There can be little question that the infamous 2 cc Deezil from New York must surely rank as one of the all-time worst model diesels ever to be foisted on an unsuspecting public! That said, there is strong evidence in the form of a number of surviving examples to confirm that the early examples which were manufactured in 1947 by a maker whose identity is now lost in the mists of time were actually perfectly sound engines. It was only after the Gotham Hobby organization took over in early 1948 that the engine was trashed down to a ridiculously low price. Very few of the resulting engines would run, and those that did only lasted for a few minutes at most!  

That said, tests on reconditioned original examples (like that shown running in one of the images) have clearly demonstrated that there was nothing at all wrong with the basic design - it was unbelievably poor execution that let the engine down. The main image at the left shows an early example with a one-piece crankshaft and a tank. This example runs very well. For full details of the Deezil story, see my article which appears elsewhere on this web-site. That story is far more interesting than you might guess!