Fairfield-Echo

For Sale: '87 Mercedes-Benz, 300 SDL, all power, leather, sunroof, diesel, Black Pearl paint, one-owner car — 528,696 miles.

You read that right! Just a shade over a half a million miles, and Sam Woody of West Chester put 'em all on the car.

"I LOVE that car! It's the best car I ever owned," Woody said while sitting at the Ross Motor Cars office in Centerville. Woody recently took delivery of a replacement Mercedes, a 2007 CLS 550, and Ross took the half-million miler in trade.

"I had a lot of people who wanted that car, but when I talked with Charlie Sliemers, he made it clear they wanted the car, so I traded it," he added.

Woody bought the car new in '87, while still in the United States Air Force, stationed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. He paid slightly more than $40,000 for it.

"I've always lived in West Chester, so I drove it everyday to Fairborn. Then in 1988, I was transferred to St. Louis, but my wife stayed in West Chester, where she taught. I drove it home every other weekend for two years, so I piled up some miles. And after I retired from the Air Force, I started working in Fairborn, so I still drove it every day to work," he said.

Woody had all of the scheduled maintenance performed; oil changes, transmission fluid, brake fluid flush, cooling system, etc., done as scheduled.

"It never let me down. I had to have some transmission work done when the seals started leaking, and the air conditioning was rebuilt, but other than tires, brakes and the usual wear and tear, nothing else went wrong in 20 years."

Sliemers said that Ross has another customer with an '85 190 E model with more than a half-million miles on it, and another 30 customers in the database with more than 200,000 on their vehicles.

"These cars are built to last," Woody said. "My wife is driving an '86 190 D, and we also have an '89 300 SE 4-door. Just do the routine maintenance. That's all they need."

Woody decided he wanted one more Mercedes.

"I wanted one with all of the new technology: GPS, Bluetooth phone, all the bells and whistles. So I got the CLS 550. It's also really good-looking in black. Since this one's powered by a gasoline engine, I'm planning on driving it until they stop making gas."