Midlife's History

Midlife was born on or about January 10, 1966 in Metuchen, New Jersey.  Purchased by James Russel Gould, Jr. in Bowie, Maryland from Palmer Ford in Hyattsville, Maryland, DSO code 26.  A 6000 mile checkup was performed by Koons Ford (date unknown).  Midlife's early days are shrouded in mystery, and its written history only begins on October 24, 1974, when some body work was done.  The owner at this time was Lt.Col. Gerald Tippins of the US Marine Corps.  As he was posted around the country (Pittsburg, San Diego, Washington, DC area), Midlife went along.  Repair records exist from this date through August 11, 1983.  Based upon State inspection records and the repair orders, there are only these few mileage/date pairs:

   Date        Odometer    
24/4/76 12048
24/11/76 16470
17/2/77 17043
26/7/77 18124
1/8/77 18178
24/1/78 20006
5/7/79 25058

Sometime between 1983 and 1986, Midlife changed owners.  On September 13, 1986, a front brake job was done with the odometer at 44914, and billed to Bill Towns of Chester, VA.  

Sometime between Sept. 13 and Nov. 24, 1986, Midlife was sold to Greg Kirby of Virginia Beach, who stabled Midlife until I purchased it on June 13, 1998.  Mr. Kirby did a fair amount of maintenance, including repainting on March 2, 1988, and a engine rebuild on May 26, 1996.  Based upon the repair records, Midlife had the following mileage/date pairs:

Date     Odometer  
11/24/86 48360
1/2/87 48930
1/15/87 49196
2/26/87 49780
3/6/87 49901
3/23/87 50397
11/7/87 54521
10/24/88 60209
8/14/91 65225
11/4/91 65992
8/18/92 69222
10/20/92 70127
12/1/93 73616
7/28/94 74000
8/31/95 74861
9/15/95 74860
11/16/95 74892
5/20/96 75023
5/28/96 74969!!!
9/19/96 75215
9/20/96 75223
12/5/97 75549
12/8/97 75548

I bought Midlife on June 13, 1998 with a mileage of 75676.5.  Based upon these records, I believe that the true mileage is 175k when purchased, as it seems reasonable that there was approximately 112k of miles between 1966 and 1976.  It appears that I am at least the fifth owner, and I hope the last.  

Midlife has led a fairly good life, having essentially been turned to pasture for the past twenty years.  While there has been a good amount of engine and body work, the engine has been rebuild only once.  Midlife goes into the body shop shortly, having all of its paint removed down to bare metal, and given a completely new lease on exterior life.  Lord, it needs it: the last paint job was pretty bad and the paint is quite tired.  Also, one can easily see the insurance-quality body work done throughout the entire car.  I am assured by Manassas Quality Auto Body that all of that will be taken care of!  I sure hope so.