1984 Diesel Gemini Clocks 1 Million Kilometres;

[csv8]

It may not look like much but Michael Jess's Holden Gemini has been to the moon and back, and back again.

The Kenmore resident has just clocked a million kilometres on the 1984 diesel car, purchased new in 1984 and used almost every day since.

Mr Jess said he was not a serious car enthusiast just "someone who got lucky with an awesome car" and attributed a large part of its longevity to keeping it regularly serviced and maintained.

He said the brandy-coloured car, nicknamed Cognac, had broken down just once in 27 years of service, when a small rupture in the fuel filter required a tow from the RACQ.

"If you had a friend that was as reliable and faithful as this, the world would be a better place," Mr Jess said.

How far can you travel in one million kilometres?



- Brisbane to London and back 30 times
- From the Earth to the Moon and back- and then again to the Moon.
- Around the Equator 25 times
- Drive around Australia 69 times on Highway 1
- Drive from Brisbane to Sydney and back 530 times
- Drive from Brisbane to Perth and back 99 times
http://www.couriermail.com.au/questn...-1226220742708

[tankclare]

Shes a diesel... Its only just been run in.

Goes to show if you service your car properly and treat it right it will last you a life time.

[Chris_Rogers01]

There was a kingswood on car sales a year or two ago it had 3 million km on it haha most Ive ever heard of

[wrongwaynorris]

" attributed a large part of its longevity to keeping it regularly serviced and maintained. "

Key words , almost any car properly and dilligently maintained will run for an inordinate amount of time / kilometres .

[aquahead2001]

I remember when the fleet at the place I worked at in the 1980's had these as an Auto. They were that bad, they couldn't get over the West Gate Bridge in top gear.... Zero to 100 was measured in minutes and the noise and smoke of that engine working hard was like an old fergie tractor with a problem!

If I had a chance to talk to this fellow, I'd ask one question, "Do you like whips or chains more, as you're obviously a masochist?"

[BA-XT]

Isuzu four pot diesel. Aricle a while back with a HJ-60 Land Cruiser racking up a million as well. My 1974 FJ-40 had a lazy 1.2 million before I killed it :-(

[2011G6E]

Poor old thing probably only has another half a million kilometers left in it...

The Diesel Gemini was a magnificent and highly under rated car, as were all Geminis really as it was the era of "the big car", even though people were becoming more interested in economy...we had a Gemini (normal one) for a few years as a family car, and it was comfy, loved dirt roads, and got pretty good economy even though it was only a four speed manual. The 1.6 petrol in our old '82 Rodeo ute we bought in 1995 and owned for about ten years ended up with 450,000km on it, got used as an off-roader and house moving truck, and only got oil changes and a new set of plugs every year, yet never missed a beat. The diesel would have only been better.

I always wanted a Gemini diesel as a second car, even though they were slugs because of not having a turbo, because they were mostly all five speed manuals and got great economy. I searched for one before buying our '82 Celica, but any coupe I could find was petrol and expensive, and the few diesels I saw and approached people about in my travels weren't for sale at any price.

I met a guy back in the early nineties at a car show who was drawing a bit of attention, as he used to work at the Gemini assembly plant and had a "special order" Gemini coupe, with the diesel, five speed, and a few other nice features not normally found on standard cars liek a sports dash and cloth interior. He had a series of photos of it rolling down the production line being built, and then finally being driven out the door.

Anyone else remember the last day of Gemini production on the TV news? They showed the guys all leaving work for the last time, and just about every single car leaving the parking lot gates was a Gemini...sedans, wagons, coupes, panel vans, the lot. They'd all be built well too...maybe better than normal production ones..."Hey, make sure you screw everything up properly in this one, it's Freds car...pass it on"...

[tex]

slow news day.

[Smoke Pursuit]

Time he upgraded and bought a Cruze Diesel.

Bet he wont get a million out of one of those!

