenty of room for the dogs...we've been keeping our eyes out for vw tdi jetta wagons but they are few and far between. any other suggesstionss
From my recent observations (on eBay mostly), I would say that VW's are not the best choice right now, from a financial standpoint. A VW was also our first choice--we wanted a Golf TDI. But it seems that they are trendy right now, and their prices are inflated because of that. Moreover, their diesel engines are not as historically reliable as the Mercedes. A 1984 Jetta diesel with 160,000 miles sold on eBay last week for over $2000. 80s diesel Rabbits are selling for much more than one would expect, also. They can run to 250-300K, perhaps, but not to 500K like the Mercedes.
On the other hand, if you're looking at a new car, or one 5 years old, the Mercedes will of course cost more. They hold their value very well, especially the diesels. But I think it's because of their quality, not just brand.
Those are basically your only two diesel car options. There are a few Volvos around, a Peugeot or two, and now the Jeep Liberty. But none of them have a proven track record like VW and Mercedes. If you go to Canada you can find diesel Toyotas, which would be my first choice, but they can't be imported into the US.
My advice is to watch eBay and Cars.com for a while. Get an idea of the prices, and then find a California Jetta TDI with no rust, and go pick it up, or have it shipped.
Sorry for the long ramble. I just spent weeks going through the search process.
I knew that someone in our family would buy a car that they could change so that it would run off veggie oil.
Sarah
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