Utah Man's 2001 Subaru Is About to Hit 1 Million Miles

The odometer clicked over to 777,777 miles while Marty Simonich of Eden, Utah, was on vacation in Jackson Hole. His son couldn't help but brag about it to passersby. 

"People would look at the odometer," recalled the car's owner. "My kid used to say, 'You know, this thing's got 700,000 miles on it.'"

Now another milestone is approaching.

The odometer on this same 2001 Subaru Outback Legacy sedan now reads around 990,430, and at the rate he drives — roughly 150 miles round-trip each day from his mountain home to his job near Promontory Point — he expects to cross 1 million miles by March.

The Butte, Montana, native has been behind the wheel of the same white Legacy sedan for 24 years, guiding it through snowstorms, across the Bonneville Salt Flats at 120 mph, and through at least four collisions with deer.

"I about scrapped it when I hit a deer and took out the radiator," he said. "So I invested money and put it back together. Then I hit another deer and then two more, but I kept it going."

After nearly 1 million miles, the list of original parts is shorter than the list of replacements.

The car has gone through multiple engines, at least one transmission, head gaskets, spark plugs, coils, alternators, injectors, power steering components, brakes, rotors, timing belts, and a $1,000 exhaust system.

What remains original?

The frame, the body, the windows, the steering wheel, and the instrument panel.

"The hood had to be replaced," he said. "Windshield too."

Simonich credits his father and stepfather for teaching him how to work on cars as a teenager. 

Growing up, he worked as the night manager at an Arctic Circle in Utah, saving up $800 for a down payment on a 1964 Chevelle with a Hurst shifter and a 283 engine. He raced it on the boulevard during school hours and got in trouble for it.

The hands-on mechanical knowledge Simonich started gathering in his teens has kept the Legacy running when others might have sent it to the junkyard.

Bottle Through A Blizzard

Some of the most memorable miles came during a road trip to Kentucky. A friend in the St. Charles area, along the Utah-Idaho border, discovered a stash of old whiskey after a grandfather passed away. 

Among the bottles was an unopened 1913 of Kentucky Flyer Bourbon from the Peerless Distillery, still bearing its original U.S. government seal.

The family who discovered the bottle didn't want to discuss it publicly for religious reasons. After all, the one unopened bottle was found among many more empties. They also didn't want to risk shipping the fragile, century-old bottle via FedEx.

So Simonich volunteered to drive it back to Kentucky himself and deliver it to the current owners at Peerless Distillery. 

During the trip, he hit a massive snowstorm. Interstate 80 closed down, but the Legacy pressed on, rerouting down less traveled two-lane roads. 

"The 2001 just went right through it, plowed through the snow," he said. "I had a shovel. We shoveled through a couple of places where the drifts would knock down the car."

Emotional Memories

Nearly five years of service in the U.S. Navy included time on two ships in the Persian Gulf. One of his missions involved rescuing refugees from the South China Sea.

Decades later, those refugees organized a reunion in Branson, Missouri. Simonich drove his Legacy there to see the people he had helped evacuate.

"They all came out from California and across the western United States,” he said. “We made it all the way there and back."

The car was also pressed into service closer to home during his years as a volunteer firefighter and EMT in the Eden area.

“The most life altering change was taking care of a lady that had three children and rescued them,” he said. “And I had all my stuff in the trunk, and that was my car."

Rejecting Planned Obsolescence

Simonich is blunt about why his car has lasted so long while others wind up getting scrapped.

"I go against the grain," he said of the modern trend toward disposable products. "I do my own repair work. The new cars fall apart in three or four years."

His secret isn't exotic — it's discipline. He uses only Subaru parts for critical components and relies on a diagnostic tool that plugs into his phone to check error codes. He changes the oil and stays on top of timing belts, CV joints and drivetrain maintenance.

For the work he can't do himself — timing belts, major engine repairs — he turns to Metric Motors in Centerville, Utah. The shop's owner, Chris Cologna, has been working on the Legacy since the early 2000s.

"He's a good old boy," Cologna said of Simonich. "He's one of those guys you want as a friend. He's a dying breed."

All 14 mechanics at the shop know Simonich and have been following his progress toward the million-mile mark.

"You can tell it's got a million miles on it, but you can tell how well loved it is," Cologna said. "He keeps it clean and serviced."

Subaru engines, like Porsche and Volkswagen engines, lie flat in the engine bay — a design that can use some oil between changes, he said. 

"Too many people are under the impression that as long as they change the oil when it says on the dash, they never need to check it," Cologna said. "He checks his oil every time he fills up. That's going back to old school. You go back to the old days when you pulled into the gas station, the service attendant would always open your hood, check your oil, check your coolant. That just doesn't happen anymore."

Engineered To Fail

At FM Automotive in Cheyenne, field service manager Matt Bard said the highest-mileage Subaru he's ever seen in his shop was around 670,000 miles — impressive, but still far short of the Eden man's total.

Cars built after the mid-2000s seem designed to fail shortly after their warranties expire, Bard said.

"Anything newer than about 2008, 2009 — it's almost like they're engineering them to fail, basically not long after falling out of warranty," he said. "And the prices for repairs are so astronomical anymore that people are electing to go get new cars instead of fixing their old ones."

He sees cars with only 100,000 miles being discarded because a transmission repair costs $10,000 on a vehicle worth only $5,000 to $7,000.

"We see it almost on a regular basis around here — cars basically being discarded with, in my opinion, next to no mileage on them,” he said. 

What Happens At 1 Million?

When the odometer finally rolls over, no one is quite sure what will happen. The digital display doesn't appear to have enough digits to show a seven-figure number.

"It might stop at 999,999," he said. "It might reset to zero. We'll have to see."

Cologna said he gets texts late at night from Simonich whenever the odometer hits a milestone.

"He'll send me a picture of his odometer when it clicks over each time," Cologna said. "It's getting there."

Simonich hopes the achievement will finally get the attention of Subaru's corporate office. When Toyota drivers have reached 1 million miles, the company has sometimes rewarded them with new vehicles.

"Maybe Subaru, like Toyota, will give me a new car," he said. He's considered driving the Legacy to Subaru's headquarters in New Jersey when it hits the mark, walking in, and seeing if they want to put it in their showroom.

At 500,000 miles, he contacted Subaru hoping for some recognition. They sent him a bumper sticker that read: "Over 100,000 miles.” Clearly, Simonich was not satisfied. 

When asked what will happen when Simonich’s Legacy hits 1 million miles, Subaru spokesperson Aaron Cole told Cowboy State Daily that corporate headquarters in Camden, New Jersey, didn’t have a clear answer. 

“Will the odometer roll over to all exclamation points?”

Cole didn’t know, saying it would be really cool if maybe the odometer screen exploded with confetti like a celebratory text on an iPhone.

Subaru engineers in Japan might offer a more accurate picture of what to expect, but they have not gotten back to U.S. corporate HQ with an answer. 

Meanwhile, Simonich motors on. 

David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.