End of the road for Rachel Veitch but not her Mercury Comet...

[frdwrnch]

Saw on MSN home page this morning where 93 year old Rachel Veitch is giving up driving her 1964 Mercury Comet after accumulating 573,000 miles. She has voluntarily stopped driving after losing her fight with macular degeneration. She said "i went through a bold faced red light!". This lady is too cool. I had the pleasure of meeting her about ten years ago at Charlotte Autofair. She is articulate (she is a member of some type of speech writing or public speaking association) and very sharp. She maintains meticulous records on her Comet and mentions it outlasted three husbands! She is not sure what she is going to do with the car but has offerred to sell it to Jay Leno. When asked why it won't go to any of her kids or grand kids she says "They won't take care of it the way I do." This car has only been painted twice so asked her what she used to take such good care of the single stage enamel. She told me she washes it weekly with a mixture of kerosene and water. This floored me! After thinking about it, if you consistently use it the oil from the kerosene would nourish the paint as long as you don't stop doing it long enough for the solvents to dry out the paint. Not that I'm considering it.

[sailsmen]

And that is why the Ladies use lotion every day. This Lady applied the same thoughtfull care to the skin on her car.

[guspech750]

Pretty cool story. My aunt uses kerosene and water to wash her car and has done so for many many years. Even her Corvettes.


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[yjmud]

and she is packing pretty cool
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,533803,00.html

[Bluerauder]

Posted this yesterday in another thread on her and her '64 Mercury Comet Caliente


I met and spoke with her at Carlisle "All Ford Nationals" in June 2010

She had her '64 Mercury Comet Caliente on display in one of the invitational buidlings that year. The car looked showroom clean and she said that she had her "personal mechanic" do all of the work on it. Her display as I recall featured a picture of her with the car in 1964 when it was new and she as only about 45-46 years old. Will have to look through my pics at home and post it up when I find it.

She seemed pretty spry at the time and enjoyed talking about her "Chariot". Darn shame about her vision. It happened to my mother as well.

http://www.mercurymarauder.net/gallery/data/500/medium/100_3626.JPG

[Ms. Denmark]

Posted this yesterday in another thread on her and her '64 Mercury Comet Caliente
I remember that you and I had taken a stroll around the building together and met her. I might even have a pic of you and her together.

[Ozark Marauder]

Posted this yesterday in another thread on her and her '64 Mercury Comet Caliente

Me too......:D

OZ

=RJc5NxtoGAQ&feature= (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJc5NxtoGAQ&feature=player_embedded)

[Bluerauder]

I remember that you and I had taken a stroll around the building together and met her. I might even have a pic of you and her together.

I think that was the best part of being near the Car Corral in 2010. It was close to all of the activities, food court, vendors, and exhibits/display buildings..... not to mention the indoor facilities.

The other areas have their advantages too; but having everything close was nice that year.

[frdwrnch]

Sorry I missed your post. Just saw this when I logged in this am and wanted to share. You know what I'm sayin when I say this is one cool lady!

[Quasar3210]

Such a cool story.. Well, not the fact that she can't drive any longer, but how long she kept the car and how much she drove it... I truly hope that the car goes somewhere that it stays nice with someone who values it as much as she did.

Although I can hear the Craigslist ad already LOL

One Owner Elderly Driven 1964 Mercury Comet Caliente. Runs Great. Very Clean. Low Mileage for the year.:D asking $10,998

[hamcheese]

"Somebody's going to go down with me if I get in that situation," Veitch said. "I'm not going down alone."

My kind of woman.