Another million-mile vehicle: '97 Ford E-250 set to roll its odo over
It's been a good run for million-plus-mile vehicles recently. In September, it was the gent with a million-mile 1989 Saab SPG, then in October it was another gent with a Volvo P1800 cruising past 2.6 million miles. The domestics opened up the 2008 race to a million three days ago with a Wisconsin man 1,200 miles away from the 6-zero mark in his 1991 Chevy Silverado. Now it's Ford's turn, with a deliveryman based in Toledo just 147 miles (at time of writing) from the magic million.
Like the Silverado owner, Doug Schell bought his 1997 Ford E-250 van used with 40,000 miles on it. The van still has its original engine and transmission, neither of which has been rebuilt. Schell said he puts 80,000 to 100,000 miles a year on the workhorse, delivering parts and "single envelopes" all over the country. Unlike the Silverado owner, Schell only changes the oil every 10,000 miles, and the van is missing certain features like working air conditioning. Even so, with severe understatement, Schell concedes "It's a really good van." What does he plan to do to celebrate the feat? "I'm thinking of throwing it a party," he said, "but I don't know if that's too weird." No reason to party is weird, Doug. Thanks for the tip, Tina!
[Source: Toledo Blade, Photo by Andy Morrison]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
EJ25RUN 2:35PM (2/04/2008)
just like mercedes did when they took a million mile car in thier muesum ford should give the guy a new car!
Reply
Dinger 2:37PM (2/04/2008)
1,000,000 miles in an Econoline? His ass must be real sore.
Reply
FAB 2:56PM (2/04/2008)
God, that thing must rattle!
Reply
J. D. Billiford 2:50PM (2/04/2008)
>>> I've said it before, and I'll say it again: reaching the one million mile mark on ANY vehicle is quite an achievement.
Congratulations, Doug!
Reply
calebe 2:53PM (2/04/2008)
lol how many sets of ball joints and bushings did he put into the front end? E-lines are horrible on front ends.
Reply
MemphisNET 2:53PM (2/04/2008)
Congrats, Doug!
Reply
John P. 2:54PM (2/04/2008)
Celebrating by throwing the van a party. that's cool, but be careful. When my brother and I celebrated 300,000 on my Ford Festiva, we finger-painted the entire car with water soluble paint, drove around town awhile and got pulled over by the cops. They couldn't believe anyone would ugly up a car so much on purpose, even if it was lowly Festiva.
Reply
mxls2005 2:55PM (2/04/2008)
a lot of miles for an econoline
Reply
whofan 2:56PM (2/04/2008)
Looking at the way the right front tire is leaning it could use ball joints now.
Hey Ford, give this guy a new van.
Reply
2004m3driver 2:56PM (2/04/2008)
For sure! Look at all this good publicity this is getting them, surely its worth a brand new econoline Van.
Reply
Menice 3:11PM (2/04/2008)
what ...no gallery of pics?
congrats doug..
Reply
Eric Liberatore 3:15PM (2/04/2008)
I'm sure Ford would love to reward this guy with a new van. Problem is, they just can't afford it.
Reply
Pat 3:25PM (2/04/2008)
Maybe a 1 million milles isn't the only thing this van has hit ;-)
Reply
Pat 3:26PM (2/04/2008)
Darn reply button ... this was supposed to be in response to the comment posted by whofan
Reply
ron 3:29PM (2/04/2008)
A prime reason the auto industry is in the dumps! People routinely getting 250,000 miles on their vehicles, and these guys come along and get a million. Cars are simply lasting too long! I'm old enough to remember when cars were considered shot at 60K miles, and you had to buy a new one every so often. Maybe the government should step in and cars declare all cars "unsafe and inoperable" at 100K miles so the industry would sell a lot more vehicles (just kidding).
Reply
Mr. Oak 4:25PM (2/04/2008)
Ahhh.... Someone finally figured it out. Word is people are holding on to their (purchased) cars on average 18 months. As the quality/durability of cars go up, retention also will.
Bert 3:34PM (2/04/2008)
I think the Japanese have something similar to what you describe. I think it's something like the registration taxes and mandatory inspections make it harder and harder to keep 3-4-5 year old cars.
Reply
Matt 3:53PM (2/04/2008)
Clearly this is a product that Ford should abandon in favor of a more un-reliable model (or two). That seems to be their motive with the Panthers.
If I were the guy...I wouldn't want a new one...far too ugly.
I believe that Ford only offered him the X-plan.
Reply
k.w.a 3:54PM (2/04/2008)
Ford: "Congratulations Doug! here's your new van!"
* New van looks exactly the same as the old one*
Doug:" Is this really a brand new van with 2 miles on it, or just my old van with the odometer starting over?"
*Ford salesman looks the other direction*
Reply
h8rain 3:56PM (2/04/2008)
To Bert:
I have heard that as well, about being "forced" to buy a new car. I just don't know the regulations on it.
Anyone know?
Reply