Man's Pontiac has more than 500,000 miles
Kinston Free Press
LaToya Mack
Staff Writer
PINK HILL - Pontiac may have found a new pitch man in James Heath.
The 77-year-old man drives a 1991 Pontiac 6000 that, as of Monday morning, had 500,354 miles and counting.
"It runs good," Heath said. "I haven't done nothing hardly except put head gaskets on. It had a new alternator."
Heath began driving the car for work in 1994. He hauled medicine to Dunn, Fayetteville, Pembroke, Lumberton and Elizabethtown. The car had 97,000 miles on it when he got it.
The company he worked for gave him the car when he retired in 2001. The car had 350,000 miles on it then.
Since he's retired, Heath, who lives three miles outside Pink Hill, said he drives to Pink Hill and Kinston a few times a week.
One of Heath's secrets to keeping his car running is using Havoline oil and STP. His advice to people who want to keep their cars running as long as he has is to use STP.
"If you use STP oil treatment in it, you can't wear it out," Heath said.
Heath only changes his oil once a year. He's put three filters in the transmission in 500,000 miles. The brake rotors have never been turned and he's never had to put a new signal light on the car.
Heath attributes some of the car's staying power to General Motors. He said the car is well-built.
"It has the best-running motor I've ever had any dealings with," Heath said. "I've always had Pontiacs all my life and I've always liked them."
Wayne Pittman, Heath's insurance agent for Allstate Insurance, said someone at General Motors told him that Heath was only the second person they knew about to have a car with more than 500,000 miles.
Judging from Heath's words, his Pontiac will rack up many more trips.
"I'm aiming to drive it until the motor and transmission gets bad. Then I'll junk it," Heath said. "I think (the car will) last longer than me."
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