Never got more than 38 and didn’t say any such thing in the owners manual is 1980 model. There may be an injector problem in one cylinder since it eats a glow plug every so often, but it only smokes hard when I step down on it (specifically when there are joggers and bicyclists to enjoy the smoke)
well they did always smoke, and if you got an injector problem that would definately affect MPG.
And I am with you, is fun to watch folks react to an old smoking diesel.