(Photo Credit: Rachel Veitch)These days, most people consider themselves lucky if a new car lasts 5 to 10 years. Make it to 100,000 miles in your vehicle, and the car company might make a commercial about you. That makes 93-year-old Rachel Veitch a notable exception. Veitch is retiring her 1964 Mercury Comet Caliente after more than 576,000 miles on the road.
"I am legally blind, so I can no longer drive my lovely Chariot," Veitch told FoxNews.com. "They don't have to take it away, I would not dream of driving that car again." The car itself is fine, but Veitch has macular degeneration in both her eyes, making her legally blind. After running a red light in March, she decided to voluntarily give up the vehicle she's been driving since Lyndon Johnson occupied the White House.
"I have taken it in stride," she said. "I don't have cancer, I don't have Lou Gehrig's disease. I am lucky."
Yet for all the miles she has put on her vehicle, it doesn't come close to the world record. The Truth About Cars blog wrote that Irv Gordon's 1966 Volvo P1800 is scheduled to reach 3 million miles this year. Gordon has held the record in the Guinness Book of World Records for most miles on a noncommercial vehicle since 1998.
Even without the world record, Vietch is fond of noting that the car has outlasted three marriages. Mechanically, it's worn through three sets of shocks, 18 batteries and eight mufflers. Veitch bought the car in February 1964 for just $3,289.
She credits the longevity to a "near-obsessive" approach to the car's maintenance. "I've never been a destructive person and I've just taken care of everything, except my husbands," she told FoxNews.
Veitch, who appeared with the vehicle on an August 2010 episode of the "Tonight Show," said she would be happy to sell the vehicle to host Jay Leno, a known car afficionado. She's not sure if Leno would be interested, but her four children, nine grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren, aren't in line.
"It wouldn't matter if they did, they're not going to get it. They couldn't take care of it like I did," she told FoxNews.
More popular Yahoo! News stories:
• 'Scary Guy' with facial tattoos paid $6,500 a day to teach kids to stop bullying
• 33 is the happiest age, study says
• Love letter lost for 60 years finally recovered
[
[ [['beyond the incredible personal tragedy', 3]],
'http://news.yahoo.com/stand-ground-laws-not-just-gop-policy-records-053103956.html',
'[Related: \‘Stand your ground\’ laws not just GOP policy\, records show]',
' ',
'630',
' ',
' ',
],
[ [['A JetBlue flight from New York to Las Vegas', 3]],
'http://yhoo.it/GV9zpj',
'[Related: View photos of the JetBlue plane in Amarillo]',
' ',
'630',
' ',
' ',
],
[ [['I went out on to my porch and heard a bang', 6]],
'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/dozens-killed-in-russian-plane-crash-slideshow/',
'Click image to see more photos',
'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/b/87/b870130db8e1341aaa3e3f4a2aefcfcd.jpeg',
'500',
' ',
'(AP Photo/Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations press service)',
],
[ [['Afghan security forces and police killed three', 3]],
'http://yhoo.it/H9BcJE',
'[Related: Bales\' wife on his alleged shooting: \'He would not do that\']',
' ',
'630',
' ',
' ',
],
[ [['looking for fireworks between the opposing camps', 16]],
'http://yhoo.it/GSvEsj',
'[RELATED:\‘It’s going to be a circus\’: Activists begin protests outside Supreme Court]',
' ',
'630',
' ',
' ',
],
[ [['entirely respectable way to put off the searing constitutional controversy', 8]],
'http://yhoo.it/GE6jSh',
'[RELATED: Obama\’s health care law passed 2 years ago, but where are we now\?]',
' ',
'630',
' ',
' ',
],
[ [['Witnesses said the gunman pulled up on a black scooter', 7]],
'http://yhoo.it/GzwOIW',
'[Related: New York police tighten security at Jewish sites]',
' ',
'630',
' ',
' ',
],
[ [['test Zimmerman for alcohol or drugs', 11]],
'http://yhoo.it/Gzn6VF',
'[Related: White House says Trayvon Martin is local issue]',
' ',
'630',
' ',
' ',
],
[ [['Oikos University', 8]],
