Posted on 02/12/2008 6:29:16 AM PST by Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus
Frank Oresnik's trusty pickup truck he calls it "the old girl" passed the 1 million-mile mark with a camera crew filming the event and a public-radio audience listening in. "I can't tell you how much fun it was," he said. "It was really humbling, all this interest."
Recent news stories told how Oresnik had just 1,200 miles to go before reaching the milestone in the 1991 Chevrolet Silverado that he bought with 41,000 miles on it in 1996 and used in his business, distributing seafood and steaks in the upper Midwest.
At the time, he was getting his latest oil change the kind of regular maintenance he credits with helping to keep the truck going so long.
He said he's had the truck's oil changed more than 300 times. It's had so many changes that the oil pan drain plug had to be rethreaded several times, he said, and "you never hear of that."
He passed the million-mile mark Friday in southeastern Wisconsin while on his way back home to Catawba, located in the north in Price County, about an hour west of Rhinelander. He was on County Highway V southeast of Fond du Lac.
On hand was a film crew from Chevrolet's public relations and advertising company, and he was speaking live to Robert Siegel, host of National Public Radio's "All Things Considered."
A news crew from CBS had been with him earlier in the day.
"I wont say it was relief ... it was exhilarating," Oresnik said later during a stop in Gresham where he has one of his longtime customers. "This truck has been so dependable over the years." Now that it's made history, the truck could be headed back to the automaker or Shell Oil. Oresnik said there's been some interested in GM or Shell Oil buying it.
Silverado 200,000-Mile Club
http://www.chevy200k.com/
Yeah, you do. One careless greasemonkey and you've got a stripped plug or socket. I once had a Honda that got so bad I had to replace the oil pan. I made the oil change place pay for it.
My goal was to drive my ‘86 toyota pickup past 520,000 miles - to the Moon and back.
ping-a-ling
My 97 Nissan Hardbody has 190K on it.
had 280,000 miles on my old Toyota Supra and the last 100,000 ws pretty much on the same oil.
In the end, Besides the blown head gasket, it still ran as smooth and quiet as the day I bought it.
Dang
That was pretty good, I think, because the Windstar model had a lot of issues. Mine was no exception. I went through three transmissions and was on my second motor.
At first, I could get 29 MPG on the van, which was almost a perfect mix of highway and city driving.
I gave it way a few months ago, and was only getting about 16-17 MPG.
It’s a wonder he still has underside and body panels left on that hoopie, driving that salty-road corridor along the Great Lakes!
.
When I got rid of the old girl I had 344,000 on my Ford 95 diesel with only oil changes, new tires and 2 serpentine belts.
I have 164,000 miles on my Dodge 2500 with a Cummins engine. From what many have said, I’ve just broken it in and my plan is to get at least 700,000 miles out of it.
You mean you're not supposed to use an air wrench on the drain plug?
Always stay away from Jiffy Lube type places! My friend had them change his oil. They told him his transmission was dry and they proceeded to dump several quarts of oil onto his clutch.
I took great care of that car but towards the end i was using it for computer Field service work driving it everywhere full of parts and boxes and stuff.
at that point I didn’t care anymore.
for years it was one sweet, sharp car though.
If you had to change your engine then you didn't get 265K out of the van but whatever miles you made on the first engine. The body has that many miles on it but when you say you got so many miles out of a vehicle you usually are talking about the original engine along with the rest of the vehicle, or at least that has always been my experience and I have been around a long time.
I know a guy that has 750,000 on his Ford F-150. Still runs and looks great.
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