“Sausalito Summernight” is the title of a 1981 U.S. Top 40 hit by Nederpop band Diesel. It was fourth of four singles issued from the band’s 1980 debut album Watts in a Tank, the final three of which became chart hits. It was the greatest hit from the LP (U.S. #25).
The track became a #1 hit in Canada. It was also their only charting single there. The song was written in 1979 by Diesel members Mark Boon and Rob Vunderink at Boon’s parental home in the Hague: (Rob Vunderink quote:) “I came up with the riff, [Boon] added some chords, and then I came up with the melody”, the song’s tune being completed in roughly an hour’s time. The lyrics were written the following day by Boon who in 1962 at age 11 had moved to Los Angeles, California, and had lived in California until 1967, and had also sojourned in California prior to joining Diesel in 1978. Boon would later recall that he had spent time in Sausalito the summer before writing the song.
An ironic car ode, the lyrics of “Sausalito Summernight” focus on a couple driving a “Rambler” north from Los Angeles to San Francisco who take a break in Sausalito, four miles from San Francisco (and in fact to its north).
In other countries, the track is known as “Sausolito Summernight”, as a result of a misspelling on the Netherlands releases of the single and the album. This was corrected on the 1981 U.S. and Canadian releases.
Although eventually afforded classic hit status in the Netherlands, “Sausalito Summernight” was only a modest chart success in its original 1980 local release, but in 1981 it became a Top 40 hit in the U.S. and also reached #1 in Canada. Further international releases ensued but, apart from nicking the charts in a Netherlands re-release,with no further success.
“Sausalito Summernight” was oft-cited as a Steve Miller Band soundalike: for example: “‘Sausalito Summernight’ is a top-notch number with power, melody and snap that sounds like the seemingly defunct Steve Miller Band at more than its best”.[14] In fact “Sausalito Summernight” reached the U.S. Top 40 a week prior to the 23 October 1981 release of Circle of Love, the first non-compilation Steve Miller Band album in four years, with the Top 40 tenure of that album’s lead single, “Heart Like a Wheel”, overlapping with that of “Sausalito Summernight” for four weeks in November 1981.[15]
It was reported in December 1981 that “Sausalito Summernight” had sold 600,000 units worldwide.
Sources
https://www.discogs.com/release/1096283-Diesel-Sausalito-Summernight
History of Sorts 
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