Go ahead and brag about your 10-year-old car. Rachel Veitch can beat that — the 93-year-old grandmother has had her Mercury Comet Caliente for almost half a century.
She bought the car — which she calls her Chariot — for $3,200 when it was new in 1964. But after racking up 576,000 miles and appearing in auto shows and even on ‘The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,’ Rachel is hanging up her keys.
“I am legally blind, so I can no longer drive my lovely Chariot,” she said. “They don’t have to take it away. I would not dream of driving that car again.”
Veitch, a retired nurse who’s been something of a local celebrity in her hometown of Orlando, FL., for years, says the car has outlasted three sets of shocks — and three marriages. She happily tooled around in it until just last month, when she realized her eyesight had deteriorated to the point where she could no longer safely drive.
She’s taken meticulous care of her Chariot, which has gone through 18 batteries, eight mufflers and countless oil changes. So what will happen to it now?
Rachel said she’d like to see if known car-aficionado Leno wants it, but when asked if any of her four children, nine grandchildren or 11 great-grandchildren had shown any interest in taking it off her hands, she had a quick reply.
“It wouldn’t matter if they did, they’re not going to get it. They couldn’t take care of it like I did.”
Take a look at a news report on Rachel’s amazing car from a few years back below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6LNo9OPHRg&feature=player_embedded