There’s a 30-year previous Mercedes-Benz taxi that has lined virtually a million miles. The veteran sedan drives in an Albanian metropolis in Europe and nonetheless has the unique engine below the hood.
It’s a W124 Mercedes-Benz E200 that rolled off the meeting line again in 1993. That was the yr the story of the E-Class began. That hood covers a 2.0-liter four-cylinder diesel engine with 136 PS and 190 Nm. The ability unit delivers assets to the rear axle by way of a five-speed handbook.
The sedan was removed from being a highway runner. It took 11.5 seconds to cowl the time from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) and had a prime pace of 200 km/h (124 mph). Virtually thirty years later, the Mercedes-Benz taxi from Albania might be inching even farther from these figures. However it has fairly a narrative to inform the grand-grandchildren bearing the EQE moniker.
The mannequin arrived in Albania when new. It got here from its homeland, Germany, and began its taxi half 15 years in the past, within the arms of Luan Nina, now 70 years previous. Collectively day in, day trip, on the road of Durres, a metropolis on the coast of the Adriatic Sea and a highly regarded vacation spot in summer time, they saved including mile after mile.
“For me, it’s the most lovely metropolis on this planet. As a result of I used to be born and raised right here,” the proprietor says in a DW documentary.
Within the “most lovely metropolis on this planet,” a taxi experience is about 300 LEK (3 euros). The quantity or vacationers doubles or triples in summer time. Revenues do to. However he nonetheless makes use of an old-style cell phone with buttons. It in all probability matches the classic Benz.
The odometer of the automotive ought to have now proven 1,584,589 kilometers. That’s virtually a million miles. 984,617, to be exact. 621,371 of them have been rolled in yellow, the colour of taxis over there (and in lots of elements of the world). However the dial shows solely 584,589. No, no person is attempting to trick us. It’s simply that it rolled again to zero as soon as it hit a million kilometers. However there are paperwork proving the true mileage of the Mercedes-Benz taxi.
“I haven’t modified something,” Mr. Nina proudly tells. “I solely needed to restore it as soon as, the pinnacle gasket.” However that’s as a result of he has been taking excellent care of it all through the years. It’s the automotive, the comrade, that places meals on his desk.
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