1983 Mercedes-Benz 300D

Here's a 1983-vintage W123 300D still out there racking up miles as a daily driver.

Boasting 87 bhp and a monster 127 lb/ft of stump-pulling torque in their original normally-aspirated form, the later 3.0L Benz inline five-cylinder diesels for the North American market all got turbos for '82, bumping horsepower and torque to 123hp and 181 lb/ft. They'll do 0-60 in the mid teens and top a hundred mph by a few MPH on a slight downhill with a tailwind, but they're harder to kill than a cockroach.

My dad's boss had a 240D of similar vintage, and I once had to drive it to a local service station to get a leaky tire plugged. Now, the 240D had a truly feeble 2.4L normally aspirated diesel putting out only 67 horsepower. They were painfully slow.

Anyway, I realized I was in the wrong lane at a red light and, needing to beat the panel truck next to me across the intersection, started brake-torquing it when I saw the crossing light turn yellow.

The light turned green and I side-stepped the brake pedal with the little diesel clattering away for all it was worth. The panel truck still beat me across the intersection (I'm not a hundred percent sure the driver knew it was a race) and quickly pulled enough of a lead that I got a good look at the trailer full of lawn mowers and the crowd of bemused Mexican dudes peering out of the open back of the truck.

I was so embarrassed by this humiliating defeat that I forgot to bring the receipt for the eight-buck tire repair back with me and got in trouble.