Can You Believe it? A Freakin Ford!
 

Man goes 1.3 Million Miles

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2008/08/12/wooldridge.million.mile.car.ksnt

And thats breaking news??

I half-listened to the video earlier in the day. If I heard correctly he has rebuilt the engine at least once. You can make any car last if you throw enough parts at it.

Yeah, but he rebuilt the engine.

This guy didn't have to rebuild his engine and broke 1 million miles on a Chevy truck:
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/off-topic-discussion/213541-1-milliion-mile-pickup-truck.html?highlight=million+mile+truck

EDIT: I see DieselAddict pointed out the rebuild already while I was searching for the Chevy thread.:D

Seeing that hood propped up by a 2x4 brings back memories of my dad's old 85 Town Car. That thing would have to have its hood propped up by an old child's crutch. Meanwhile, the SD would go into full vertical mode and stay there.

I had an '86 Town Car. I must have gotten rid of it too soon, since mine only had 156,000 miles when I sold it. I can tell that the springs have sagged on the old fellow's. And the 2x4 hood prop was fixed on mine for about 40 bucks worth of parts. Still, that is pretty impressive. I wonder how many times the engine and transmission had to be rebuilt. The conventional wisdom on those cars is that the AOD transmission is on borrowed time after about 130-150k, but the engines are good for 2-300k with proper care.

The "engine and transmission have both been fully rebuilt one time" according to the video.....and he has "used the lifetime warranty to the fullest" on the other parts. :D ;)

Who would want to drive one of those 1.3 million miles. :eek: not me...yuck.

He was also semi-cheating....as the vast majority of the miles were freeway cruising at slow speeds (he said like 55-65). A big V8 SHOULD last that long driven that way....its doing like no work in that situation. I bet any MB V8 would go a million+ under those conditions.

My second viewing of the video confirms that the engine and transmission have been rebuilt, but they didn't specify how many times.

I seem to recall a 200- or 220D used as a taxi in Greece that made it to 2 million+ miles, but with something like 11 engine rebuilds in the process. On a related note, I saw a DC-3 for sale on ebay with 50,000+ hours on the airframe, and engines that required a rebuild every 1700 hours or so.

I caught the TV spot earlier today. The guy claims to have bought parts with lifetime warranties and took full advantage of it.

He's a fellow Kansan, by the way.


http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2008/08/12/wooldridge.million.mile.car.ksnt

I think any engine besides a few could do that. My van ran perfectly and had just 225,000 on it. It barely used a quart of oil in 10,000 miles. I had a personal goal to do at least 300,000 in it, but the transmission went out and I just don't have the money for an 18 year old and 22 year old fleet, so I chose the Mercedes.

Hell, I'm impressed that he drove 1.3MM miles. At my rate it'd take me 87 years to do so. :)

Even with a couple rebuilds that's not too shabby for a gasser. Those Town Cars/Crown Vic's/Grand Marquis' can certainly rack up the miles. I doubt any of these "million miles" cars have done so without getting something rebuilt.

I can't think of any car that I wouldn't get bored with at some point and keep that long. Maybe I can cheat and buy a car with 400-500K on the clock, then I could reach a million by the time I was in my mid-80's.:D

If it was a Model T I might believe it.

You can do with any car if you throw enough money at it.