Has this Capri clocked the most miles in Cavan?

How many miles would you hope to get out of your petrol car before you finally retire it? 150,000 miles? 200,000 if you really looked after it? Cavan car enthusiast Willie McCormick's pristine 1986 Ford Capri has over 753,000 miles to its name - the equivalent of circumnavigating the globe 30 times! "When you tell them the mileage," says Willie of people who admire his car, "they look at you as if to say - are you codding me?" It's natural to think there may be a touch of a fisherman's tale about such a gargantuan figure, but far from exaggerating, 753,000's actually a conservative estimate. "The clock even stopped on it for a wee while - there could be another 10,000 on it, but there's over 750,000 miles on it," assures Willie of his two litre model, which was a demonstration car with 2,000 miles when he bought it a quarter of a century ago. Since the clock physically can't register this amount of miles, Willie reverts to a meticulous log book he keeps, to tally the number of miles driven. "I have every gallon of petrol that ever went through it in the book, and every tyre, every battery and everything else that ever went into it. I keep a note of it. But the clock only goes up to 100,000 unfortunately," says Willie, who's the president of the Cavan Motor Club. The fact that the clock is only capable of showing 99,999 miles suggests that even the engineers who designed the Ford Capri never dreamed that it could come close to the miles Willie's has driven. So surely it's a case of grandpa's axe - it has had 10 new handles and 10 new heads but everyone says it's been in the family for years. Has Willie replaced every part of the engine over the years so effectively it's a totally different car? "No I have not," insists Willie. "There was only a cylinder head gasket skimmed, and I did that last year. That was the first thing I had done to it." So what's the secret to Capri longevity? "Normal routine maintenance," explains Willie. "That car was serviced every 3,000 to 4,000 miles without fail. She wouldn't go over 4,000 miles without a service - change oil and filter." When servicing his car, he insists on using only top quality oil and genuine Ford parts for his Capri. This formula has kept him right, not only with his seemingly immortal Capri, but other cars too. "I had another, a 1.6 which had 430,000 miles on it. I did a lot of miles over the years when I was on the road all of the time. I never had a problem with any Capri in my life. Never," says Willie who's currently driving a Mercedes with a respectable 190,000 miles. As fashions changed, Capris ceased rolling off the production line in 1987, replaced by newer, sleeker models. For Willie, and the many other Capri fans, the muscular car has never lost its charm. "In her time I reckon I would give it 8/10," says the Swellan man who bought his first Capri in 1971. "They are a great car, and anyone I knew who ever had one, I never heard them complain about them in my life. "I'm into rallying and they are a sporty car. A very comfortable car and a real road-holder. The one I have is a five speed gearbox, which is pretty fast. They were way ahead of their time." Does Willie think his car has the Cavan record for the most miles clocked up? "Well I don't know anyone else in Cavan who would have that kind of mileage," says Willie, thinking out loud. "Maybe there are people out there who do a lot of mileage but I've never come across anyone. I saw someone in the paper with over a million miles on a Beetle, but I don't think it was in this country." Willie's not hopeful of hitting the million miles mark, as he doesn't drive as much. Indeed this year the Capri hasn't been driven at all as he's fearful of the corrosive damage caused by the use of salt on the road at the start of the year. "I didn't want to get the salt on the bottom of it because whatever salt they are using this year is awful. It's digging into cars already. In a few years time the cars will all be rotten," he warns. However, Cavan residents are likely to see Willie's Capri back on the road this week as he's taxed it again and intends driving it as his main car Mondays to Fridays. Now that he's back behind the wheel of his pride and joy, does he think a time will come when he has to retire it? "No I do not, she's going like a bird as the fella says."