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| Aroostook Republican photo/Barb Scott Patti Collins of Caribou stands beside her 2003 Ford Taurus which just happens to have traveled 420,994 miles and is still going. |
By Barbara Scott
Staff Writer
“I love her — she drives really good, I take her to town, shopping and work,” said Patti Collins, “I’ll probably drive her ‘til she dies — plus I really like not having a car payment.”
Collins, of Caribou and a CNA at Cary Medical Center, was speaking of her “ride,” a 2003 Ford Taurus station wagon — which, as of April 5, had 420,994 miles on the odometer.
“In Sept. of 2003 we bought a new Ford Taurus in Yarmouth, to replace our old Taurus which we had owned since 1996-7,” stated Collins. “We had used for our business, Yarmouth Taxi. For seven years our son, Bill, who manages the business for us, used that car to transport passengers throughout the Yarmough-Portland area. After 330,000 miles we replaced the transmission and the car kept on running. In August 2010, we decided to replace the 2003 vehicle and brought her home to retire.”
“When Bill brought the Taurus home to ‘retire’ he thought he was going to park it behind the barn but I said, “I don’t think so — I’m going to drive her,’” laughed Collins. “My son said, ‘Mom, you aren’t going to drive that’ and I assured him that yes, I was.
“I gave him my newer vehicle to replace the 2003. I’m adventurous, I don’t care, especially in this day and age with prices the way they are, I try to save where I can,” she added.
Collins and her husband David lived in the Yarmouth area between 1995-2000, where she worked full-time at Maine Medical Center and he, after his retirement from the Brunswick Naval Air Station, had several businesses including Yarmouth Taxi, Computers Plus, Downeast Movers and (Aroostook Movers, when they returned home to Caribou in 2002 for good.)
“Actually, said Collins, “the 1997 Taurus (used as a taxi and rental car) that we replaced with the ‘retired’ one that I’m driving now, is still going strong and must have about the same amount of miles, but I’m not sure how much work has been done to it.”
“So retire she (2003 Taurus) did not,” said Collins, “We now use her for our run-around town car and as I said before, I drive it everywhere I go — from shopping, picking up the mail and of course work — but she is still zipping around at 420,994 miles.” “And the only major work on her has been a transmission replacement, (still the original engine, etc) — what a girl!” she added.
