99 Year Old Car
Not getting any younger but still has guts!
My grandpa is already 90 years old but, take note, he can still manage to clean up my car and he even replaced the Mercedes Benz fender and the Mercedes Benz fog light lens for me.
But oh don’t be mistaken - our family’s car is not as old as my grandpa, but this car I saw on the net is a bit older than him. Yeah you read it right. An Iowa man has an antique automobile but this unit is still running in the streets of Merill at the age of 99 years.
With a small amount of cranks, the engine starts up with less effort - no sweat baby! It is owned by John Mertes and his son Ken. And what a surprise! John is 90 years (just like grandpa) and he said that the car has got only some… years on him, not that bad!
According to him, it was fabricated by the year 1908 by Sears Roebuck and Company. It cost him for about 525 dollars. So this calls for a celebration - yup, you got the right math. By next year, it is time for its centennial anniversary. But I’m just curious - if there is going to be a celebration, what type of cars (and car owners) would be invited? Would they be going to invite antiques, vintage, collectibles, limited edition, or sports cars? If that would be the case, then I can’t come for my car will be out of place!
Anyway, back to the 99 year old car. In 1916, John was born and his father gave him the auto when he was a 16 year old boy. They have this car driven to a bunch of displays over the years. And how did they maintain it? The answer: tender loving care so much so that it can still run for about 15 miles per hour.
Actually they made few repairs to this wooden wheeled wonder, including the new sleeves on the motor and new tires but the rest including the steering bar, headlights, and carriage seat are still original parts. As a tradition, John wants to pass the vehicle on to his son Ken.
