(VIDEO) This Mercedes from 1963 has been working as a taxi for almost 50 years and over 1 million km, its driver aging with him
Mar. 21st, 2023, 08:02 PM GMT TimelessDriving
How long can today's cars work in taxi services? Three years, four years, maybe 7 years in the case of some drivers who care more about them? How would a car be bought second-hand, when it is already 12 years old, and then be able to serve another 48 years as a taxi meter, moving on to mileages of the order of millions and still working at the age of 60 years? This Mercedes has exactly such a history!
It is a Mercedes W110 manufactured in 1963, the W110 model being produced between 1961 and 1968 and being from the period when Mercedes only knew how to make cars of the highest quality. The car has been owned since 1975 by Omar, a taxi driver from the city of Bakhoun, in northern Lebanon, who started working in a taxi back in 1955, when he was 21 years old. That's when he got his license and soon started working as a taxi driver.
He also worked on other cars during his first 20 years of work. He says he also had a Toyota Cressida, which was a good car, but he didn't keep it very long. Since 1975, when he bought this Mercedes, he has not parted with it, and it is already almost 50 years since Omar has been working with this car. They grew old together, Omar is 89 today. And the wrinkles are visible both on his face and on that of the car.
Omar says his car is completely original, but it's hard to say what exactly he means by that. He says, for example, that the upholstery of the seats is still the one from 1963, with which the car left the factory. It's just that it's weathered now.
But the car goes anyway. Even with minor permanent repairs and a spare leather crate in the trunk, this 89-year-old taxi driver continues to drive his Mercedes and work with it. Omar has been retired for 10 years now, but he continues to work anyway, and if we take into account the fact that he started working as a taxi driver at the age of 21, it means that he has accumulated a work experience of 68 years so far!
So it's no wonder he can tell a lot of stories from his work, including long road trips he took by car, taking travelers to Damascus or Istanbul. And this Mercedes never left him on the road. It's one of those cars made to last a lifetime. And it seems that he will continue to stand with Omar!
