20 years, 550k miles, one car

[traveller]

This is simply awesome
http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2014/10/gunther-christine-holtorf-odyssey/
(wonder if MB will be putting Otto into its museum...)

[pluto]

Thanks for posting.
According to the BBC article:
"Otto will in due course take pride of place at the Mercedes museum in Stuttgart"

[gary]

Hi Bo,

Thanks for posting the link. I love travel stories and this is a really nice one!

[traveller]

Thanks Hugh and Gary,
It was such an amazing story I just had to share.
Bo :)

[Ric]

That's an amazing story, thanks for the link.

My bike a 1985 BMW K75c has similar mileage, 29 years and 1 month old with 480,000 km and still going strong.

The Germans know how to make good machinery.


Cheers

[Poita]

My poor old Mitsubishi Verada (magna) is about to clock over to 600,000km.

Cheap reliable car = more money for scopes. :)

[tlgerdes]

Maths was obviously not your strong point :P

How do you equate 480k kms being similar to 550k miles ? 300k miles versus 550k miles

[Ric]

Hi Trevor

The comparison was about the skills of the makers of German cars/ bikes and their ability to build something amazingly reliable.

A far cry from a lot of vehicles being built today.

Cheers

[AstralTraveller]

A truly amazing story, the stuff of dreams - and not just the car. The people were pretty amazing too.

I wonder whether something has changed at Merc or whether it's to do with the drivers attitude or skill but I know of stories of G-wagons dropping like flies. There is a YouTube of G-wagons on the Canning Stock Route, three standard and one military-hardened. By the end of the first day all three standard editions were immobile! They had all blown their shocks, and if the shocks fail out there you will break springs (how do I know?). They were on a factory-supported trip and so replacement parts were choppered in ($$$$). Considering the number of Tojos running up and down there it wasn't a good look. [BTW my problem was being 'smart' and fitting rubbish after market suspension. These days I would stick with standard or something reputable like OME.]