56 Pontiac or Olds diesel?

[Modlbldr]

I was talking yesterday with an older friend of mine. He is in his 80's. He was telling me that in 56 he bought either a Pontiac or an Olds car with a diesel engine. He can't remember which it was but had  bought it new at a dealership and that it was experimental for the time. I asked him what model it was but he said that he can't remember for sure. He was certain it was GM. (not being  a car guy it doesn't seem important to him.) He said that he was warned at the time by the dealership that the engine would only last for about 50,000 miles and he said that was about all he got out of it before the motor went South on him in the desert in Arizona. After hearing this story I started to question whether my friend's mind is starting to slip. Lol.

I had never heard of a diesel in that early of a car so I did some searching on the innertube this morning. I can see articles of when Olds put a diesel in their passenger cars in the late 70's to early 80's, but nothing about anything earlier. 

Anybody have any info to corroborate his story? I'd love to know about it.

Later-

[MrObsessive]

That's the first I've heard of a Diesel offered by GM that early! The earliest massed produced Diesel by GM would have been in an Olds Delta 88 which was intro'd sometime in late '77 as a '78 model. Oldsmobile was once GM's "technology" leader. Whatever new feature was to be intro'd to the public Olds was the first or one of the first to have it.

It's very interesting that if indeed he bought an experimental car such as that and it still exists somewhere, you can imagine what that might be worth! It's also interesting that the dealer told him it wouldn't last any more than 50,000 miles!

That's about as long as those '70's and '80's GM Diesels lasted------ask anyone who owned one!

I do find it a bit suspect that GM would let a car like that go to the public without much legal wrangling. It's one of the reasons experimental cars are mostly scrapped.......they don't want the product liability issues in case of an accident.

[espo]

I agree with Bill on the timing. like Tom mentioned this guy was in his 80's and he could easily be off by a decade or so. I remember well when GM got the hair brained idea to make a Diesel out of a stock block Oldsmobile V8, what could possibly go wrong ?. Well if you know anything at all about these engines they were gutless, short lived, and very prone to head gasket failure. I was the used car manager at a Toyota dealership and was off one day and the general manager was going to show everyone how good he was at working a deal. He appraised the 100k mile 1/2 ton Chevy long bed pick-up trade giving it a bonus for being a diesel. At the time it was common knowledge that these things wouldn't bring half of wholesale in perfect condition when selling them too a retail customer. So he put a TON in this dog only to find out the next day that the engine as toast. BIG loss  in the Used Car Department that month and guess who got blamed.   

[Rob Hall]

Who knows, there were all sorts of weird low volume stuff in the past...there were Perkins diesel taxis built from Plymouths in the 50s, I've read. 

[Draggon]

Rob just beat me to it 

https://www.allpar.com/history/plymouth/1946-1959/diesels.html

Edited November 18, 2018 by Draggon

[MrObsessive]

Back in the early '80's (1981 IIRC), my Mom bought a brand new Eldorado with that Diesel engine. Because of the type of job she had back then (salesperson), she wanted something that was going to last and she had heard good things about how tough Diesels were. She bought the Caddy and if I can remember right, the car was something like 15-20K back in those days-----at least the one she had.

Well, about a year later she started having TREMENDOUS problems with that Diesel to the point that the car became undrivable. My Mom never to take no for an answer demanded that they replace the engine in it (they did) and she had no more trouble out of the regular gas engine.

I literally can't remember the last time I've seen a GM Diesel on the road. If any still exist, then it must be a very low mileage example as the owner hasn't found out yet what happens to them after so long!

[1972coronet]

I wonder if that 1956 model had a 3-71 Detroit in it ? Seems possible , albeit expensive .

[thatz4u]

I think the early 80's diesels were converted Olds engines, they were junk, & most people convert them by buying gas engines & installing them...another GM mark of Excellence....like when GM put Chevy engines in Caddys, Olds, Pontiac,..etc.

[lordairgtar]

47 minutes ago, MrObsessive said:

Back in the early '80's (1981 IIRC), my Mom bought a brand new Eldorado with that Diesel engine. Because of the type of job she had back then (salesperson), she wanted something that was going to last and she had heard good things about how tough Diesels were. She bought the Caddy and if I can remember right, the car was something like 15-20K back in those days-----at least the one she had.

Well, about a year later she started having TREMENDOUS problems with that Diesel to the point that the car became undrivable. My Mom never to take no for an answer demanded that they replace the engine in it (they did) and she had no more trouble out of the regular gas engine.

I literally can't remember the last time I've seen a GM Diesel on the road. If any still exist, then it must be a very low mileage example as the owner hasn't found out yet what happens to them after so long!

I had an 83 I think. Delta 88 four door sedan. Bought it for about $50. Someone boogered the dash and you had to start it like a batmobile...(atomic batteries to power, turbines to speed....) First flip a switch for the glow plug, then a another for the fuel pump. Then turn the key. Once started turn off glow plug switch. Damned thing had good power for a desiel and ran really well but alas, those were never a good cold weather car and I had no access to an outlet to plug in the engine block heater...apartment with car parked 20 feet away

 

[Modlbldr]

Well, given the responses here and from what I read on-line I think that my friend is mistaken insome of his details. Thanks everyone for your replies. If anyone comes up with any concrete evidence I would love to hear it. I'll see if he has any photos or paperwork to verify his story.

Later-