TAMPA, Fla. – Randall Scott probably laughed at those who woke up in a cold sweat resulting from anxiety that the odometer of their vehicle was about to, gasp, turn 100,000.
It was a little more than 10 years ago last month when Scott, a military veteran, brought his 1991 Honda CRX to Tampa Honda on N. Florida Avenue to have it serviced. The car, with a Purple Heart sticker still visible in the rear, has since sat in the dealership’s service department waiting area.
It is a bright red million-mile conversation piece and an object of show-and-tell for the automaker. Look at how long your car can last if you take care of it!
According to veteran service advisor Jorge Fernandez, the now-deceased Scott bought the vehicle in North Carolina when it was a year old and with 26,000 miles. He stopped driving the vehicle shortly after it reached the magical seven-figure mark. It was after he moved to Florida that Scott brought it to Tampa Honda.
“When he came here, he told me the story and said he would bring the car in so we could see it,” said Fernandez, recalling a video Scott showed him of arriving at a North Carolina dealership to much pomp and circumstance as the vehicle reached one million miles. “Our managers tried to buy it from him, and he said, ‘No, it has been in the garage for years, and I am not (selling) the car. But if you guys want, you can keep it here because I would rather have it in a climate controlled (environment) instead of a hot garage.’ It has been sitting here since.”
Fernandez said Scott passed away two years ago, and the dealership ultimately purchased the vehicle from his widow. Scott, who also owned a 1991 Civic and a 2006 Accord, took care of more than his cars.
“He was such a nice guy that he would buy older cars, spend a lot of money fixing them, and give them to friends of his that needed cars,” he said.
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