The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/28/08
Paul Harman's car needs a new odometer.
Oh, it's not broken. It just doesn't have enough numbers.
 Frank Niemeir / AJC | ||
| Paul Harman's 1981 240D Mercedes has traveled more than 1 million miles, 1,020,100 to be exact. | ||
 Frank Niemeir / AJC | ||
| The speedometer dates to an earlier oil crisis when the United States regulated the speed limit to 55 mph. | ||
 Frank Niemeir / AJC | ||
| Harman loves the car, but he'd be open to selling it if someone offered a good deal. | ||
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Harman has a 1981 Mercedes-Benz 240D with a staggering 1,020,000 miles on it, most of which he logged himself.
How far is that?
That's like two round-trips to the moon with 27,000 miles left over for sightseeing. Or driving around the earth 41 times. Or sitting continuously behind the wheel for 708 days at 60 mph.
"It's a great car," said Harman, a retired BellSouth vice president and Johns Creek resident. "It's like part of my identity now. When I visit friends, they ask me, 'Now how many miles do you have on the Mercedes?'"
It's pretty rare to have a privately owned car last that long, but it's not unheard of, said Michael Kunz, general manager of Mercedes-Benz Classic Center USA in Irvine, Calif.
He said he's aware of less than a dozen that have crossed the million-mile threshold in recent years. Mercedes sells 300,000 cars a year in the U.S.
Kunz said he's familiar with Harman's automotive achievement.
"It's cool from our perspective because the car looks really good," he said. "If you look at it, you'd never know it was a million-mile car."
In 1983, Harman, then a district manager for Southern Bell, needed to trade in his aging Pontiac Bonneville. He had always wanted a Mercedes, and he bought one — a basic model, slightly used with 40,000 miles on it, painted a faded mustard color known as Manila beige. He financed it for four years, paying $17,800 including tax, title and tag.
"I didn't have any real expectations when I bought it," he said. "I just thought it was the neatest car in the world, and I had one."
Twenty-four years later, he crossed the 1,000,000-mile mark at an Octoberfest celebration at RBM Mercedes in Sandy Springs. He has a certificate, a special Mercedes badge on his grille, and a letter from Ernst Lieb, president and CEO of Mercedes-Benz USA, who actually called Harman on the telephone one day.
The key to automotive long life, Harman said, is oil changes. He changes the oil religiously every 3,000 miles. A meticulous keeper of records, he has 22 pages of documentation front and back of every routine visit to his mechanic, German Autoworks in Chamblee.
The car, affectionately called Old Yeller, still has the original engine block, although it was rebuilt at 376,000 miles. The timing chains have been replaced several times.
In 1999, the car had 550,000 miles, and he had to make a decision. Old Yeller was 18 years old, and needed some minor repair from a fender-bender, a new transmission, a paint job, and a new windshield. He had worn out the driver's seat, which needed to be rebuilt and re-upholstered. All the rubber seals needed to be replaced. It was a long list.
"I had to fix it up or get rid of it," Harman said.
But he was kind of attached to it. He was retiring and had the opportunity to travel. He decided Old Yeller could stay. Not only that, he set a goal that the reliable car would make the million-mile mark.
So, he started driving for the sake of it, getting up at 4:30 a.m. to work out at Fort McPhearson, come home, drive back at 11:30 a.m. and play golf all day. He said his wife, Gale, prefers to drive a newer car, but she indulges him and lets him drive whenever they travel together.
The car's been to all 49 states on the continent, and Harman said he'd take it to Hawaii if he could figure out how to get it there for free.
Beloved as it is, Harman said, if a collector made him a good offer, he would consider selling Old Yeller, also christened Lello Sades by his young granddaughter.
"There are collectors out there that have all kinds of rare cars, but I bet they don't have one that's gone a million miles."
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