OM-324

Background

OM 324: The Original Bandy Engine

Plenty of 4x4 drivers around the world enthusiastically describe their rides as “tractors”", but the small handful of folks in Brazil who own an original 1st generation Bandy can say it literally.

Beginning in 1962, the first Bandeirantes were produced and featured the Mercedes-Bens OM-324, a 3.4L 4-cylinder diesel tractor engine with 78hp & 193 lbf·ft that established the Bandy as a one-of-a-kind vehicle: a passenger vehicle with a diesel tractor engine.

The OM-324 was the first of three successive Mercedes 300-series engines that would feature in the Bandeirante during its 42-year production, and it was the crudest, with glow plugs, carburetors, and a prechamber (for indirect injection) making for a spirited, yet relatively inefficient unit compared with its successors. Rugged, torquey, and famously unrefined (its loud vibrations earned it the nickname of “The Jackhammer”), the OM-324 is unique among Bandy engines in that it appears to have been built exclusively for the Bandeirante application, never featuring in another Mercedes or Toyota vehicle.

As Toyota expanded its new “OJ” series (“O” for the new “OM” engine; “J” for “jeep”) to include a station wagon & several pick-up variations, “The Blowtorch” (“O Maçarico”; another apt nickname for the OM-324) continued front & center. While it lacked the efficiency & reliability of the F and its successors (making it a relatively poor choice for modern applications), it is still sought by collectors & early model owners looking to restore their pre-1973 Bandies today.