Was the Allison available based on a Chevette donor? One of the engines available in the Chevette was an infamously bad diesel. This may be that diesel and that would explain the 25mpg.
I was under the impression that all Allison front engined cars were based on a Nissian. I’ve never heard of a diesel version till now. It’s a really nice car but that’s a nice, I mean high , starting point too.
I drove a Chevette with a diesel SLOW it had over 100K on it they were Mitsubishi and or isuzu powered and were sold world wide by GM. Dan R2013-04-16 21:29:36
Can’t imagine why anyone would build it diesel. Maybe a TDI VW or Mercedes… but a Chevette? An ’80s US diesel car? Everyone knew those were junk even back in the day. They were junk compared even to the incredibly junky junk that normal gas powered cars were then!
My information is that all Allisons were built and sold as completed cars. Perhaps this one was built to fill someones specific request. As to why ,we may never know.