My latest acquisition, in China Blue:

The Mercedes-Benz 240D was introduced in 1973 in Europe (1974 in North America) as a new diesel-powered variant of the W115 chassis, outranking the 220D as Mercedes' most powerful diesel car. It had many available luxuries, such as heated seats, cruise control, leather seats, and a manual or power-operated sunroof. It was at the time the fastest diesel engine available, though its 4-cylinder, 2.4 liter engine only produced 65 hp (48 kW). Along with a 3300 lb (1,500 kg) weight, performance today is considered extremely poor. Acceleration was negligible, and top speeds hardly exceeded 160 km/h (~100 mph).

In 1976, production of the W115 chassis ended and the 240D became part of the W123 chassis family along with a more powerful version, the 80-hp Mercedes-Benz 300D. Later beefed up to 88-hp. For the 240D, engine power was also beefed up to 53 kW (72 hp), which however still made it a very slow car. The 240D was last imported to North America in 1983 by MBUSA while production continued until 1985, but many cars remain on the road today 20 years later, a testament to the quality and durability of the original design and robust mechanicals.

The Mercedes-Benz W123 cars were produced by the German manufacturer from 1976 to 1985.

The W123 models surpassed their predecessor, the W114/W115 "stroke-8" models, as the most successful Mercedes, selling over 2.5 million cars before being replaced by the W124 after 1985. Also in some cases a successor, the additional range of smaller Mercedes-Benz W201 models was introduced in 1982. The power plant, a OM616.912 was a 2.4 L (2404 cc) engine with power output of 65 hp (48 kW). In August 1978 the cylinder head shape changed. Also the precombustion chamber was updated. As a result, the engine capacity was lowered to (2399 cc), but power output rose to 72 hp (54 kW).

Both the W115 and the W123 versions of the 240D are still considered some of Mercedes-Benz's most reliable models due to their low-tech, easy-maintenance design, relatively thick metal sheets and sturdy, robust parts. The engine's low power output compared to its volume is another contributing factor in the car's exceptional lifespan.

The 240D is renowned for often traveling several hundred thousand kilometers or more in its life. The record holder, a W115 240D acknowledged by Daimler-Benz and on display in their Stuttgart museum, clocked 4.6 million kilometers between 1976 to 2004, mostly working as a taxi based in Thessaloniki. During this time the owner, Gregorios Sachinidis, was able to call upon the original engine and two spare units, deploying them on a rotational basis 11 times in total. Mercedes made badges available for their cars to mark each 250,000 kilometers the car had traveled. 240Ds are often seen in West Africa as taxis and bush taxis covering hundreds of kilometres daily. In some parts of northwestern Africa, notably Mauritania and Morocco, they make up over half the cars on the road.

also:

http://jpcallinan.blogspot.com/ - keep an eye on me, and see if I do anything interesting. This is my blog to help store my random thoughts and anything interesting I find. You know how it goes.

Portfolio - See some work I have done, and learn more about my capabilities - including web sites developed in ASP, JSP, PHP, Microsoft's .NET, and others. Then, if you want, contact me for more information. The portfolio uses Macromedia Flash, which I have used on many projects also. It's pretty fun to explore.

Resume - My current resume is available in several formats.

Publications & Software - Read some of what I have created for different subjects involving business in I. T., the Internet in general, issues in computing, and other topics. I've also included some applications that I have created that are available for free (as in Beer. The source for these have disappeared over time).

About Me - The obligatory 'About Me' section. You know it had to be here somewhere.

School - Read about the university (University of Pittsburgh at Bradford) I go to, and some of the unique opportunities I have had.

Old School - I keep everything, so you can find a lot of the things I worked on in the past here:

suburban - Many many years ago, I surfed the web for fun , and shared that fun with other people. suburban was my online magazine at the time.

The first jcallinan.com - This was when I was really into Flash, and includes the creation of the jcallinan.com caricature. There was a few more iterations of jcallinan.com after this, but nothing ground breaking. This one was the most fun. :)