Posted on 07/09/2012 5:27:49 AM PDT by ShadowAce
It just keeps going, and going, and going. No, it's not a battery. It's Irvin Gordon's 1966 Volvo P1800S.
Gordon's small, red two-door has well more than 2 million miles on the odometer, the equivalent of nearly 1,176 times across the globe.
The retired schoolteacher from Long Island hopes to reach the 3 million mile mark by next year. He only has 34,000 miles to go.
The 72-year-old Gordon drives his Volvo everywhere. He has held the Guinness World Records mark for High Mileage Vehicle since 2002 and was the first person to hold that record.
"It's just a car I enjoy driving," he said.
He bought his beloved car on June 30, 1966, for $4,150 at the age of 25. "It was a whole year's salary," he said.
Gordon originally wanted the convertible Volvo with air conditioning, but it was too expensive. He paid extra to have an AM/FM radio, though.
"It was $10 extra, and at that time, $10 was a lot. But an AM/FM radio was a big deal," he said.
Gordon's car has just enough room for him and his essentials. His front bumper is filled with pins of his mileage achievements. Even his license plate says "MILNMILER." And his trunk overflows with the many car parts he thinks he might need when on the road.
"I have a set of everything," he said. "If I have it, then I am not going to need it."
Gordon has been taking road trips since he was a kid and continued through his adult years. He says he would just tell his family to pack their things and hit the road. Gordon's two daughters went on his road trips until they outgrew the tiny red car.
"They just couldn't fit in the back anymore. That is when...
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I owned a 122 with the B-16 motor. I bought it used and took it to the 350,000 mile mark. I was at a stop light, exiting the freeway when an idiot woman ran into the back of the car, pushing me into the car in front. The Volvo body was turned into an accordion.
The 4 cylinder and 4 speed transmission were lifted out and are still running in a “Model T” street rod project.
Ah Ha, so it only goes a million miles between rebuilds.
He's long retired, and a serious road warrior. Looks like few of the miles are near home.
"With trips to Montreal, Texas and Michigan in just the last month"
I had a German car in the 70s that had a terrible stall and rough low speed problem that could not be found. Turned out to be a carb that had a Venturi suspended in the main intake throat that was loose and wiggled at certain idle speeds. Most of the time you could have the air intake off and look right at it and could not see it. The dealer couldn’t find it. I finaly saw it myself.
I had a Dodge Aspen with a Slant 6.
The car rusted out completely, it was a real POS. The engine, however, is likely still running in some form or other.
I had an Opel GT that had an odd miss at 55 mph. It was fine everywhere else, but seeing as how the speed limit was 55 it was an annoyance. Never did fix it. I loved the car other than that.
I only got rid of it because it was made effectively obsolete with the elimination of leaded premium, and I wasn’t about to throw some stupid additive in every time I filled the tank.
Had a 1966 Ford Mustang that gave up the ghost after 225,000 miles... Sad.
Honda does.
And has the rep to go with it.
267,000 miles on my 2.0 VTEC Civic Si - almost broken in.
I don’t know
I don’t know
I don’t know
I don’t know
156,000 on my Honda Pilot. Just got back from the beach with it. Always did all the maintenance on it, bought it new and changed the oil before 100 miles to remove the shavings
3,000,000/46years=65,217 miles a year... For 46 years...
65,217/365days/year=179 miles A DAY!!!!!!
He likes road trips???? Wow! Just wow... That is some road trip, DAILY....
The rear-end in my Opel GT went out once and I upgraded to a Kadet rear end.
The reason? In Europe, the GT came with a rear anti-sway bar. In the US they didn’t so they plugged the four mounting holes in the frame with nylon “screws”. The Kadet used the same rear axle and NEEDED the anti sway bar in the US. So I bought the axle with the sway bar attached (no extra charge), removed the plugs and attached it. It was “sweet”!
That’s what I’m thinking. This man does literally nothing but drive and maintain his car. He has probably never seen anything in his life but the highway — Canada and Florida look just the same to him. His children have no memory of him anyplace but behind the wheel. I hope they bury him in the car, since it’s clearly what he loves more than anything.
I remember the GT.
It resembled a small Corvette.
Someone said they planned to drop a Chevy 350 in an Opel like your’s.
Don’t know how it turned out.
I always thought the GT was designed after the Corvette. It turned out it was the opposite. The Corvette was designed after the Opel. There was not a lot of room in that engine compartment for much more engine. Heck, one thing I loved about the car is that even though I’m over six foot, I still fit in it, but just barely. I was amazed, after I had owned the car for a couple of years, that the drive train tunnel is not in the center of the car. The passenger side is rather tight. :-)
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