Gimp My Ride

Below you will find a photograph of my “new” car.

It’s new to me, but’s it’s actually 33 years old. My new car is a 1973 Mercedes-Benz 220D.

Once it’s had a check-up and some minor repairs, I’m going to power the car with biodiesel.

“What is biodiesel?” you (didn’t) ask.

Biodiesel is the name of a clean burning alternative fuel, that can be produced from domestic, renewable resources such as vegetable oils and animal fats. Biodiesel contains no petroleum, but it can be blended at any level with petroleum diesel to create a biodiesel blend. It can be used in compression-ignition (diesel) engines with little or no modifications. Biodiesel is simple to use, biodegradable, nontoxic, and essentially free of sulfur and aromatics.

In other words, this will run primarily on fuel that does not profit the petrothugs in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Venezuela and, er, Norway.

My new motto: My car ruins the planet and supports terrorists slightly less than your car!

I think that’ll make a fine bumper sticker, don’t you?


A big thank you to my friend Michael Wall for pointing me in the direction biodiesel.