As Michael Jackson fires up the engine of his 1985 turbo diesel Mercedes he jokes: ‘Can you smell that fried chicken?’
Local mechanical engineer and owner of Auto Craft is the proud owner of this 1985 turbo diesel Mercedes, modified to run on used vegetable oil. Photos: Joanna Lewis |
In fact, there is a slight whiff of fried food.
The reason?
His Mercedes has been modified to run on used vegetable oil, kindly donated by local restaurants.
This is definitely no ordinary car.
Running on vegetable oil has one obvious benefit. It costs nothing for Michael, owner of Auto Craft, to fill up the car’s thirsty 12-gallon tank. But, rather surprisingly, saving some coffers wasn’t Michael’s main motivation for the novel switch.
Vegetable oil is far more eco-friendly than burning diesel. Firstly, Michael explained, the oil is being recycled – it would otherwise be dumped – and secondly it’s cleaner burning than diesel, meaning less pollution chocking the Earth’s precious atmosphere.
‘I have always been interested in alternative power,’ he said, adding that it also gives excellent performance, faster acceleration and added power.
‘I’ve never had a problem with this car. It runs like a dream.’
Before the vegetable oil can be used, it is first refined in a machine Michael built and then blended with a chemical. The car is then filled up via his own pump.
‘It’s not a complex process; but I don’t want to give away any of my trade secrets,’ Michael, an environmentalist at heart, said.
The initial outlay to modify the car was about $2,5000 – easily worth it if you take into account the escalating cost of gas. The car, which has been beautifully restored by Michael, took about three months to convert, working on and off.
Although he doesn’t know of anyone else in Cayman running their car on vegetable oil, Michael said he feels like he’s doing his part for the environment.
‘I can make a difference. Everyone can.’
A mechanical engineer for the past 40 years, and now semi-retired, Michael said everyone needs to do their part to save the environment.
‘It’s crazy. There’s so much stuff that can be recycled and re-used, but it all just gets dumped here. Government should be encouraging people to find alternative means of power.’
But creating a greener car is just the tip of the iceberg for this eco-friendly engineer who now dedicates his time to restoring vintage cars. Michael is in the process of building a windmill, which will power a pump to water his vegetable garden, with numerous other alternative-energy projects in the offing.
Asked what people’s reactions to his vegetable-oil guzzling car are, he said: ‘People love it. They are simply amazed.’
Does he miss the gas station?
‘Definitely not,’ he quipped.
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