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
Keith Car & Manufacturing Company Keith Car & Manufacturing Company The Keith Car & Manufacturing Company is a former railroad car manufacturing company that was located in the village of Sagamore in Bourne, Massachusetts. Operational between 1846 and 1928, the plant employed up to 1,400 people at a time. The company was founded in 1846 as Keith and Ryder and manufactured carriages, stage coaches, and prairie schooners. The company eventually switched over to manufacturing rail cars, in a plant that stretched about a mile long. In the early 1900s, the plant employed hundreds of Italian immigrants, many of whom lived in the area. Following the