SPRINGFIELD, Vt. — The yellow sedan parked in front of a convenience store here in the Green Mountains caught the eye of Lucille Stanley — the N.Y.C. TAXI markings on the vehicle’s flank could not be missed.

“Are you going back to New York?” she said.

The car’s driver, Mike Ruse, smiled, accustomed to such jokes, and patiently told Ms. Stanley, “It’s a retired taxi.”

Mr. Ruse’s 2006 Ford Crown Victoria has not been in New York City since late 2011 when it was taken off the road after piling up about 310,000 miles in five years of big-league taxi work.

It seemed headed for the scrap yard when Mr. Ruse, a lifelong Vermont resident, spotted it on Craigslist and bought it for $1,000 from a Queens repair shop.