While checking the car graveyard for Interesting pieces of automotive history, I’ve always noticed cars showing impressive final mileage figures on their odometers. This task is further complicated by the fact that most manufacturers mounted five-digit odometers on their US-market vehicles in the 1980s or even the 1990s; After the turn of the century, most cars used digital odometers that didn’t show anything when in a battery-free bin. That means I’m going to run into hundreds of 1983-1999 (and .) cars every Volvo and Mercedes-Benz), most of which show about 120k miles, before I hit gold with 300k miles an extra mile. This is such a car: an ordinary one AE102 corolla whose owner or proprietor has kept serious mileage under its tires for more than a quarter of a century.
Toyotas always stick together pretty well and I’ve found many others in the vineyard with large final odometer readings. Eg, a Tercel 4WD wagon in 1988 crossed the 400,000-mile mark, a 1985 Camry with 331K miles, a 1987 Camry wagon with 322K miles, and a 1990 Geo Prizm (actually a Corolla) with 321K miles. Of course, Mercedes-Benz holds some of the top spots in my range of abandoned cars: 1987 190E with 601K miles, a 1981 300SD with 572K miles, and apocalypse 1985 300SD with 535K miles. Don’t feel left out, Volvo fanatics, because you can be proud of this 1990 740 Turbo wagon with 493K miles (and more than 300 thousand miles 240s). Because Detroit avoided six-digit odometers for so long, we’ll never know how many million-mile American cars I’ve passed; a lone 363K mile in 1986 Olds Calais must carry the flag for many others crushed high anonymity.
With some notable exceptions, most of the high-altitude scrap cars I see don’t look like cars that have been clapped hoopties. That’s because you have to do all the important scheduled maintenance on not at all vehicle, no matter how well built, if you want it to last more than the 100,000 mile mark and the type of owner who does that tends to be the type of person love their car… even if it’s just an invisible transport device, such as a coin E100 Corolla sedans. This car seems to have received some body damage in its last few months or years, but overall looks very solid.
The condition of an old car’s interior says a lot about the level of care it receives over its lifetime. Note that the upholstery is clean and the decorations are not trash.
When you find the original Monroney Stickers Still in a scrapped car, you know you’ve found a car with a meticulous first owner who saved everything that came with the car. I rescued all the Monroneys I found in the scrap yards and gave them to a fellow car journalist of mine. Andrew Ganz, who have a great collection, so this one will be preserved for a future Monroney Museum.
It appears to have been sold new in Boulder, Colorado.
Then it seems to have been Transaction at John Elway Toyota (just south of Denver) when it still had that New Toyota Smell.
Then the odometer just keeps turning and turning and turning. There’s an electric lock on a wire loop around the steering column, which means it could have been acquired again (or perhaps it was stolen, suffered some bodily damage during the alteration of permissions). unwanted possession and a total of Insurance money The company). Either way, not many used car buyers are willing to buy a small sedan with range and three pedals.
NS Monroney let us know that the original buyer checked out the air conditioning box, tilting wheels, power windows, and some other nice extras. Going with a manual transmission saves $800 on a $13,908 car (that’s about $1,435 for a $24,915 car, in 2021), and there’s a good chance the manual already. keep the car alive for another 100,000 miles (we can assume there’s been at least one clutch job over the years).
I found more High-Number Citizenship at the dump than me Corollasand i think this is the result of your average civic A lot more fun to drive than your regular Corolla. Both models have shown top build quality since their first US sale (I’ve owned half a dozen of each for decades and I assume the Corolla has a slight edge in the manufacturing department- to-forever), but maybe it’s a little easier to love a fun more reliable car than one reasonable Reliable car. Not having enough love for your car means you won’t be ready to do the gasket or transmission repair job when the time comes. Of course, more expensive cars tend to be better maintained, that’s why This 1983 treaty blew away every worn-out Civic I’ve ever found in the King of the Odometers contest.
Corolla is a Japanese design, but this car is exactly American like any Geo Prizm; it’s built by red-white-and-blue UAW congratulations in factory in California, where Teslas are made today (and where there are many originals Pontiac GTOs and Olds 442s already assembled in the 1960s).
Because one day you will move to Seattle. Or write the Great American Novel. Or something. Don’t you want a car that continues to perform well for 25 years and 311,490 miles?
I don’t speak Japanese, but I can say that this home market commercial doesn’t advertise the Corolla’s brilliant track performance.