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

Anyone else remember the last day of Gemini production on the TV news? They showed the guys all leaving work for the last time, and just about every single car leaving the parking lot gates was a Gemini...sedans, wagons, coupes, panel vans, the lot. They'd all be built well too...maybe better than normal production ones..."Hey, make sure you screw everything up properly in this one, it's Freds car...pass it on"...

Until it gets to the people who don't like Fred, then it goes a bit pear shaped.

Originally Posted by tex

slow news day.

Indeed.

[Mr Hardware]

there'd be a falcon that makes it to a million once a month

[frvellm1]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

Until it gets to the people who don't like Fred, then it goes a bit pear shaped.

Too Funny

[Ford_The_Win]

Originally Posted by Mr Hardware

there'd be a falcon that makes it to a million once a month

Probably more often than that. Nothing special about clocking a million really, not for a Falcon at least. That said, a friend of mine has a diesel Gemini the same as that one, and anyone brave enough to cover a million kilometres in one of those diabolical old things deserves recognition.

[XR Martin]

Million kms on the engine, and million tins of bog in the body.

[janddbone]

We have an original TX, but a petrol, they are a great thing.

[BFZ Wagon]

Definitely must be a slow news day for them. For a moment there I thought it was an old article about a Gemini diesel owner. But there are obviously a few out there.
A few years ago there was an article in the Qld papers about a guy who had owned a diesel Gemini since it was new and it had clocked up a zillion K's and he'd just recently upgraded to an turbo diesel Astra but was keeping the old Gemini.
Obviously, they were a reliable vehicle and quite a few people still have theirs after all this time.
From memory, they were also very good on fuel too.

[SPArKy_Dave]

Originally Posted by XR6 Martin

Million kms on the engine, and million tins of bog in the body.

With half a million re-built heads, 2 million disc rotors...............


and a half dozen diffs.....

[imugli]

Like Grandpa's old axe. The head's been replaced a few times, the handle a few times... Same axe though :-)

[janddbone]

Ours is all original, even the bloody ball joints, unlike a range of certain modern vehicles that I wont name!

The bloke says in the article that it has not had any work done to it. We have Rodeo on the farm with that basic engine in it, that is untouched at 600,000km...

[PHATAL]

A mate had a bright yellow one of these.0-100 in 25.26 seconds........

[Iggypoppin']

Gotta love Gemini coupes. I'm a bit biased, however, as I've owned one with a V8 as well as built another with a V8 in it, and driven several regular ones too.

[EF ECTIV]

built ford tough..... wait, what.....

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by PHATAL

A mate had a bright yellow one of these.0-100 in 25.26 seconds........

You could probably run faster than the Gemmy over the first few hundred metres.

Continental drift is probably faster too.

[mrghia]

Meh no real proof just his word. If he wants he can sell it as a brand new gemmi with very very low Kms. I did see a old zb fairlane with 700000 miles on it and he had only replaced the water pump on it.

[Falc'man]

I can just imagine this in a Holden ad in an attempt to mimic Toyota's ads from a while back.



*Cheesy irritating voice-over*

"How can you drive to the moon and back, and then back to the moon again? In a Gemini. If only we could make them like we used to. Go better!"

Disclaimer: When we say "we", we mean Isuzu.

[TMC]

"It's a Gem Gem Gemini. Woohoo"

Remember those ads.

Now if it was a Falcon it would have got to the 1000000km mark by 1994.

Those Gemini's were so slow, although they'd squeal around corners really well. You didn't want to brake for corners because it took too long to get back up to speed again.

[janddbone]

If this was an article about an Escort would you all be making the same comments...

[Iggypoppin']

No, because it's a given! And escorts had some semblance in regard to performance...diesel Gemini? Hello gutless!
And another thing....this is news? Really? If you interviewed every falcon owner with a million km falcon they'd be lined up from Melbourne to Perth.

[Mickxr8]

Got my license in one of these moons ago ( only coz it was manual lol )
Only had 300k on it then, never broke down, pretty safe not speeding in em though ( lived in the country then )

[janddbone]

A Falcon at a million km's, with only one brake down and no major components replaced... Pull the other one!

It is news to me and good news at that...