There was a driver at out terminal who would buy Volkswagen diesels with over 100K miles for giveaway prices & drive them for years. He had a Rabbit, Jetta & even a pickup. They got in the 50 MPG range. For a while others made fun of his 'Junkers' but when fuel got up to $4 a gallon several asked him if he knew where they could find one. They had been driving new duallies to work, making payments & getting in the 10-12 MPG range.
Two of my frieds in the shop bought old Mercedes diesels & ran them on vegetable oil they got free at at restaurants. The restaurants had been paying for disposal of used cooking oil & were glad to give it away. All they had to do to the oil was to strain it. Yes, the exhaust smelled like french fries.
