2011-08-22 22:52:57.624343+00 by Dan Lyke 4 comments
An example of the low rate of turnover in transportation: Alan Swift was given a new 1928 Phantom I, S273 FP Rolls Royce when he graduated from college, he drove it until he died in 2005.
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comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):
#Comment Re: made: 2011-08-23 13:55:32.531725+00 by: meuon
We own a 2003 F150, a 2005 Subaru and a 2008 Mini. I intend to keep the truck and Mini as long as I can...maybe 10+ more years? the Subaru is due to be replaced next as I'd like to keep one car new enough to be capable of long road trips in some semblance of reliability, comfort and style. Nancy wants it to be "colorful", maybe even pink.
I drove a 1953 F100 for 7 years, wish I still had it sometimes.
#Comment Re: made: 2011-08-23 14:27:50.548525+00 by: Larry Burton
I own a 1995 Chevrolet Silverado with 244,000 miles on it. My wife has the new car, a 2000 Chrysler Sebring with only 170,000 miles on it. Needless to say we rarely trade in cars due to the fact that there is nothing left to trade in when we buy the next one. I've never owned a brand new car.
#Comment Re: made: 2011-08-23 14:32:30.064045+00 by: petronius
My 2004 Impala would last 75 years if I had a manservant to clean it off with a camelhair toothbrush after every trip to the croquet club.
Actually I understand Rolls themselves own the original Silver Ghost of 1908, widely considered the most valuable motorcar on earth. You can see in the the mid-60s movie "Those Magnificent Men in their Flying machines". In its heydey it was driven from London to Glasgow more than a dozen times to prove its reliability.
#Comment Re: made: 2011-08-23 16:11:12.956279+00 by: ebradway
This will make Dan happy... My wife drove our 1998 Ford Ranger off the lot with 7 miles on the odometer in March 1998. It's parked in front of our house with just about 203,000 miles on it, 13+ years later. The original engine is still as strong as ever (not that the 2.5l I4 was that strong to begin with). The transmission will need a rebuild sometime soon.
It only left us stranded once when the timing belt broke at 180K miles. My wife claimed that it was changed during regular service. I looked back through the records to find that it never was changed.
FYI: The 2.5l I4 engine is listed as an interference engine in most manuals (but Wikipedia is correct). This is incorrect. Losing a timing belt will not destroy the engine. I've proven this empirically.