High Odometer Mileage ?

[Mr Lee]

I was curious about the yearly mileage people put on their e-bodies and dug up this old thread. Very impressive some of them.

When I restored my car, I was torn on whether or not to zero out the odometer but wound up keeping the original mileage on there - 41,932... which i really hope was 141,932 (or more) for the shape the car was in.  But, I felt like keeping the original mileage on there was a way to acknowledge it's long hard life of being driven on salty roads in upstate NY and having shag carpet on the dash before I owned it and pampered it with a nice dry garage and being rarely driven in the rain. If the odometer is the life-line of the car, let it roll on, ... pick up where it left off and keep going.  But i see both sides of it there. Everything is basically new / totally restored, like it has a second life.

Anyway, I got the car on the road two years ago now and added another 3,000 miles to the odometer so far. 


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[Dakota]

My Challenger had 98k on the odometer when I bought it and tore it apart, so I "rounded up" to zero or 100k on the odometer when the gauge cluster was redone.

I'm at about 3k miles as well after getting the car back on the road in early November 2020.  Finished the 500 break-in miles on the engine before putting it away a couple of weeks later.   Wasn't home much during 2021, but still got some miles on it on sunny days to reach 3k.  Hoping to to a lot more this year. 

[dodj]

I swapped in a rallye cluster in 1995 that had 1400 miles on it. It has 29000 on it now. Not really a lot of miles for how long I've had it.

Wasn't home much during 2021,

Most people I know said they were home, way to much in 2021. I know I was. Just got back from Mexico a week and a bit ago. First time away in a long time.

[Dakota]

Between 2 bathroom renovation projects at my mother-in-law's, our middle son's wedding out of state, new born twin grandsons for another son and his wife, plus 2 round trips driving between Buffalo and Texas, we were everywhere but home. 

[Cuda_mark]

Mine when I bought it had about 47K on it... In that time it had been beaten to death.... When I restored it I zeroed out the odometer... Been driving it on nice days ever since... Just walked out & looked, 90259....

Now that is impressive

[7E-Bodies]

My 70 RT will be basically new from bumper to bumper, but I'm still contemplating resetting to zero. First, I've never done it. Second, it only had 64k miles when it went into storage (combined 30 years indoor storage) so I'm tempted to leave it as the odometer states.

[bentpshrods]

  Amazing timing on seeing this thread brought back today. Today is the sixth anniversary of the passing of my oldest daughter. The last thing we did together was take the Cuda for a drive to the mountains north of Boise. She had never drove it before. One Saturday we had some time together so we went on what I call my pepperoni run.  There is a Chevron station in Garden Valley (60 miles North of Boise) that sells 2 ft. long pep. sticks.  So I had her drive up there. We got there and they were out. So we went into the town of Crouch and had a nice lunch and drove around the hills for an afternoon and then came home. A great day. Took this picture on the way back next to the South fork of the Payette river. Ten days later she was life flight from McCall,Id. where she lived to Boise in critical cond. A simple flu virus had made her sick but her body had an auto immune response and attacked all her vital organs instead of the virus, four days later she was gone. So on her Angel Day (as the wife calls it) I take the day off and spend it driving up in the mountains. Just got back from my 5th annual drive. A 210 mile round trip.  The odometer reads 90,162. Looks like i'm averaging just over 1,200 miles a summer. 

[7E-Bodies]

@bentpshrods you have my deepest sympathy and respect. I'm currently helping a close friend deal with the loss of her daughter two months ago. The pain is unthinkable.

[YellowThumper]

Great soul cleansing and thought provoking tribute ride.
Thanks for sharing.

[Dakota]

Great soul cleansing and thought provoking tribute ride.
Thanks for sharing.

Well said.  I started and then deleted a post several times because I didn't have the right words.   Your expressed what I was thinking. 

[Mr Lee]

[mention]bentpshrods [/mention]

That is both a heartbreaking and heart warming story.  Very sorry for your loss. Glad you have that nice memory of her and that you still take that scenic drive once a year. Thanks for sharing your story and the great photos.


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[1ownr]

@bentpshrods  - Some of the best memories are from sharing time rolling down the road, thank you for sharing a special time spent with your daughter.

judy

[anlauto]

Wow, this thread took a turn, I'm reading it with tears in my eyes now...what a great way to honor her memory 

[bentpshrods]

   Thanks everyone for the warm thoughts. Now that I'm retired my morning ritual is to get up, take my pills, grab breakfast, and sit down at the computer and go thru 3-4 forums I follow. That morning of my drive seeing this thread come back made me think that maybe our lost love ones sometime give us little clues that they are still with/watching over us. Well---in my mind anyway. Also thought of a guy I've met at the car shows that has a very nice 69 Nova. He's usually there with his 2 sons, 14 and 16. One day I asked the oldest how he liked driving it. He replied Oh heck no--dad will never let us do that, he's afraid we might hurt or break something. WTH. To each their own, but I think of the memories lost. Or the smiles on their face as they get to drive dads hot rod. And if something did happen---fix it. Think of the stories you will tell to embarrass them 10 years later at the family reunion. Super glad to have what I have. Guess what I'm getting at is we put a lot of time and money into our cars--so go out and share them with others and beat on them every chance you get. Make memories.  If I wanted garage art I would take a picture. Drive them like they were meant to be. More SMILES per miles. Again thanks all.    Doug