On my way to Elmira.... Zemkowski's 500k car! - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

#1 09-09-2002, 11:04 AM

Well, going up to see my girlfriend in Elmira, NY I came across a friend's old car on 80 WEST. Not just any friend, John Zemkowski, of which a lot of you know as "turbodiesel." About a year ago, John bought a 1985 300DT with an astounding milage of almost 500,000 miles. He has since sold it as most of you know, but just for the record, the car is indeed alive and well, albeit missing most of its left front fender to rust. I am sure, the car is at 500k by now, driven by an older lady at a liesurely 65 mph. The car, painted a then rare metallic black (almost like the Obsidian Black today) has a rather even rarer rear badge delete option. However, perhaps the oddest thing is, the night before John and I were commenting on AIM about the 300DT with almost 500k. Speak of the Devil, the Devil appears...

The Warden · #2 09-09-2002, 12:17 PM

Wow...talk about coincidence!

Reminds me of a few years back...me and my dad were lamenting about this old '76 GMC K-20 4x4 he had had but was forced to sell (got horrible mileage {roughly 5 mpg on a good day!} and wreaked havoc with his kidneys). He had assumed that whoever had bought the beast was using it to bring illegals over the border

A few days later, we were driving somewhere and on our way back, I happened to see it on an onramp to the freeway. My dad still doesn't believe that I saw his old truck, but it was a bit of a one-of-a-kind...

#3 09-09-2002, 01:48 PM

Wow, I didn't think it would survive much longer to the person I sold it to. I sold it to some guy in Manhattan, who knew nothing about cars.

#4 09-09-2002, 02:29 PM

Well, a middle aged lady was driving her quite with dignity up towards the Poconos. I have a feeling he sold the car once it gave him some issues and this lady somehow got it. Man, this was your car, unbelievable.

#5 09-10-2002, 12:50 AM

I had the same thing happen with my old Audi station wagon. It broke a few years back while on vacation along the Oregon Coast, and sold it to a used car lot there. I went on vacation a few months back, and a few days before I left, I was saying how I sort of missed the car. While I was on the trip, I thought I saw it, or a car another car that looked just like it, with a big dent in the same location on the door. It would be a big surprise if that thing is still on the road. It had over 200,000 miles on it when it broke down, and that was 5 years ago.

Palangi · #6 09-10-2002, 07:26 PM

There was a story in the Dallas paper a few years back. Some guys car got stolen. Reported it to police, insurance payed it off, went on with his life. Then a couple years later he got into a cab in Mexico City. It was his old car!