The old man and the truck

On the average, Koreans trade their cars in three or fours year after purchase. Most do so as theirs are no longer the latest model.

In the light of such trend, a 70-year old man by the name of Lee Yong-Gu, named by Chungbuk province's Guinness Book of Records as the "Man with the Oldest Driven Car" is somewhat of an oddity. He still drives around in a GMC truck (4.5t) made in 1942.

His neighbors jokingly have said to him, "If there were enough of your kind in Korea, all of the auto manufacturers would have gone under long ago."

The exact distance traveled by the car cannot be estimated as its odometer has been replaced for the umpteenth time. The owner could only remember that the car had passed the one million kilometer mark way back then. The owner stated, "It's not that I can't afford another car. However, it would be a waste to buy another when this one has no functional problem." He added, "In 2002, I am going to throw a one big birthday bash for this truck."