One Million Mile Cars: A Look at the Longest-Lasting Cars in the World

If you took a look at your car right now, how many miles would be on the odometer? Less than 10,000?  More than 100,000?  Even more than that? With modern cars, to get them above that 200k mark on mileage is a great achievement. Most won’t last that long without massive repairs or part replacements.  There are a few cars, though, that have more miles on them than you can even imagine.  Let’s take a look at some of the longest-lasting cars in the world.

Victor Sheppard’s Toyota Tundra

When Victor Sheppard bought his Toyota Tundra in 2007, it was one of the first of its kind.  This particular Tundra was assembled at Toyota’s San Antonio plant.  After he purchased the truck new, Sheppard put it through its paces, driving it more than 125,000 miles every single year from his home in Louisiana to deliveries across the country.

By the time he traded the truck in, opting for a 2016 Tundra this time, he had put more than a million miles on the vehicle. His new Tundra was on Toyota though. They wanted to get their hands on his original million-mile truck, so they could see how it held up so well!

Irv Gordon’s Volvo P1800

A million miles in a single car might seem like a lot, but Irv Gordon has reached that milestone not once, not twice, but three times in his 1966 Volvo P1800 which he purchased new and has been driving ever since. He hit his first million miles in 1987, prompting Volvo to gift him with a new 780 Bertone Coupe. He then reached two million miles in 2002. After the second million, Gordon featured his car in a parade in Times Square, and Volvo gifted him yet another new car – a C70.

Gordon’s secret to keeping his car running smoothly for more than 3 million miles is simple. He read the manual.  He goes by the book when keeping up with his car’s maintenance and has taken such good care of his P1800 that it will probably last him for the rest of his life.

Chet Belisle’s Lincoln Towncar

A Lincoln Towncar is a reasonably easy car to recognize, but they don’t tend to stand out – unless you bought one new in 1983 and kept it running for more than 1.3 million miles. That’s precisely what Chet Belisle managed to do with his.

The original V-8 engine has been rebuilt once, as has the transmission, and Chet credits regular maintenance as the main reason that his Towncar is one of the longest-lasting cars.  He still drives it from one side of the country to the other and claims that it has never once broken down.

Joe LoCicero’s Honda Accord

You have to do something special to get Honda to throw you a parade, but driving a Honda Accord more than a million miles like Joe LoCicero might do the trick. Joe didn’t buy his Accord new. It already had more than 74,000 miles on it when he picked it up in 1996, but he spent the next nearly 20 years keeping track of every single oil change and fill-up.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t the engine or the mechanical components that faced the most wear and tear in this million-mile car – it was the interior.  After raising two kids in that car, Joe needed to replace the upholstery and seat belts.

Longest Lasting Cars

It seems that most things, including cars, are designed to be replaced in this economy. These stories, however, go to show that you can still make your car last nearly forever by sticking with your maintenance schedule and keeping it in good repair.