Music to My Ears

I may have bitched and moaned quite a bit about the car business, but being around some spectacular machines over all those years did leave me with some fond memories as well.

One such fond memory is that of starting up a row of 5 or 6 new 993's on a Saturday morning.  Standing behind those cars and not only hearing them, but feeling the ground rumble beneath my feet was magnificent.  A symphony of flat-sixes, as it was.

These days, I still love the sound of an air-cooled 911, but since then, there have been a number of noises that have stuck with me as well.  The rumble of a Morgan Aero 8 with side pipes stands out in particular, that BMW V8 under the bonnet growling and popping only inches it seems from your ears.

But lately, I've come to recognize one certain engine / exhaust note with which I have become particularly enamored.  It comes not from an exotic sports car, but from, of all things, a Ford.  And not the Ford you might be thinking.  How does a F250 or F350 with the new 6.8L Powerstroke diesel grab you?  It grabs me.  That slightly hollow, metallic sound that it generates is unique, even among the other diesel trucks on the road, and the power delivery is fantastic.  While not exactly practical or necessary, I do want one of these in my dream garage.

So what is it about that diesel clatter?  There is definitely a sense of something powerful that must be generating that noise, which I'm sure we associate with even larger trucks and industrial machinery.  But the Powerstroke in particular seems to be approaching the tonal qualities we associate with more traditional V8's.  This departure from the loud, rattling diesel of the past comes as no surprise to me, given the engineering advances applied to modern diesels.  Mercedes Benz is back in the diesel game in the US after a long absence, and BMW is joining the party with diesel variants of the X5 and 3-Series.  Both companies have serious engineering backgrounds and sell luxury vehicles with a target market that won't stand for a diesel unless they can't tell that it's a diesel!

I am excited about the new diesel revolution, and look forward to parking one in my garage soon.  To hell with the current hybrids and electrics.  Give me a clean burning, efficient diesel in a well-engineered package and I'm all over it.