Diesel Swaps into 50s/60s Classics

[lacolocho]

Hey all, new to the forum.

I'm considering swapping diesel engines into 50s or 60s American cars and was referred to a post on this forum by someone over at the Benzworld.org forums, particularly to the V8 6.5L diesel Corvette thread.

My dream car is a diesel '66 or '67 Mercury Comet, but I'm also considering the profit potential of converting these classics and selling them.

I was originally considering swapping a Mercedes OM617 3.0L turbo engine and transmission, but was told that the 6.2 and 6.5L Detroit diesels might be direct bolt-ons to the older GM transmissions. Since they're V8's they also would fit better into the engine bay. The mpg's reported on the vette are also much higher than I expected.

What do people think of doing such a swap?