Earlier this year, Nissan celebrated Brian Murphy, one of its busiest customers who managed to log over one million miles on his manual 2007 Nissan Frontier. Now the company has offered him a trade: He gets a 2020 Nissan Frontier if he trades in his old one so the automaker can memorialise it. What’s funny is the two trucks, all those years between them, are almost the same.
Nissan invited Murphy to this year’s Chicago Auto Show, one of the last shows before the Covid-19 outbreak. The automaker wanted to recognise Murphy for his dedication to his truck and highlight him as proof of Nissan reliability, as Murphy has driven his manual Frontier as a Chicago delivery driver every day for the last 13 years.
Now, Nissan’s offered Murphy a trade. They want to memorialise his truck at its birthplace for its achievement, but they don’t want to leave him in the lurch so they’re giving him a brand new 2020 Nissan Frontier.
Of course, Murphy’s truck did get some regular maintenance, at least as reported by Murphy in Nissan’s press release:
According to Murphy – an independent delivery driver who regularly spends 13 hours a day on the road – the original clutch on his Frontier King Cab lasted 1,289,085 km, the timing chain was replaced as preventative at 1,126,541 km, and the radiator and alternator lasted about 724,205 km each. Even the driver’s seat lasted [around 80,000km] before being replaced.
His old truck will go back to its plant of origin, the Nissan Smyrna Vehicle Assembly Plant in Smyrna, Tennessee. His new Frontier, however, was assembled at Nissan Canton Vehicle Assembly Plant in Canton, Mississippi.
The 62-year-old Murphy was reportedly relieved to drop the manual for the 2020 Frontier’s new nine-speed automatic. You’d think it’d make the second million kilometre that much easier.
His new 2020 model looks just about identical to his old one, as the model has barely undergone any changes for the last 13 years. Nissan did update the Frontier with a new 310 horsepower 3.8-litre V6 with 122 kg-ft of torque for the 2020 model year. It’s basically the next-generation’s powertrain in the old truck.
But hey, if we could all return our favourite vehicles we liked for 13 years and a million miles and get a shiny new version of basically the same thing, I think we’d all take that deal.
