1000000 MILES ON A CHEVY!
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I wonder what the driver's seat looks like? 1M miles is not too amazing,considering highway driving. I woulda thought you would do better than 200k on the trans and what is up with the gas tanks?
No disrespect, but a businessman who covers that many miles wouldn't allow an oil change every 4 days.
When mitsubishi extended the OCI on their utilities from 10,000km to 15,000km, many companies switched vehicle immediately due to less downtime.
When mitsubishi extended the OCI on their utilities from 10,000km to 15,000km, many companies switched vehicle immediately due to less downtime.
Originally Posted By: Camu Mahubah
This is the truck I thought you guys were talking about...
http://www.pennzoil-quakerstate.com/indx_pqs/about/products/pr2002-02-07.htm
This was a different truck. Believed it was used for delivering newspapers or something. Frank's truck was used in the harsh winters of WI. The old truck does have some rust on it.
This is the truck I thought you guys were talking about...
http://www.pennzoil-quakerstate.com/indx_pqs/about/products/pr2002-02-07.htm
This was a different truck. Believed it was used for delivering newspapers or something. Frank's truck was used in the harsh winters of WI. The old truck does have some rust on it.
Originally Posted By: andyd
I wonder what the driver's seat looks like? 1M miles is not too amazing,considering highway driving. I woulda thought you would do better than 200k on the trans and what is up with the gas tanks?
Driver's seat has been re-padded and re-covered at least four times that I know of.
I wonder what the driver's seat looks like? 1M miles is not too amazing,considering highway driving. I woulda thought you would do better than 200k on the trans and what is up with the gas tanks?
Driver's seat has been re-padded and re-covered at least four times that I know of.
Thanks for the information Johnny. Nothing like getting some insider info! 
All I can say is WOW. Pictures of that car would definitely be interesting.
Now, wheres all the people talking about how Pennzoil waxes up an engine?
All I can say is WOW. Pictures of that car would definitely be interesting.
Now, wheres all the people talking about how Pennzoil waxes up an engine?
Might be the wax that held it together.
I'm a little over 600k miles but it's taken 40 years. I have kept my Datsun 510 wagon because I like it. EKPolk has the right idea. There has been not only too much repair work but the down time just may be the larger expense.
My main expenses have been in the spirit of development and tinkering. I'm still on my original radiator but I use a coolant filter with distilled water and zink chromate with an anode that I keep shiny. I also use a product called Kool-it distributed by LubeGuard. We use this stuff in racing engines and some classic car engines. It has a feature that I like. When it's time to add more it changes color. The only repairs I've done to the radiator is to re solder the top and bottom tanks. I was going to 'rod-it-out' but found nothing in the tubes that could not be handled with a pipe cleaner type brush. Zinc chromate in the coolant is the best but the EPA has determined that you can't use it as a repair shop. You have to do it yourself, but it really works.
My main expenses have been in the spirit of development and tinkering. I'm still on my original radiator but I use a coolant filter with distilled water and zink chromate with an anode that I keep shiny. I also use a product called Kool-it distributed by LubeGuard. We use this stuff in racing engines and some classic car engines. It has a feature that I like. When it's time to add more it changes color. The only repairs I've done to the radiator is to re solder the top and bottom tanks. I was going to 'rod-it-out' but found nothing in the tubes that could not be handled with a pipe cleaner type brush. Zinc chromate in the coolant is the best but the EPA has determined that you can't use it as a repair shop. You have to do it yourself, but it really works.
Originally Posted By: brianl703
Originally Posted By: Black Bart
I don't know about where he lives but in Indiana the plates for a new vehicle will cost far more than what it would cost for maintenance
In Virginia we have the personal property tax where you pay a yearly tax based on the blue-book value of your vehicle. This can be $400 a year or more on a new vehicle. An older vehicle may only be $50 a year.
Same here. Another reason I like driving a beater. Registration is 3 bucks and the ad valorem tax is 21 bucks, where as on new vehicles, it can be upwards of $500.
