OM65

Daimler-Benz listed the OM 65 from 1932, built at Gaggenau: a four-cylinder pre-chamber diesel of 4,940 cc from 110 × 130 mm, 65 PS at 2,000 rpm on 17:1 compression, Bosch injection, and some 490 kg of dry weight. It belonged to a deliberate policy. At the bottom of the slump Daimler-Benz offered a diesel across its light and medium lorries as a matter of course, and cheap fuel turned commercial-vehicle sales around from 1932. From 1935 the OM 65 was the oil-burning alternative to the M 66 petrol four in the Lo 2600.

The 1936 reorganization of the range brought the OM 65/3 at 70 PS to the L 2600 and O 2600, and an export chassis, the Lex 2500, for countries with bad roads. Last came the OM 65/4: a narrower 105 mm bore and a longer 140 mm stroke for 4,849 cc, 20:1 compression, about 75 PS at 2,250 rpm and 40 kg less to carry. That was the engine of the L 3000, the three-tonne lorry built from 1938 to 1944 — 33,265 of them, reckoned better than the Opel Blitz on rough ground and worked hard on every front.