my wife and i went thru a TON of blenders... they'd only last 6 months to a year (we use it a lot... she loves smoothies and i love protein shakes... so lots of ice & frozen fruit)
i mentioned this to my folks and i guess one of them was in a thrift shop and saw this boat anchor known as the osterizer imperial. this is the closest pic i could find online (but ours is this nasty sorta vomit-green from the 60's/70's)....
this thing (although pretty ugly) is a blending tank and we've used it for the last number of years. we've had to replace the blade a few times, but that's it
i guess they "don't make 'em like they used to!"