The US Mercedes-Benz Classic Centre in New Jersey has re-launched the brand’s popular High Mileage Award to recognize owners’ brand loyalty and their cars’ durability.
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The automaker offers the award free to owners of Mercedes cars that have traveled at least 155,000 miles (250,000 kms) who complete a form and have the odometer reading verified by a company dealer. Badges and certificates are awarded for cars that reach the 250,000, 500,000, 750,000, 1,000,000-kilometre and one-million-mile marks.
The current high mileage champion is Gregorios Sachinidis, a Greek taxi driver who holds the known record of more than 2.8 million miles in his 1976 Mercedes-Benz 240D. The latest Mercedes to be recognized for surpassing the one-million-mile mark is a 1970 280SE recently acquired for the automaker’s museum from its original owners in California who bought the car new and drove it for 1,019,000 miles.
For $US100, Mercedes owners can also purchase a ‘Classic Certificate’ that verifies a car’s build date and original factory specifications.
The DaimlerChrysler archives make it possible to establish the original specifications of almost every vehicle built under the Mercedes and Mercedes- Benz brands. Some factory records date back to 1890, and the scope of archived data ranges from internal order number to bodywork and engine codes, to the place of delivery. An order for a classic certificate records the owner’s name in the archives, integrating the owner with the car’s history.
