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  #21  
Old September 10th 04, 02:04 PM
dreas
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"Robin Banks" > wrote in message
...
> On Thu, 09 Sep 2004 11:18:56 GMT, "dreas" > wrote:
>
> > I could probably get one easily when U-Haul flips over its current

pickup
> > fleet...

>
> Err, I dunno. I had a friend that was a UHaul manager. I was in the

market
> for a box van kind of truck (for a company I worked for), and they've got
> those PU front end with a box on it kind of trucks, so I was shopping. My
> buddy warned me strongly not to buy it, and told me to go to Ryder or
> Hertz/Penske instead.


Hmmm. The larger trucks from U-Haul look like they've been around for
a long time, but their pickups and regular cargo vans look like new. You can
always get one from Hertz, Avis, Enterprise, Budget, etc.

> He said that UHaul has a tendancy to run their trucks into the ground

before
> offing them, whereas Ryder/Penske do it at regular intervals.
>
> He himself bought a used Ryder van (which said something to me), so that's
> what I did... bought a Ryder, and the company's still using it. (8 years
> later.)
>
> Just a background story. Your milage may vary, all standard disclaimers
> apply, contents may have settled in shipping, etc, etc. :-)


Every data point is a good data point...

-'dreas


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  #22  
Old September 10th 04, 02:37 PM
dreas
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"Charlie Self" > wrote in message
...
> Hans Sundkvist responds:
>
> >
> >Say What???
> >I am not very familiar vith the american used car market, but a couple
> >hundred $$ for a 70,000 mile car sounds *very* cheap!
> >And for such a "hardly broken in" car to only last a Year???
> >
> >What kind of cars were those? Yugos?

>
> Read the entire post...especially the parts about "many years ago" and "6
> centers per mile".
>
> The cars were usually small or medium sized, Fords, Chevies, Plymouths,
> whatever models were available in the early and mid-60s. Many sold for 100
> bucks, those with lower mileage went for a couple hundred. Fleet car

mileage
> turnover varied, but in many cases, 70,000 miles was a replacement marker.
> Metallurgy 40 years ago wasn't what it is today, so a vehicle that made

100,000
> miles was a big deal.


Yet there's a red '66 Volvo somewhere out there with some 1.5 million miles
clocked. I friend of the family did 200,000 in a '69 Ford without any major
overhaul. My '68 Montego has 171,000 on it, although the timing chain and
a few other bits were replaced. It still needs a left lower balljoint, new
shocks
and tires to be very good, but I drive it one or two thousand miles a year
so
I'm not in a big rush. Did I read somewhere that Hudson engine blocks from
the thirties were made of such a hard alloy that cylinder re-boring was
rarely
needed, and boring machines were damaged when the job was attempted?
It's in 'Cars & Parts' or 'Collectible Automobile' sometime in the past
twenty
years...

Mind you, I had a '64 Cadillac that I got with 134,000 miles and sold eight
years later with 169,000. Everything broke on it, and I had it all replaced.
Then it all started breaking again by the time I was done. It was a
beautiful
car, and the biggest pain in the wallet I ever had...

I imagine cars in the early sixties were cheap enough with huge discounts
to fleet buyers that by the time they did 70,000 miles they had already paid
for themselves and were written off and dumped on the used car market
at any price to be rid of them. They were probably really plain cars,
painted
white without much fancy stuff on them, dog dish hubcaps, radio delete,
manual brakes and steering and a two-speed automatic or three on the tree.
Hell, that's just the kind of car I'd like to have today if I could find one
that
isn't on blocks in a junk yard with a tree growing through where the slant-6
or stovebolt used to be...

-'dreas


  #23  
Old September 10th 04, 02:40 PM
Ken Doyle
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"Charlie Self" wrote
> Metallurgy 40 years ago wasn't what it is today, so a vehicle that made

100,000
> miles was a big deal.
>


I don't think that was much of a factor. Any properly maintained 1960s
American car will run a few hundred thousand miles with decent maintainance.
I think the cars were sold at 70,000 because new cars were so much less
expensive than they are today.
$300 for a used one, $3000 for a new one (a nice one). That's 10%.
A nice new car is now about $30,000. 10% would be $3000 for a used one.
Seems about right actually.

Ken D.


  #24  
Old September 10th 04, 02:48 PM
dreas
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"Hans Sundkvist" > wrote in message
...
> OK! I see...
>
> Well, to be honest, my standards is the old Volvos and Mercens-Benz,
> that easily roll at least 500,000 km (ca300,000 miles) before showing
> major signs of wear... ;-)


500,000 km is usually the point at which most taxis in our fleet begin to
require more repairs and maintenance than before. By maintenance, I
mean universal and balljoint replacement, transmission rebuilds, and so
on...

> I have actually seen many volvo and Benz taxis here in Sweden with over
> a million km on the odometer...


I have even seen a few Chevrolets and Dodges with a million km. There
are a couple of Oldsmobiles that have been taxis for fifteen years, and if
they put the same milage on that I do [120,000 km a year] they may be
near the two million mark by now. With a gasoline engine you'd never
get that kind of longevity, but these old cars are running on propane...

> My father's 1975 benz rolled over 560,000 km before the rust finally
> retired the (still running good) car...


Do they use a lot of salt on the roads in Winter?

-'dreas


  #25  
Old September 10th 04, 02:52 PM
Charlie Self
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dreas responds:

>I imagine cars in the early sixties were cheap enough with huge discounts
>to fleet buyers that by the time they did 70,000 miles they had already paid
>for themselves and were written off and dumped on the used car market
>at any price to be rid of them. They were probably really plain cars,
>painted
>white without much fancy stuff on them, dog dish hubcaps, radio delete,
>manual brakes and steering and a two-speed automatic or three on the tree.
>Hell, that's just the kind of car I'd like to have today if I could find one
>that
>isn't on blocks in a junk yard with a tree growing through where the slant-6
>or stovebolt used to be...


That's what MOST cars were back then. My mother's first Valiant, a '62, was
white with only a radio for an extra.

I have no idea what the mileage was when she got rid of that slant six, but a
lot, and she was not a believer in changing the oil every 1500 miles as
recommended back then. My father was an auto mechanic, and had to sneak
tune-ups in. For some reason, Mom preferred to run the vehicle until it stopped
instead of doing plugs and points every 10,000 miles. It's a good thing gas
wasn't much over 20 cents a gallon.

Charlie Self
"Men stumble over the truth from time to time, but most pick themselves up and
hurry off as if nothing happened." Sir Winston Churchill
 




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