History of the diesel car Production diesel car history started in 1933 with Citroën's Rosalie, which featured a diesel engine option (the 1,766 cc 11UD engine) in the Familiale (estate or station wagon) model. The Mercedes-Benz 260D and the Hanomag Rekord were introduced in 1936. Immediately after World War II, and throughout the 1950s and 1960s, diesel-powered cars began to gain limited popularity, particularly for commercial applications, such as ambulances, taxis, and station wagons used for delivery work. Most were conventional in design. Mercedes-Benz offered a continuous stream of diesel-powered taxis, beginning in 1949 with their 170D powered by the OM-636 engine. Later, in 1959
Laconia Car Company ten cars was completed for the Boston Elevated Railway in 1923. Production shifted to plywood motorboats before the company closed in 1928. 4. http://www.midcontinent.org/rollingstock/builders/laconia.htm Laconia Car Company Laconia Car Company manufactured railway cars in Laconia, New Hampshire from 1848 to 1928. Ranlet Manufacturing Company began building horse-drawn wagons, carriages and stagecoaches in 1844. The company was identified as Ranlet Car Company to emphasize focus on manufacturing railway cars after railways reached Laconia in 1848. By 1869 the company employed one hundred men and was producing three hundred freight cars per year. In 1870 the company began producing railway passenger cars