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Incredible - Man Owned, Drove Same Car For 82 Yrs

by MoneyMagnetMagnate
19 replies
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Can you imagine having the same car for 82 years? I guess it was no longer under warranty...

How Long Have You Owned A Car?



Mr. Allen Swift ( Springfield , MA.) received this 1928 Rolls-Royce Picadilly P1 Roadster from his father, brand new - as a graduation gift in 1928. He drove it up until his death last year (article 2010)...at the age of 102 !! He was the oldest living owner of a car from new. Just thought you'd like to see it. He donated it to a Springfield museum after his death. It has 170,000 miles on it, still runs like a Swiss watch, dead silent at any speed and is in perfect cosmetic condition. (82 years) That's approximately 2000 miles per year...

Course' I guess when your first car is a Rolls...it's all kind of down hill from there...
  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Oooh ... well, it's a very low mileage, and it is a Rolls Royce, and from the days when they were really well-made, too (but I bet the parts aren't so easy to come by?).

    Originally Posted by MoneyMagnetMagnate View Post

    How Long Have You Owned A Car?
    Would you believe "not as long as that"?

    I had my first one over three years and did a pretty small mileage in it. But my current car, only my second one, which I haven't had for long at all, is very nearly twice as old as me.

    The one above is a beauty (though I admit I wouldn't want that color). If only I had a garage ...
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  • Profile picture of the author hardraysnight
    wow

    the benefit of a university education immortalised
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    Most people don't even LIVE as long as he drove that car. Incredible story -- enjoyed seeing it.
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    • Profile picture of the author DireStraits
      Originally Posted by HeySal View Post

      Most people don't even LIVE as long as he drove that car.
      Yeah, people born then were briefer than today, but that's mostly due to brake pads. Prior to their invention, I guess people tended to wear themselves down pretty quick.
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  • Profile picture of the author Joseph Robinson
    Banned
    Down in Cuba they're still driving cars from the 40s/50s. If Castro keeps kicking around they're going to hit that mark with their cars too .
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    • Profile picture of the author MoneyMagnetMagnate
      Originally Posted by Joseph Robinson View Post

      Down in Cuba they're still driving cars from the 40s/50s. If Castro keeps kicking around they're going to hit that mark with their cars too .
      LOL! How true - I remember one time at work, we were talking about mechanics, and I made a comparison about my mechanic finding a very tricky problem by saying - "I swear, he's like a Cuban Mechanic sometimes...(to describe how ingenious and resourceful he could be...) a girl at a desk nearby chastised me for using a "racist" remark...

      I said "Are you kidding me? Cuban mechanics are some of the best mechanics in the world!" They can't just go down to Pep-boys and buy a new part, they have to re-build everything - They can take a carburetor off of a Russian Tank, put it on a '57 Chev, and make it run like a race-car!...:p" Put down?...it was a compliment! They're geniuses!" :p

      PBS had a special a few years back on "The Cars of Cuba" - the condition of those beautiful classic cars from the 40's, 50's, and early 60's was impressive.
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      • Profile picture of the author Joseph Robinson
        Banned
        Originally Posted by MoneyMagnetMagnate View Post

        PBS had a special a few years back on "The Cars of Cuba" - the condition of those beautiful classic cars from the 40's, 50's, and early 60's was impressive.
        Considering the conditions of most roads there too (I stayed in a neighborhood in Cienfuegos called Palmira that was literally just crumbled concrete) it's amazing that they keep those things going. Now, it may take some trickeration to get a few doors closed, but they rarely (if ever) break down.

        Their ingenuity definitely earned my unending respect, and also embarrassed me a bit. They make do with those cars and we can't make our cars last 15 years lol.
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    • Profile picture of the author Dave Patterson
      Originally Posted by Joseph Robinson View Post

      Down in Cuba they're still driving cars from the 40s/50s. If Castro keeps kicking around they're going to hit that mark with their cars too .
      Probably farther south too. I remember being amazed at the numbers of "mint" looking 30's, 40's, and 50's automobiles in the South American cities I visited in the 70's..
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  • Profile picture of the author William Maloney
    Woah... Now that's a long long time. At the moment, I own one car. I own this car for almost 2 years.
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  • Profile picture of the author Charlotte Jay
    What a great story! He was in the same state as me as well. I may have to go and see if I can find this beauty. I've owned my current car for 6 years, and it has almost 301,000 miles on it. She keeps on trucking!
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    • Profile picture of the author MoneyMagnetMagnate
      Originally Posted by Charlotte Jay View Post

      What a great story! He was in the same state as me as well. I may have to go and see if I can find this beauty. I've owned my current car for 6 years, and it has almost 301,000 miles on it. She keeps on trucking!
      WOW! Are those your miles? Or were there some on it when you got it...?

