Now SHE'S an Ecomotorist!!!

[Frank Lee]

(except for the 4 kids part)

93-year-old Florida woman retires her ’64 Mercury after 576,000 miles on the road.

Kept that thing outta the landfill for quite a while!

[euromodder]

Too bad she didn't know when to retire from driving.

Keeping a gross polluter on the road is not exactly a good idea though.

[WD40]

#1 Comet Caliente is a very collectible car.
#2 A car with 576,000 miles on it driven by the same person has most likely been driven economically or it would not have survived.

[Frank Lee]

Originally Posted by euromodder

Too bad she didn't know when to retire from driving.

Keeping a gross polluter on the road is not exactly a good idea though.

She did know, and took herself off the road when the time came.

"Gross polluter"- I bet it wasn't the dirtiest thing on the road by a long shot.

[slowmover]

A gross polluter versus having [potentially] owned 4-5 other cars over the same period? Must be new to this. I think someone needs to look into embedded costs. A car like that could easily have been tuned to meet 1979 standards. By definition, that would not be "gross", and, as above, she obviously drove in an economical manner. Something else lost on those new to driving for economy. Her overall cost, as well as the indirect cost to society, makes this a case of having been highly economical as well as low polluting.

.

[larrybuck]

Has anybody done a study how how much POLLUTION it takes to build new cars, and all the EARTH aspects of having networks of dealership buildings, etc...versus running one car very long term?

How many typical cars would the AVERAGE person had all during those many years?
Think of all the plastics! Is anyone much trying to recycle THAT in cars?

Think of all the trouble it takes to make, and maintain disc brakes.

It is too easy to paint all earlier cars as EVIL in this PLASTIC world we have made!

Too easy just to buy more new plastic.

Probably get some 'haters here; just felt like some older cars always get the short end of the stick; older cars can be modernized w/o doing the throw away society thing!

I feel almost Frank like right now!!!

[2000mc]

Originally Posted by larrybuck

Has anybody done a study how how much POLLUTION it takes to build new cars, and all the EARTH aspects of having networks of dealership buildings, etc...versus running one car very long term?

i would imagine the correlation would be very similar to the cost of ownership.

[War_Wagon]

Man she is a pretty cool old lady! Plus you have to remember that in 1964 that would have been considered a small, economical car. I bought an old magazine ad for a 1968 Nova I had years ago, and the gist of it was "Don't worry, even though it's small, it's still safe". '68 Nova isn't small! But given the mindset of the era, I bet when she brought it home it was the smallest car on the block.

[cbaber]

Originally Posted by larrybuck

Has anybody done a study how how much POLLUTION it takes to build new cars, and all the EARTH aspects of having networks of dealership buildings, etc...versus running one car very long term?

How many typical cars would the AVERAGE person had all during those many years?
Think of all the plastics! Is anyone much trying to recycle THAT in cars?

Think of all the trouble it takes to make, and maintain disc brakes.

It is too easy to paint all earlier cars as EVIL in this PLASTIC world we have made!

Too easy just to buy more new plastic.

Probably get some 'haters here; just felt like some older cars always get the short end of the stick; older cars can be modernized w/o doing the throw away society thing!

I feel almost Frank like right now!!!

Im with you here. I have always felt better about owning an older car versus buying new cars periodically. People always ask how many miles I have on my car (165,XXX) and they act like anything over 80,000 miles is somehow "old". My Del Sol had over 250,000 miles and its still running strong today with the new owner.

No matter how inefficient your car is, keeping it for 560,000 miles is way better financially and environmentally than buying a new car every 30-80k miles like most people do (and the car companies want you to do).

[slowmover]

Not to mention tying up capital, being indebted, etc. There are better things to do with money.

Hell, how do you think she got all those husbands? Glenlivet ain't cheap, kids!

.