Milestones

Today on the way home from work my car hit 250,000 miles. I tried to get a picture of the odometer, but doing that while driving proved problematic. I couldn't get a clear shot for some reason. Quite a milestone I figure. Of course there are other cars out there with more miles. But for me, this is a record. The car itself is 20 years old, I've had it for 8 years and have put about half of those miles on myself. And I don't have any plans to retire The Bimmer.

She still runs great and doesn't rattle or smoke. There are a few problems, but what do you expect after 20 years and a quarter of a million miles? The drivers window tracks needs a little repair, and a few interior pieces are a little loose. But hey, I can fix those issues, given a weekend and a few bucks.

The Bimmer, which is officially a 1992 BMW 325i, joined the family when my neighbor leaned over the fence one evening and asked if I wanted to buy her car for $1,500. It needed a wheel bearing and a clutch, and she wasn't ready to spend the $2,000 her mechanic wanted for repairs. Parts ran me about $250, and the labor was free. Even after 8 years I still don't have as much actual cash in the car as it would be worth if I sold it. I figure I came out ahead.

This was the second foreign car I ever owned. I had my Jag in England, so it wasn't really foreign, and the Beetle, well Beetles aren't foreign anywhere. The Cortina; now that was foreign. Other wise I was all American, Usually GM, and Oldsmobile whenever I could.

I wasn't sure I would like driving a BMW. The car was actually going to be my eldest son's car. I paid the cash and he was making payments. while he was making payments I drove it all week, and he had the weekends. That way I could keep an eye on my investment, and he would have an incentive to make the payments in a timely manner.Then he ran into financial issues, and I was stuck with it, after a fashion.

My daily driver prior to The Bimmer was a Chevy Caprice Classic Station Wagon. It ran good and got decent gas mileage, for a land yacht. I was working in Downtown Cincinnati at the time, as was used to swinging the land yacht into and out of the small downtown lots. The first day in The Bimmer I was amazed at how small it was comparatively, and yet was large on the inside. The only other small cars I had ever ridden in were Japanese, and I was never comfortable. They seemed narrow and completely lacked legroom for the 6 foot-four inch me.

The Bimmer wasn't like that. With the driver's seat back I have plenty of room. The seat-back is touching the front of the backseat, so rear seat legroom is non-existent, but what do I care? I'm sitting in front.

Anyway, after 8 years and 100,000 miles I'm still happy and comfortable. I'm hoping for at least another 250,000 out of her. By then it might need another clutch.

Oh, and the picture isn't my car. Mine is the same color and style, but lacks the spoiler. I couldn't find a picture of mine that wasn't covered with kids.