21 September 2004

STUTTGART - A Greek taxi driver is to present the Mercedes-Benz museum in Germany with his trusty cab - a Mercedes diesel with 4.6 million kilometres on the clock.

The Mercedes 240 D is to be handed to the company's museum in Stuttgart by Gregorios Sachinides on Friday.

Sachinides clocked up the kilometres driving round the streets of Thessaloniki, but also made hundreds of journey to Belgrade to transport medical supplies during the war in the Balkans.

He was so pleased with his car he wrote to DaimlerChrysler boss Juergen Hubbert to thank him personally for the outstanding service.

As a result officials from the Mercedes-Benz museum visited the taxi driver who promptly agreed to hand the car over to the museum.

DaimlerChrysler said it was the highest vehicle mileage known.

When Sachinides bought the 1976 model in 1981 it already had 500,000 kilometres on the clock. He changed the engine three times but the car kept going strong.

DPA

Subject: German news