'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/deadly-oakland-university-shooting-slideshow/',
'Click image to see more photos',
'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120402/shooting.jpg',
'450',
' ',
'REUTERS/Reuters TV/KNTV/Handout',
],
[ [['Trayvon Martin decked the Neighborhood', 7]],
'http://yhoo.it/GUovUP',
'Click image to see more photos',
'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/2/61/261d2c36bccf0971c2734a4d4398aa5a.jpeg',
'512',
' ',
'AP/David Goldman',
],
[ [['Can you create commerce in order to regulate it', 9]],
'http://yhoo.it/GSgtu8',
'Click image to see more photos',
'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/7/78/778e2416573870cd705774e92403447d.jpeg',
'630',
' ',
'AP/Charles Dharapak',
],
[ [['associated with such a small earthquake', 4]],
'http://yhoo.it/GTco9z',
'Click image to see more photos',
'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/0/b4/0b493c1a47b6e3f97f8f48a2b251d7d4.jpeg',
'630',
' ',
'AP Photo/Carrie Antlfinger',
],
[ [['Fox News host Geraldo Rivera sparked outrage', 3]],
'http://yhoo.it/GKMVTk',
'Click image to see more photos',
'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/2/7c/27c7367bc512d233ae1790b320a5e92c.jpeg',
'630',
' ',
'AP Photo/John Minchillo',
],
[ [['The charges signed against Bales include', 1]],
'http://yhoo.it/wZT5zV',
'Click image to see more photos',
'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/7/a0/7a07c51b2aa0f39b1a23355046d13870.jpeg',
'512',
' ',
'AP Photo/DVIDS\, Spc\. Ryan Hallock\, File',
],
[ [['George Zimmerman, if I had a son', 6]],
'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/thousands-protest-fla-teen-death-1332387124-slideshow/',
'Click image to see more photos',
'http://l.yimg.com/os/152/2012/03/22/d761a49f3fcc99080a0f6a70670053cd-jpg_150905.jpg',
'500',
' ',
'AP Photo/John Minchillo',
],
[ [['xxxxxxxxxxxx', 11]],
'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/russian-grannies-win-bid-to-sing-at-eurovision-1331223625-slideshow/',
'Click image to see more photos',
'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/1/56/156d92f2760dcd3e75bcd649a8b85fcf.jpeg',
'500',
' ',
'AP',
]
]
[
[ [['because I know God protects me', 14], ['Brian Snow was at a nearby credit union', 5]],
'28811216',
'0'
],
[ [['The state news agency RIA-Novosti quoted Rosaviatsiya', 6]],
'28805461',
'0'
],
[ [['measure all but certain to fail in the face of bipartisan', 4]],
'28771014',
'0'
],
[ [['matter what you do in this case', 5]],
'28759848',
'0'
],
[ [['presume laws are constitutional', 7]],
'28747556',
'0'
],
[ [['has destroyed 15 to 25 houses', 7]],
'28744868',
'0'
],
[ [['short answer is yes', 7]],
'28746030',
'0'
],
[ [['opportunity to tell the real story', 7]],
'28731764',
'0'
],
[ [['entirely respectable way to put off the searing constitutional controversy', 7]],
'28723797',
'0'
],
[ [['point of my campaign is that big ideas matter', 9]],
'28712293',
'0'
],
[ [['As the standoff dragged into a second day', 7]],
'28687424',
'0'
],
[ [['French police stepped up the search', 17]],
'28667224',
'0'
],
[ [['Seeking to elevate his candidacy back to a general', 8]],
'28660934',
'0'
],
[ [['The tragic story of Trayvon Martin', 4]],
'28647343',
'0'
],
[ [['Karzai will get a chance soon to express', 8]],
'28630306',
'0'
],
[ [['powerful storms stretching', 8]],
'28493546',
'0'
],
[ [['basic norm that death is private', 6]],
'28413590',
'0'
],
[ [['songwriter also saw a surge in sales for her debut album', 6]],
'28413590',
'1',
'Watch music videos from Whitney Houston ',
'on Yahoo! Music',
'http://music.yahoo.com'
],
[ [['keyword', 99999999999999999999999]],
'videoID',
'1',
'overwrite-pre-description',
'overwrite-link-string',
'overwrite-link-url'
]
]
(Photo Credit: Rachel Veitch)These days, most people consider themselves lucky if a new car lasts 5 to 10 years. Make it to 100,000 miles in your vehicle, and the car company might make a commercial about you. That makes 93-year-old Rachel Veitch a notable exception. Veitch is retiring her 1964 Mercury Comet Caliente after more than 576,000 miles on the road.
4,267 comments