PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post - DO you remember when this was a big deal?

dlssmith · #18 05-25-2013, 03:00 PM

My uncle had a diesel MB back in the late 60s that had around 100,000 on it when he bought it. He was a teacher then and didn't have much money. My grandpa scoffed loudly at the thought of buying a car with that many miles.

Of course grandpa, a farmer born in 1902 didn't really concern himself with changing oil or such things. He didn't ever wash his cars either, except for once in awhile I'd see him outside wiping off the car during a heavy rain. His cars didn't get used that much anyway. Only to drive to town for church or for groceries. Grandma didn't drive. His 1962 Bel Aire had about 30k on it when I got it in 1973, to use as a beater around the farm. I was 10 years old (and boy did I have some fun in that Chev - that 283 was as quiet as a church until I took the muffler off...!) Grandma forced him to buy a new car in 73, an Impala and that lasted until the end of his life in 1993 and still only had about 30k on it - it was quite rusted, smoked some, but still smelled new inside. On top of all that he only ever drove about 40 or 45 mph.

Funny enough, I can remember when we went to town to pick up that new 73 Impala. He had never driven an automatic to that point. My uncle was teaching him to drive and I can still remember the swearing from the front seat when he finally got fed up with there being no clutch and parked the car in the middle of the driveway and when to feed the chickens. The car sat there for 3 or 4 weeks before he would drive it. No one said anything to him. He just decided to climb in and figure it out for himself so he could take "ma" to church in his first brand new car. Grandma never had much patience for riding in the pickup, especially to church.