GM has reached the impressive milestone of 500 million vehicles built over 106 years, the most of any automaker by far. The company has decided the best approach to mark the event was to thank its customers all over the world.

GM CEO Mary Barra and GM North America and Global Chevrolet President Alan Batey celebrated the milestone with customers, employees and dealers at the Fairfax (Kansas) Assembly plant, and surprised Iraqi war veteran Trent Brining with a “key” to a 2016 Chevrolet Malibu, which will start production at the plant later this year.

Brining is one of five customers who have been notified that they are receiving a new, regionally built GM-branded vehicle.

Opel has also marked the milestone in Rüsselsheim, with the German brand accounting for 68 million of the 500 million vehicles produced by GM. Loyal customer Anna Katharina Dionysius from Riedstadt got a special surprise during a visit to the vehicle production hall, where she picked up the Opel Zafira Tourer she had recently ordered and was announced by Opel CEO Karl-Thomas Neumann it was an anniversary gift.

GM used the event to preview customer milestones from around the world, including a recent retiree in Minnesota who is still driving his 1957 Chevrolet pickup truck, which he bought from a farmer 38 years ago for $75. There’s also the Opel owner from Germany whose car traveled extensively with her and her husband, including to Hawaii! Or the Brazilian woman born in the passenger seat of a Chevrolet Chevette who continues to be a loyal customer today.

A Chevrolet Captiva club member in Thailand used a fleet of Captivas to propose to his now-wife, while a young man in China was so inspired by his first vehicle (a Chevrolet Cruze), that he customized it to match his personality, then quit his job and started a retrofitting business to help other customers personalize their rides. You can see them all in the video posted below.

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