Originally Posted By: Black Bart
I don't know about where he lives but in Indiana the plates for a new vehicle will cost far more than what it would cost for maintenance
In Virginia we have the personal property tax where you pay a yearly tax based on the blue-book value of your vehicle. This can be $400 a year or more on a new vehicle. An older vehicle may only be $50 a year.
Same here. Another reason I like driving a beater. Registration is 3 bucks and the ad valorem tax is 21 bucks, where as on new vehicles, it can be upwards of $500.
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TWO VEHICLES WITH A MILLION MILES AND THEY BOTH HAVE SOMETHING IN COMMON
BOTH ARE CHEVROLET'S AND BOTH USED PENNZOIL
BOTH ARE CHEVROLET'S AND BOTH USED PENNZOIL
Triple_Se7en
$50 Site Donor 2024
Originally Posted By: Johnny
Originally Posted By: Camu Mahubah
This is the truck I thought you guys were talking about...
http://www.pennzoil-quakerstate.com/indx_pqs/about/products/pr2002-02-07.htm
This was a different truck. Believed it was used for delivering newspapers or something. Frank's truck was used in the harsh winters of WI. The old truck does have some rust on it.
What truck? Every time I click on the link, all I see is text.
Originally Posted By: Camu Mahubah
This is the truck I thought you guys were talking about...
http://www.pennzoil-quakerstate.com/indx_pqs/about/products/pr2002-02-07.htm
This was a different truck. Believed it was used for delivering newspapers or something. Frank's truck was used in the harsh winters of WI. The old truck does have some rust on it.
What truck? Every time I click on the link, all I see is text.
Originally Posted By: brianl703
Originally Posted By: Black Bart
I don't know about where he lives but in Indiana the plates for a new vehicle will cost far more than what it would cost for maintenance
In Virginia we have the personal property tax where you pay a yearly tax based on the blue-book value of your vehicle. This can be $400 a year or more on a new vehicle. An older vehicle may only be $50 a year.
Yup, same thing here in Mass. I ended up paying $700 for a new luxury car.
Originally Posted By: Black Bart
I don't know about where he lives but in Indiana the plates for a new vehicle will cost far more than what it would cost for maintenance
In Virginia we have the personal property tax where you pay a yearly tax based on the blue-book value of your vehicle. This can be $400 a year or more on a new vehicle. An older vehicle may only be $50 a year.
Yup, same thing here in Mass. I ended up paying $700 for a new luxury car.
Have not heard the details on what GM is going to do. I think they are considering it. I heard that Shell was going to give him free oil changes for the life of his next truck, but I have not confirmed that.
Originally Posted By: ekpolk
Quote:
The truck has had four radiators, three gas tanks, five transmissions and six water pumps, but the engine has never been overhauled, Oresnik said.
This is an interesting story, but it sort of makes you wonder about the economics involved. While it's impressive to see that you can make a vehicle go that long, given the actual value of a vehicle of this age and miles, and the cited repairs, I'd expect it would have made more sense to buy another used truck long, long ago.
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Originally Posted By: Schmoe
Let's see....that's 7083.3 miles per month, that's 1771 miles per week, so he changed his oil every 12 days? You think he'd benefit from extended OCI's????
Yeah, that makes me a little suspicious. Going in for and getting an oil change this often would seem to be something that would get mentioned in such a story. Yet it is not. Makes me think that this might not be what it really seems. . .
The guy mentioned fourteen major repairs over the course of 16 to 17 years. Assuming 1 repair a year at a cost of $4000 a repair with maintenance costs being ~$1000 a year, the total cost of repairs and maintenance is $10,000 every two years year. Assuming that he replaced his truck when it had 180,000 miles on it, he would replace it approximately every two years. The cost of a new pick-up truck is roughly $16,000. Since that many people finance their expenditures with money from loans and there are more than taxes involved with buying a new vehicle that will dramatically increase the amount of interest the lender will receive, let us add an additional 30% to take that into account, which brings the cost of a new vehicle to ~$20,000, which is roughly twice the cost of maintaining and repairing the old vehicle.
