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
Budd Rail Diesel Car Diesel engines and, just as importantly, the hydraulic torque converter. Budd, which by then had produced more than 2,500 streamlined cars for various railroads, took a standard coach design and added a pair of 6-cylinder Detroit Diesel Series 110 engines. Each drove an axle through a hydraulic torque converter derived from the M46 Patton tank, for a 1A-A1 wheel arrangement. The top speed for the design was . The control systems allowed the cars to operate singly, or in multiple. The result was the RDC-1, which made its public debut at Chicago's Union Station on September 19, 1949. Budd manufactured