Well, now that I've told you about airplane reliability, let me tell you about m 1975 Mercedes diesel. A 300 non-turbo. The engine is terrific, but the electrics are biting me in the *** every time I turn around. With 240,000 miles, it really runs strong. Accelerates great because it is in a 240 body, thus about 600lbs lighter than the 300D's you normally see. Or we normally see here on California roads.

It is on its 6th starter motor. Bad ignition switch. Instrument cluster wiring shorted out. Window lifters all going bad. Heat valve bad. Radiator core about to disintegrate.

Soooo, looks like I take it to the fancie-smanshie Euro junk yard as soon as my truck is on the road. A marvelous piece of engineering. But the Germans have a love of rubber in building cars. And the smog just tears that stuff up.

I'll post the outcome of my '88 rear-end rebuild here on F150 online.

Gary Curtis