1 month ago
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An Aussie country music legend has clocked a million kilometres in his trusty Holden wagon, solving a mystery for Commodore fans in the process.
Country singer Paul Costa has clocked up more than a million kilometres in his trusty Holden Commodore wagon after more than two decades of touring – answering a puzzle posed by the man himself.
Costa, based in Robinvale on the Murray River in Victoria, quit his full-time job to pursue a music career in 2002 – a move well and truly vindicated when he was inducted into the Country Music Hands of Fame at the 2018 Toyota Tamworth Country Music Festival.
The dream was carried by his 2002 Shanghai mica-coloured VX Holden Commodore Lumina wagon, which he bought brand new for around $37,000 from Mollison Motors in Kyneton with space for his guitars, amps and growing legion of fans.
It carried him beyond his wildest dreams – and now, despite hundreds of lost guitar picks, broken E-strings and new boots – more than one million kilometres after multiple albums and countless gigs.
The original 3.8-litre V6 engine and transmission were swapped after a staggering 635,000km, with Costa telling Drive the replacement engine is better than the first – while the rest of the car remains as it came from the factory.
“In my opinion, the key is you've gotta change your oil every 10,000 kays, and that's been done all its life,” Costa told Drive.
“It's very rare it’s skipped over, 10 or 10,000 between services. I think that’s the key to longevity in a motor.”
It was on the way to play at the 2024 Wangaratta Regfest in early December – a gig headlined by Golden Guitar winner Lee Kernaghan – when Costa realised the upcoming milestone posed a conundrum.
“Does anyone know what happens in 334km?” he cheekily <a href="http://<iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpaulcostamusic%2Fposts%2Fpfbid0RpRjo7W8mk8XxdtmzvABkZfRbDQvQQgEXYmd9JPhPBjT6WZxDe6QV3V4tHn3dpoDl&show_text=true&width=500" width="500" height="250" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share">asked on social media, with the Holden’s odometer reading a sinister 999,666km.
“Everybody had a different story,” the singer told Drive.
“You know, not too many people have actually seen what happens. Some said, ‘Oh it just keeps going’, then someone else would say ‘It just goes back to zero’ and then ‘It just gets stuck on 999,999’.”
Turns out the digital readout returns to zero – it won’t go to seven digits – displaying a set of six when the magic mark was crossed before starting all over.
“At the moment, it’s sitting on about 344km, so technically it’s brand new!” Costa joked.
It now appears to be a single owner low-mileage, well-kept country car – yet it’s not for sale.
“I must admit, I thought – ‘Do I get to one million and then, you know, put it out to pasture?’. I’ll never sell it, but I’ll put it in the shed somewhere, but [in the meantime] it’ll keep going.”
“One guy said, ‘Your music career couldn’t have gone very well because you've still got the same car’. I don’t usually entertain stuff like that, but I said, ‘Your comment has no merit. I've kept it because it has served me well’.”
The million-kay Commodore will take Costa to the Tamworth Country Music Festival on 25 January 2025 where he’ll perform his new single, Spirit of Cricket.
Will there be a Spirit of Commodore tune or similar on an upcoming album?
“I must admit I’ve been humming some ideas and also had a few people say I should write a song about the wagon, so it’s well on the cards.”
