I've had my daily driver 1973 Volkswagen Beetle a very long time. I got it right before I left North Carolina, where I grew up, to go to college. Before I left the Pine State, I had the car serviced on a few occasions by a local repair shop, Webster Import Service. My mom still takes her Passat there.
Well, it seems like in the decade and a half or so that have passed since I left North Carolina, the old Webster gang have upgraded their electronic brains, and passed all their old data into a modern, web-based information system. I know this because my sister forwarded me this email sent from Webster Import Service to my mom's account. It seems my old Bug is still in their system.
And, even better, it seems I'm ready for my manufacturer-recommended 475,000 mile service! I wonder if Volkswagen is aware they have recommended service for nearly half a million miles. And I wonder if the only things really needed at such a service are
• Replace Engine Oil
• Replace Engine Oil Filter
• Inspect Various Components
Yes, good idea— INSPECT those components. They're in there, buried somewhere under nearly 10 Olympics worth of road grime and grit. I'm sure everything's fine, but what the hell, give 'em a look— after all, they have gone the distance of the circumference of the Earth about 19 times or so.
And of course replace the oil filter on that '73 Beetle. You can just throw it in the well behind the back seat, since there's nowhere to install one on the engine.
I know it's only a computer doing what it's told— but it's pretty striking to see such a huge milage number on one of these things. Honestly, I'm not even sure that mileage is right— when I got the car, the odometer quit working reliably sometime around when Reagan beat Mondale. And it was over 250,000 miles then. So, who knows how many miles are on my car? I actually suspect something between 500-600,000, but 475,000 seems a reasonable enough guess.
Anyway, I'm going to put this off. I'll change my own oil and make a note to inspect those various components at my factory-suggested 850,000 mileage checkup. I think I'm supposed to replace my wiper blades then, too.