If I drove a pick-up truck and I drove it as much he does, I would prefer to spend ~$10,000 every two years on repairs and maintenance than ~$20,000 every two years on new trucks. I would also prefer to spend a few hundred dollars every two years on mechanical breakdown insurance than $8000 on repairs, which when taken into account, brings the cost of repairing and maintaining an old vehicle to ~$2,500 every two years versus ~$20,000 every two years for a new vehicle. That makes buying a new vehicle every two years approximately 8 times more expensive than keeping an old vehicle.
When you consider the economics involved, keeping an old vehicle makes far more sense than buying a new vehicle. I realize that this is only an approximation based on a few educated guesses, but I doubt that statistically accurate numbers adjusted for inflation would change the conclusion significantly.
Originally Posted By: ekpolk
Originally Posted By: berge
what's the point of this?
if you throw enough money at it, anything will go to a million miles.
Which sort of suggests what I suggested above -- is it really worth it? When I was still flying in the Marines, we had jets that had been reworked many times over since they were first built in the early 70s. We had a few that were literally brand new. Other than how beat up some of the hardware in the cockpit looked, you couldn't tell how old one jet was (well, the Bureau numbers on the tails are a big clue too...). Point: these aircraft are each worth well over $70 million a copy, and they're not building any more of them, so it's clearly worth flying them almost forever. Not so with cars and trucks. When a car or truck is old enough to need a third transmission, it's time to get out the pencil and calculator and decide whether scrapping the thing is the better option.
I had no clue that you are a veteran. Thankyou for your service.
Quote:
The truck has had four radiators, three gas tanks, five transmissions and six water pumps, but the engine has never been overhauled, Oresnik said.
This is an interesting story, but it sort of makes you wonder about the economics involved. While it's impressive to see that you can make a vehicle go that long, given the actual value of a vehicle of this age and miles, and the cited repairs, I'd expect it would have made more sense to buy another used truck long, long ago.
=======================================================
Originally Posted By: Schmoe
Let's see....that's 7083.3 miles per month, that's 1771 miles per week, so he changed his oil every 12 days? You think he'd benefit from extended OCI's????
Yeah, that makes me a little suspicious. Going in for and getting an oil change this often would seem to be something that would get mentioned in such a story. Yet it is not. Makes me think that this might not be what it really seems. . .
The guy mentioned fourteen major repairs over the course of 16 to 17 years. Assuming 1 repair a year at a cost of $4000 a repair with maintenance costs being ~$1000 a year, the total cost of repairs and maintenance is $10,000 every two years year. Assuming that he replaced his truck when it had 180,000 miles on it, he would replace it approximately every two years. The cost of a new pick-up truck is roughly $16,000. Since that many people finance their expenditures with money from loans and there are more than taxes involved with buying a new vehicle that will dramatically increase the amount of interest the lender will receive, let us add an additional 30% to take that into account, which brings the cost of a new vehicle to ~$20,000, which is roughly twice the cost of maintaining and repairing the old vehicle.
If I drove a pick-up truck and I drove it as much he does, I would prefer to spend ~$10,000 every two years on repairs and maintenance than ~$20,000 every two years on new trucks. I would also prefer to spend a few hundred dollars every two years on mechanical breakdown insurance than $8000 on repairs, which when taken into account, brings the cost of repairing and maintaining an old vehicle to ~$2,500 every two years versus ~$20,000 every two years for a new vehicle. That makes buying a new vehicle every two years approximately 8 times more expensive than keeping an old vehicle.
When you consider the economics involved, keeping an old vehicle makes far more sense than buying a new vehicle. I realize that this is only an approximation based on a few educated guesses, but I doubt that statistically accurate numbers adjusted for inflation would change the conclusion significantly.
