Rumour had it that mixed in amongst all the shiny, brand new cars this past weekend in Detroit was a slightly beaten-up car that had apparently reached a milestone or at least was a marketing masterpiece. It was a Saab that had gone 7 digits. I had to investigate.

So, I spoke briefly to Peter Gilbert, the owner and driver of the 1,000,000 Mile car. He was brought by Saab to the show off his million mile car. Quite surprisingly, he did appear to be pretty busy.

This is a story with a least a green tint to it. Peter drove his car over 1,000,000 miles. 1,004,777 to be exact. That’s a lot of gas and a lot of emissions. Not so green.

But, on the other hand, he did drive these 1,000,000+ miles with the same car, his 1989 Saab 900 SPG. So, at least he did it using only one vehicle (or only one 2,000 lbs. piece of metal) instead of 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 cars, which many would have driven over the same total distance. So that gets some green points, no?

Also, Peter confirmed that Saab will indeed give you a new car if you drive over 1 million miles with the same one.

If you’re really bored you can watch the 1 millionth mile on YouTube. And, if you are really really bored you can apparently visit the now-famous Saab at the Wisconsin Auto Museum.