There’s no question that Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo and Toyota dominate the standings in the Junkyard Gem Intergalactic Odometer Hall of Fame, and I don’t even bother to document most of the Camrys and Accords I find with better than 300,000 miles showing on their odometers. Subarus that have attained the 300K-mile mark are much rarer
Several readers have suggested that I document some early compact crossover SUVs during my junkyard travels, making the point that these little truck-influenced machines went on to squeeze most small hatchbacks and sedans out of the showrooms and are thus historically significant. Junkyard Gems are all about automotive history, of course, so I set out
Toyota has been selling the Sienna minivan for just about a quarter-century now, and it’s a well-built, substantial machine with its engine in the expected location. Its much smaller predecessor, however, was designed with the Japanese market in mind and had its engine mounted sideways under the front seats. This was the Estima, badged as
The American Honda Motor Company started selling a wagon version of the Accord for the 1991 model year, four years after Toyota introduced the Camry wagon here. While the long-roof Accord gained a devoted following of American owners, sales were never very strong; the introduction of the new CR-V here in 1997 coincided with the
After more than 15 years of documenting interesting vehicles I spy in car graveyards, I know which of those vehicles are most likely to show astronomical readings on their odometers: Honda Accords and Mercedes-Benzes. In my personal junkyard-odometer Top Ten, a Volvo 240 leads with 631,999 miles and a car needs to beat 411,794 miles
If you’re poking around in your local car graveyard and you want to find cars with extremely high final numbers showing on their odometers, my suggestion is that you look for clean-looking Mercedes-Benzes, Toyotas, Volvos, and Hondas of the 1980s and 1990s. These machines have the combination of six-digit mechanical odometers and excellent build quality
