Trademe Cars Toyota

The red 1993 Toyota Hilux, with a staggering 1.2 million kilometres on the clock, will be sold by Turners. The national vehicle auction house believes it is the highest-km vehicle it has auctioned.

The "red rocket" was bought new 22 years ago by Palmerston North's Glenn Holmes for $30,000.

The 70-year-old has driven 1,211,493km using it as a newspaper delivery vehicle.

"It has been a great workhorse and I will be sad to see it go," he said. "If I ever see it for sale again in the future I might be tempted to buy it back because I have always had a soft spot for it."

Turners bought the Hilux from Holmes two weeks ago for an undisclosed sum after it failed to sell at auction because it was thought to have a cylinder problem.

Cylinder issues have been discounted and it will be re-auctioned tomorrow on the Turners and TradeMe Cars websites. A reserve of $1 has been set.

"The interest on social media has been phenomenal," Micah Bremner, from Turners in Palmerston North, said.

"It still has plenty of life in it if someone wants it as a working vehicle, otherwise it could be restored and put on display."

Bremner said the far-travelled motor, which was assembled in Christchurch, could fetch $1000-$3000.

The original engine has never had the head off and the gearbox and differential have never come out. However, the radiator was replaced about 200,000km ago.

"It is pretty extraordinary a vehicle of this age has had just one owner. I have never seen anything near it, in terms of the amount of kilometres it has done," Bremner added.

The average odometer reading on cars sold by Turners in the past two years was 134,000km, with 13 per cent of cars being sold with less than 60,000km on the clock and almost half with less than 120,000km.

Holmes reckoned the secret of the "unkillable" Hilux's longevity was changing the oil every 5000km and always using the same brand.

"Thirty thousand dollars was a lot of money to pay back in 1993 but it was worth every cent and more. I hope it will be appreciated by the new owner."

A Hilux of this vintage was built to clock up 1 million km or more as long as it was serviced regularly, a spokeswoman for Toyota New Zealand said.