Originally Posted By: ekpolk
Originally Posted By: berge
what's the point of this?
if you throw enough money at it, anything will go to a million miles.
Which sort of suggests what I suggested above -- is it really worth it? When I was still flying in the Marines, we had jets that had been reworked many times over since they were first built in the early 70s. We had a few that were literally brand new. Other than how beat up some of the hardware in the cockpit looked, you couldn't tell how old one jet was (well, the Bureau numbers on the tails are a big clue too...). Point: these aircraft are each worth well over $70 million a copy, and they're not building any more of them, so it's clearly worth flying them almost forever. Not so with cars and trucks. When a car or truck is old enough to need a third transmission, it's time to get out the pencil and calculator and decide whether scrapping the thing is the better option.
I had no clue that you are a veteran. Thankyou for your service.
No problem, my pleasure. I'm finishing the twilight of my career back in the drilling reserves (demobilized from four years active duty last summer). By the time I drop my papers, it will have been over 28 years. Can hardly believe it.
Back to the topic -- I don't really disagree, except that this would seem to me to be one of those situations where it's hard to generalize meaningfully. If you encounter a failure that will cost more to remedy than the value of the vehicle, then you've got to consider your position carefully. What if you go ahead with the repair, figuring the functional vehicle is worth more to you? But then what if it incurs another failure shortly thereafter, or what if it is damaged in a wreck? It becomes a hard-to-judge exercise in speculation. And if you decide to replace, you don't have to buy new. Suppose you have a truck worth $1k ACV, and it requires a $2k repair. I'd probably sell it for scrap/parts, and buy a functional equivalent for around $1k, and run that until IT decided to fail in a big way. Minor or mid-range repairs would probably go the other way.
Back to the topic -- I don't really disagree, except that this would seem to me to be one of those situations where it's hard to generalize meaningfully. If you encounter a failure that will cost more to remedy than the value of the vehicle, then you've got to consider your position carefully. What if you go ahead with the repair, figuring the functional vehicle is worth more to you? But then what if it incurs another failure shortly thereafter, or what if it is damaged in a wreck? It becomes a hard-to-judge exercise in speculation. And if you decide to replace, you don't have to buy new. Suppose you have a truck worth $1k ACV, and it requires a $2k repair. I'd probably sell it for scrap/parts, and buy a functional equivalent for around $1k, and run that until IT decided to fail in a big way. Minor or mid-range repairs would probably go the other way.
Originally Posted By: ekpolk
No problem, my pleasure. I'm finishing the twilight of my career back in the drilling reserves (demobilized from four years active duty last summer). By the time I drop my papers, it will have been over 28 years. Can hardly believe it.
Back to the topic -- I don't really disagree, except that this would seem to me to be one of those situations where it's hard to generalize meaningfully. If you encounter a failure that will cost more to remedy than the value of the vehicle, then you've got to consider your position carefully. What if you go ahead with the repair, figuring the functional vehicle is worth more to you? But then what if it incurs another failure shortly thereafter, or what if it is damaged in a wreck? It becomes a hard-to-judge exercise in speculation. And if you decide to replace, you don't have to buy new. Suppose you have a truck worth $1k ACV, and it requires a $2k repair. I'd probably sell it for scrap/parts, and buy a functional equivalent for around $1k, and run that until IT decided to fail in a big way. Minor or mid-range repairs would probably go the other way.
It does not matter how much people say either that your truck is worth or that someone else's truck is worth. The fact of the matter is that you could have maintained yours so well that it is ready to enter a museum, yet is considered to cost say $1,000 and someone else with a vehicle of comparable age and mileage could have done the bare minimum maintenance and other people will still consider his truck to be worth the same. That mentality in the ideal, best case scenario, puts you right before the failure on your vehicle happened and in the worst case scenario, gives you a vehicle that has far worse problems (e.g. sludge has almost killed the engine). It is just not worth it to replace a vehicle that can be repaired.
