The forgotten story of a Liechtenstein businessman and his Maybach, which he drove over 1 million km

This gentleman, named Josef Weikinger, is one of the most respectable business men in Europe, who has amassed a considerable fortune during his lifetime. He lives in Liechtenstein, but his business also includes Austria and many other European locations, his company, called Interfloat, was once the first manufacturer of solar panels in Europe. However, this wealthy man has a very interesting attitude towards cars, using them to the full, as few would imagine that a multimillionaire like him can do. But you know that expression, that some people become millionaires precisely because they don't throw money away, right?

This history is a long-forgotten one, but it also has a continuation to the present, which we will investigate later. Today we will talk more about this man's experience with his Maybach, the time he owned it, from 2004 to 2013.

So, in 2004, Josek Weikiner bought a new Maybach 62, the 62 model being the most expensive of the Maybach range at the time, measuring 6.2 meters long. By the way, although it looks completely different, this Maybach model is built on the platform of the legendary Mercedes-Benz W140, that square S-Class from the '90s, so adored and respected for its exemplary reliability. And although they already had a newer Mercedes-Benz S-Class, from the W220 generation, the Mercedes engineers insisted that for the Maybach, the top and absolute luxury limousine, they used the platform of the W140, not the W220. They knew what to do, for sure.

Well, in 2004, Josef paid over 450,000 euros for his luxury limousine. Being a multimillionaire, he allowed himself such a purchase, but he calculated very well why he needed such a big car and why he chose Maybach. Because he had such an S-Class W140 before, and in 2004 he could already afford this bigger and more luxurious car, with the same platform. And because his work as the owner and general manager of his company, involved a lot of traveling through European countries, he had calculated that it is often more efficient to do them with a luxurious car, which floats on the highway, at high speeds, than lose 3 hours at the airport, then fly a few hundred kilometers, then leave the airport and lose another hour or two to the destination.

Josef had a hired driver for his Maybach. So when he had to work or wanted a more leisurely regime, the car was driven by the driver. But, as Josef himself said in 2014 in an interview for a German magazine, the Maybach became so dear to him that he often chose to drive it himself. He said that he had never seen any other car that could go so smoothly and gracefully on the roads, as if it didn't even touch the asphalt! And driving it, with a V12 engine under the hood, was as enjoyable an experience as sitting in the back seat, in absolute luxury!

So the car was with him in the vast majority of his trips, and the businessman from Liechtenstein simply adored it. So much so, that he was not intimidated even by the fact that such an operating regime was unusual for a luxurious Maybach, and the numbers on the odometer grew like yeast. The hundreds of thousands of kilometers were accumulating on the board, and the 5.5-liter V12 biturbo engine under the hood, fueled only by 98 gasoline, was just as happy to make its owner happy.

Josef says that it often happened that in a single day the car traveled as much as 1,500 km, and the record was 2,500 km round trip in 24 hours, which means that on certain stretches of highway, the car simply flew at dizzying speeds. And, as Josef says, he loves the quietness of the interior on these trips, being able to work from his laptop in the backseat, listening to good music on the car's excellent audio system, or listening to an audiobook, and sometimes even reading on board. The road was so soft and smooth!

Well, on September 12, 2009, just 5 years after Josef had bought his car, he was driving it through Austria, camera ready. The car reached 999.999 km, and Josef took a photo of it. He was waiting for the dashboard to read 1,000,000 km or possibly 000,000 km. But the Maybach's dashboard was stuck at 999,999. The car did not have 7 digits for the odometer and when it passed 1 million, it simply stopped showing anything other than 999,999. The engineers worked with overengineering on this car, but they did not foresee that one of the millionaires who will buy it, will end up going so much with it.

But even that did not deter this gentleman. He didn't even go to repair the dashboard, or ask for a replacement. He simply noted the longer distances in a notebook, periodically, to account for the oil changes, and continued to use the car. He operated it for another 4 years, until August 2013. He can't say exactly how many kilometers in addition to the million in 2009, but a rough estimate leads us to think that the car had actually traveled around 1.6-1.7 million kilometers, which means more that 1 million miles!

Had he had any technical problems with it in the meantime? Yes, of course, at such a course you end up changing major components, but Josef was not discouraged. At 600 thousand km, the engine failed and needed expensive repairs. So he ordered a new one. Two months apart, his gearbox died and he changed that too. With the new engine and the new transmission, the car went, as can be deduced, for almost another 1 million kilometers without any problem. At around 600,000 or so, this Maybach had its first replacement shock absorbers! At over 600 thousand!

In the year 2013, Josef had already considered that he had exploited his car enough, and had been looking to buy another new Maybach. Unfortunately, Mercedes-Benz no longer produced Maybachs at all. So Josef bought a BMW 760Li, but he still said at the time that Mercedes had made a wrong move by removing the Maybach brand from its range. Josef sold the car to a business partner, owner of another company, and after the sale they often saw each other at all kinds of meetings, Josef having the opportunity to see his car again, further exploited in good hands. The new owner, by the way, had gone to reactivate his odometer at the service, where they reactivated it from 000,000 km, he had already managed to travel about 57 thousand km in a single year.

Until then, some statistical figures from Josef's history with his Maybach are downright impressive. Some calculations made by Josef show that his car consumed about 167 tons of 98 gasoline (44,100 galons), and the actual time he spent on board the car, on trips, would have been almost 2 years uninterrupted, if we add all the trips together. And a very businesslike calculation of his showed that, taking into account the purchase price of the car, minus the selling price, taking into account all technical services and gasoline, due to the fact that he drove so many kilometers with it, he obtained in the end an operating cost of just over 50 cents per kilometer of use! Such a figure would be enviable for many other modern cars at a reasonable price, not to mention modern electric cars!

So, in the case of this gentleman, the purchase of a super expensive car was more rational than a budget one, and if we also take into account the pleasure of the 2 years spent on board, his rational decision was also one accompanied by satisfaction.