Till Death Do Us Part
Seventy seven years. That’s how long Allen Swift owned this 1928 Rolls-Royce P1 Roadster, a graduation gift he received in the same year. When he passed away at the age of 102, what may well be the world’s longest car ownership relationship ended (Guinness doesn’t keep this particular record). But Rolls-Royce does, and in their meticulous record books, he was undoubtedly the longest owner. RR bestowed him with a crystal Spirit of Ecstasy award in 1994. The Rolls, built in Springfield, Massachusetts, had 170,000 miles on the clock, and Mr. Swift drove it right up to the year of his death (2005). It reputedly “runs like a Swiss watch”, and is still cosmetically perfect. It now resides in the Springfield History Museum, as per an arrangement Mr. Swift made with them in when he was 99.
At least one Curbside Classic owner might be able to best Mr. Swift’s long run. This 1950 Ford was bought by its owner in 1964, when he was fourteen. If he lives to at least 92, he’ll have Mr. Swift beat. How about you; what’s the longest you’ve owned a car?
Hat tip to Ray Charlton; via christiancarguy.com
More by Paul Niedermeyer
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29 years and counting for my '69 Cutlass W-31; came very close to selling it 15 yrs ago, but I got stubborn on the price (we were $500 apart). I had a frame-on resto done in 1984 and when it came time to settle up with the body shop, the shop owner told me not to worry about it- my grandmother had already paid the bill as my HS graduation present. Thanks Granny!
2000 VW Passat GLS 1.8T - bought NEW in Nov of '09 so we are going on 11 years now. No sludge or coil pack issues, but tons of other stupid (and expensive) little things have gone wrong with it. It just turned 84K miles this AM in fact. Its garage kept and my wife drove it sparingly for 8 years. I'm in the process of painting all the chipped interior door trim and replacing the stock stereo system. It could use new shocks, the headliner has to be replaced, the ABS computer is dead, the dash LCD is unreadable, the A/C sputters at times and there is a horrible squeaking coming from the fan during start up... but it keeps going and getting 30 mpg. I'm hoping to get another 2 years out of it, but I'm driving it 40 miles a day now. Shortest ownership - 1996 Iszuz Rodeo = about 6 months. Most ill handling, gas sucking, worthless thing I have ever purchased. Made four payments then swapped it for a Mitsubishi Eclipse GS-T... which ironically was traded for the above mentioned Passat.
An '86 Honda Accord Lxi H/B, 15.3 years & 215K miles. I bought it new. The most reliable ride I've ever had! I bought my first car in '61! My current ride is an '07 Civic EX, a genuine POS! I want to replace it with a 2010/2011 GTI.
Bought my first car, 65 Mustang, in 1980. Kept it til 1992, when my brother sideswiped a telephone pole with it...not too long after I'd given it a new paint job and front suspension (sigh). you can pick your friends....