The group, at first no more than a hobby project, initially consisted of Koopman (drums, keyboard and vocals) and Rob Vunderink (guitar/lead vocals, composer and lyricist), Mark Boon (guitar, composer and lyricist), and Frank Papendrecht (bass; 10 May 1953 – 18 November 2009).
[2][10] In the next few years the group had many new members, such as Leen Barbier (guitar/vocals), André Versluijs (bass), Jan Loomans (guitar/vocals), and Henk Hager (guitar/vocals), and released several more singles before disbanding in 1985.
[2] Diesel was reconstituted in 1988 and had a hit in the Netherlands with their single "Samantha", sung by Jeroen Englebert (not to be confused with the different song of the same title that the band featured on their 1982 Unleaded album).
Diesel reformed in 2000 with Koopman, Vunderink, Versluijs, Thomas Kroon (drums) and Otto Lenselink (guitar).
[13] In 2004, the original lineup of Boon, Koopman, Papendrecht and Vunderink performed at a charity event, which led to plans to reform the group on a permanent basis.