"Million Mile Car" Still Racking Up Miles

"Million Mile Car" Still Racking Up Miles FARM HOME Cars 23-1-44 Stanley Dvorak of West Point, Neb., takes excellent care of his 1967 Dodge Monaco and he always has. That's why he's been able to drive it for 1,077,000 miles. Perhaps even more amazing, the car has virtually all of its original equipment and still has its original metallic-blue paint. The inside upholstery is almost like new although the driver's seat has been recovered. The 383 cu. in. gas engine is original. The only major repairs the car has required have been three ring jobs, two bore jobs, and two transmission overhauls. The rear end has never been touched. The odometer has turned over 10 times on this four door marvel. The mileage has been verified three different times by Uncle Sam, because before Dvorak retired he used to list the annual miles as a deduction on his income tax form. "I still drive it every day. When I bought it I sure didn't think that it would last this long," says Dvorak. "It's been written up several times in newspapers, and I was told that Paul Harvey talked about it on his radio show. He said that if Chrysler made all of its cars as well as they made mine, they'd never sell any. When it had 800,000 miles on it an Iowa car dealer offered me a good price for it so he could display it in his showroom. I turned down the offer and told him I wouldn't sell it at any price. "One reason it has lasted so long is that almost all of the miles are highway miles. When I was working, I put on about 60,000 miles every year as a salesman for a petroleum products company. My territory covered parts of five states - Nebraska, Kansas, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa. Some of those states used a lot of salt on their highways so even though I always washed the car as soon as I got home it does have some rust. "The 383 cu. in. engine never leaked oil and still doesn't. It's a great engine. It still gets 17 to 18 mpg and turns over in cold weather without any problem. I read once about a taxi driver who owned a Cadillac with similar miles on it, but he had replaced the engine 3 or 4 times. "I've always changed the oil and filter myself every 2,000 to 2,500 miles. I wash it every week and wax it two or three times a year. I also vacuum the inside once a week. I have mats on the floor at all times - in fact, no one's foot has ever touched the carpet and no one has ever been in the back seat except me when I clean it. When I clean the engine I don't hose it off - I wipe it off with a dry rag.I lost track long ago of how many tires it's gone through." Dvorak retired from the road in 1983 and now lives in an apartment. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Stanley Dvorak, 322 N. Farragut St., Apt. No. 8, West Point, Neb. 68788 (ph 402 372-2635).

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