      50K/yr is a fair amount of driving, unless you do it for a living...

      A good car with proper maintenance will go for a long time...(and a little luck!)
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      • Profile picture of the author Charlotte Jay
        Originally Posted by MoneyMagnetMagnate View Post

        WOW! Are those your miles? Or were there some on it when you got it...?

        50K/yr is a fair amount of driving, unless you do it for a living...

        A good car with proper maintenance will go for a long time...(and a little luck!)
        It was a fleet courier car when we bought it, so it had just over 225,000 miles on it. It's had the transmission rebuilt twice and a new front end when a teenager decided to drive her Jeep into it. But, yep, other than that, it's a great minivan, and fabulous in the winter due to all wheel drive
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  • Profile picture of the author AprilCT
    Our record was 160,000 miles on a 15 year old car that had to be towed away. RIP.

    That car is beautiful. I'd bet it's really worth a lot of money to a collector.
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  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    It just goes to show how much Rolls has changed. But they have always been known for quality, and at 2000 miles a year, the car didn't see much use. ALSO, for a good part of its life, it was probably driven slowly. Can you imagine graduating highschool(or was it early college) JUST before the great depression started? YIKES! I guess he did ok then though. He didn't have to sell the car. Did rolls royces cost as much back then? Apparently, when the mercedes first came to the US it sold for the equivalent of about $10,000 in today's dollars. Roughly 4 month's wages. Based on the lower priced rolls today, that would be about 8 months wages, relative to the mercedes at the time. Last I checked, maybe like 1990, a cheap rolls today would cost a bit over 3 years wages.

    Steve
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    • Profile picture of the author MoneyMagnetMagnate
      Originally Posted by seasoned View Post

      It just goes to show how much Rolls has changed. But they have always been known for quality, and at 2000 miles a year, the car didn't see much use. ALSO, for a good part of its life, it was probably driven slowly. Can you imagine graduating highschool(or was it early college) JUST before the great depression started? YIKES! I guess he did ok then though. He didn't have to sell the car. Did rolls royces cost as much back then? Apparently, when the mercedes first came to the US it sold for the equivalent of about $10,000 in today's dollars. Roughly 4 month's wages. Based on the lower priced rolls today, that would be about 8 months wages, relative to the mercedes at the time. Last I checked, maybe like 1990, a cheap rolls today would cost a bit over 3 years wages.

      Steve
      That particular car set his dad back $10,900 in 1928 (141,700 in 2010 dollars). It's difficult to speculate what it would sell for today at auction. A P1 was up for auction recently for $77K with no reserve. I don't know what it sold for. If I would venture to guess though, this car could fetch over $200k in this condition, depending on who's buying. (I'm surprised he even kept it throught the depression, his family must have been well-heeled to weather 1929)
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      • Profile picture of the author seasoned
        Originally Posted by MoneyMagnetMagnate View Post

        That particular car set his dad back $10,900 in 1928 (141,700 in 2010 dollars). It's difficult to speculate what it would sell for today at auction. A P1 was up for auction recently for $77K with no reserve. I don't know what it sold for. If I would venture to guess though, this car could fetch over $200k in this condition, depending on who's buying.
        THIS rolls lacks the look that makes it clear it is a rolls but, disregarding that, it would EASILY fetch over $200K. I believe I saw that with a rolls that was far newer, though it DID look like a rolls. ALSO, a brand new rolls, in the CHEAP line, last I knew cost over $100K. I believe the regular ones started at like twice that.

        Steve
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        • Profile picture of the author MoneyMagnetMagnate
          Originally Posted by seasoned View Post

          THIS rolls lacks the look that makes it clear it is a rolls but, disregarding that, it would EASILY fetch over $200K. I believe I saw that with a rolls that was far newer, though it DID look like a rolls. ALSO, a brand new rolls, in the CHEAP line, last I knew cost over $100K. I believe the regular ones started at like twice that.

          Steve
          These RR's were tagged "Ghost" for a good reason, like in the description, they were built well and VERY quiet. it really is amazing if you have ever heard one of these older ones running, you really can hardly tell it is...
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          • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
            Banned
            "At 60 miles per hour the loudest noise in this Rolls Royce is the ticking of the clock".

            (I don't think that will quite be true of that 1928 model, and you probably wouldn't want it to be, but still ... ).
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  • Profile picture of the author goindeep
    Woah! That is awesome!

    I ruined the first car I ever had! Destroyed the 2nd car I had and now im working on my third and fourth!
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