557,000 Miles

90-year-old Rachel Veitch of Orlando, Florida has been driving the same 1964 Mercury Comet Caliente since it was new. Now she has racked up 557,000 miles on the odometer -and it's still going great!
Unlike her three husbands, Veitch says, the Mercury has "never lied to me, never cheated on me, and I can always depend on her."

Veitch is on her seventh Midas muffler, and thank you, gentlemen, for the lifetime warranty. She's had three sets of Sears shock absorbers, also through a lifetime warranty. And though the number seems high, she claims to have had 16 free batteries, courtesy of J.C. Penney and Firestone.

"She's demonstrating the perfect way to take care of a car," says Mike Hardie, director of global quality and productivity for Ford Motor Co., and that's what makes her a menace.

"If everyone did that," he says, "we'd never sell another one, so don't spread it around too far."

If the engine ever goes out, Veitch may be in trouble, because they are no longer manufactured. Link -via the Presurfer

Amazingly, she's apparently driven it consistently. That adds up to an average of 12000 miles a year, which is a fairly decent number if she doesn't go on too many road trips.
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Re:>>“If everyone did that,” he says, “we’d never sell another one, so don’t spread it around too far.” <
Yeah there's no better way to keep information to yourself than to let it get posted on the Internet! :)
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I don't know.. the maintenance for that thing must be constant burden. There is always something to be fixed, adjusted or tuned in car this old.
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Thats really not a lot of miles for a 45 year old car. I admire her for driving it that long though.

My fam drove a 63' Ford Ranchero regularly for about ten years until '06 and it's still being driven by the person that bought it from us. The maintenance was never a burden. Plus old cars are simple enough that you can fix most things on your own. Living in Colorado I never had issues with snow. Just have to make sure you wash the salt & mag chloride off.
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That's great. I have a 97 Altima that's around 300k and running smoothly. It's gone through several long distance relationships though so I doubt it'll last to 500k. And there have been lots of maintenance updates..just always under enough money for it to be worth it.
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supafreake - I once had to dispose of a wheelchair accessible minibus. Poor old thing really was past it and didn't comply with reasonable safety standards. Turned out the best thing to do was give it to the local fire brigade who enjoyed themselves immensely. Being GRP they didn't want to burn it, but they invited several neighbouring teams over and spent a happy afternoon turning it over and rescuing "wheelchair users" from it. They were so pleased to have something different for a change - normally they only get cars.
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I'd rather read an article about someone who has kept her marriage for 40+ years. That would have been more impressive.

Maybe if she was that meticulous with the first?
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