No problem, my pleasure. I'm finishing the twilight of my career back in the drilling reserves (demobilized from four years active duty last summer). By the time I drop my papers, it will have been over 28 years. Can hardly believe it.
Back to the topic -- I don't really disagree, except that this would seem to me to be one of those situations where it's hard to generalize meaningfully. If you encounter a failure that will cost more to remedy than the value of the vehicle, then you've got to consider your position carefully. What if you go ahead with the repair, figuring the functional vehicle is worth more to you? But then what if it incurs another failure shortly thereafter, or what if it is damaged in a wreck? It becomes a hard-to-judge exercise in speculation. And if you decide to replace, you don't have to buy new. Suppose you have a truck worth $1k ACV, and it requires a $2k repair. I'd probably sell it for scrap/parts, and buy a functional equivalent for around $1k, and run that until IT decided to fail in a big way. Minor or mid-range repairs would probably go the other way.
It does not matter how much people say either that your truck is worth or that someone else's truck is worth. The fact of the matter is that you could have maintained yours so well that it is ready to enter a museum, yet is considered to cost say $1,000 and someone else with a vehicle of comparable age and mileage could have done the bare minimum maintenance and other people will still consider his truck to be worth the same. That mentality in the ideal, best case scenario, puts you right before the failure on your vehicle happened and in the worst case scenario, gives you a vehicle that has far worse problems (e.g. sludge has almost killed the engine). It is just not worth it to replace a vehicle that can be repaired.
Would you spend $10,000 to put a $1,000 car back on the road? Somewhere, there's a line. I suppose each of us has to make a decision about where that line lies.
Originally Posted By: ekpolk
Would you spend $10,000 to put a $1,000 car back on the road? Somewhere, there's a line. I suppose each of us has to make a decision about where that line lies.
You originally said $2,000, which I find a far more likely repair cost than $10,000 but even for $10,000, the answer is yes. It only makes sense when replacing the truck costs $16,000. Doing anything else would expose yourself to inheriting the result of another person's negligence.
Would you spend $10,000 to put a $1,000 car back on the road? Somewhere, there's a line. I suppose each of us has to make a decision about where that line lies.
You originally said $2,000, which I find a far more likely repair cost than $10,000 but even for $10,000, the answer is yes. It only makes sense when replacing the truck costs $16,000. Doing anything else would expose yourself to inheriting the result of another person's negligence.
Shine:
I altered the hypo to make the point that at some point, it's not economically viable to pay for repairs to an old, old vehicle. The risk that you're not accounting for, but which is akin to buying a working vehicle with a latent problem, is the possible existence of yet another failure coming in the vehicle you pay to fix. Whether as a result of anyone's neglect, or simply from long worn parts, old vehicles will have problems.
Let's try another hypothetical: your 20 year old vehicle requires almost $10k in repairs to get it back on the road. It's worth $1k ACV, but that's only if it's running, right now, it's effectively scrap. Now add that there's a good 15 year old vehicle of similar configuration, presently running, that you can have for $2500. I'd take the $2500 vehicle, run it as long as it runs, and be happy to be $7500 ahead (not even accounting for the higher after purchase value of V2). What would you do?
I altered the hypo to make the point that at some point, it's not economically viable to pay for repairs to an old, old vehicle. The risk that you're not accounting for, but which is akin to buying a working vehicle with a latent problem, is the possible existence of yet another failure coming in the vehicle you pay to fix. Whether as a result of anyone's neglect, or simply from long worn parts, old vehicles will have problems.
Let's try another hypothetical: your 20 year old vehicle requires almost $10k in repairs to get it back on the road. It's worth $1k ACV, but that's only if it's running, right now, it's effectively scrap. Now add that there's a good 15 year old vehicle of similar configuration, presently running, that you can have for $2500. I'd take the $2500 vehicle, run it as long as it runs, and be happy to be $7500 ahead (not even accounting for the higher after purchase value of V2). What would you do?
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