Drive Your Car To Death

Once upon a time, my first spouse had a Chevy Caprice classic (or some such car)... it had the (forgive me if I don't get this exactly right) '76 360 hp malibu engine in it.

After being rear-ended by a school bus at 102,000 miles, we bought it back from the insurance company (the trunk now required a screwdriver to open, no other real damage), we put another 250,000 miles on it, before parking it (it still ran) because the body was seriously deteriorating, due to living in Minnesota, with the salt on the roads.

We did have to replace the carburator once, after rebuilding it one other time. The carb was the achilles heel of that engine.

That very well may have been the last decent car.... oh, and old Nellie, the Chevy truck *that had the same engine*, actually the engine went into two other trucks, until, actually, the divorce. At that time, the engine had over 500,000 miles on it, and was still running fine, though trying to find compatible truck bodies was getting toughter. As far as I know, 10 years later, the ex may still have that one.

So, anyway, that was a good engine, overall. They are no longer made. Only a Toyota will last as long!
Oh, that reminds me of the Toyota Corolla we were given by a friend. It had 360,000 miles on it, still ran, though the body was falling apart (Minnesota, again), and my son learned to drive in it.

 

Our 2006 Prius replaced a 1978 Toyota Corolla wagon that had over 200,000 miles. I'm not certain of the exact mileage because the odometer broke some years earlier. Routinely mechanics would comment that it was one of the most durable cars made. The engine ran very well for over twenty-two years.