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’m amazed that GM is closing the Opel plant in Germany in favor of connecting with Peugeot.
My daughter just bought a ‘96 Volvo S90 from a friend of mine who bought it new. It’s got 225,000 miles and runs fine.
But, my Pontiac Vibe runs great at 202,000 and my other daughter had a Mercury Sable that’s pushing 200,000 miles too.
Cars just last longer now.
I think you’re right. My Vibe is a 2006. I bought it two years ago with 140K. Whoever owned it first must have done nothing but drive. I drive 60-100 miles a day just for work and can’t come close to matching those kind of miles.
Volvo B-16 and B-18 4 cylinder engines are bullet proof....and they fit perfectly into MGBs.
My ex totaled mine out on one of her nights out with the girls.(That wasn’t)
Ever taken the linkage cover off an MGB transmission ?
Sure have, have you had one go blooey on you? In fact, as we speak, I am bolting an original Laycock de Normanville Electrically Actuated Overdrive Unit to an MGB trans. By Summer's end I hope to have my next, and last MGB on the road, all stock except for shock-converted double wishbone front end, and the single Weber Intake. Chassis is 1971.
My favorite bastardization of all time was to use the Ford Capri v6 with 5 speed. The unit was so light, that although it ran very sweetly, I could never get the suspension right! Next owner did.
Happens to everyone ....once.
The MGB actually has a much better chassis than either the Healey or your 150. It is quite rigid and immensely strong. It does, OTOH, weigh in at around 3,000lbs!
I switched for a long while to Italian cars. My Alfa Giulietta weighed 1800 lbs, a FIAT 1500 Roadster about the same (same designer as the MGB) and they were a whole lot livelier than an MGB. Of course, with that much less metal, they rusted out in the blink of an eye in New England. The best of that early lot IMHO ... the 71-73 FIAT 124 Roadsters. Cheap, light, fast, reasonably strong. The Coupe version is definitely one of the best cheap sports cars ever made. After 1973, sports cars died. Heavy bumpers, reinforcements, pollution controls, etc etc. Jimmied out of existence by that dippy airbag broad Joan Claybrook. I hope she was run over by a 1949 Ford with bad rings.)
Manufacturing tolerances today are far more stringent now.. at least one more '0'. Materials are better. Fuel injection means less blow-by and less gas washing away ring lube. They are balanced to specs that would have been only dreamed of in the olden days.
Although I truly detest the bulbous turd look of newer cars, most engines today are quite capable of 300,000+ happy miles. (I was going to say between overhauls, but they don't seem to be made for that, since they seem to have pared away any extraneous metal. So, use'em up!) Go Diesel!
I owned four Jaguars in my misspent youth. In order, they were:
1960 150S
1957 Mk VII sedan
1966 E type roadster
1966 E type coupe
I have one hundred stories about campaigning them.
I learned auto mechanics from Jaguar Cars and Beck Arnley...
Got it cheap after the original owner and his dealer could not keep it from overheating in CA. After putting in a custom radiator, an oil cooler, a trans cooler for the GM Hydramatic which I had hot-rodded by a shop in Santa Monica, I drove it for years.
It got 12-15 MPG, in town, on the highway, at 30MPH, at 130 MPH. the GM AC always worked, as did the GM Power Windows. Loved all two tons of it. Cruised it many a time between LA and Las Vegas with the 8-track going full blast. Have you ever seen the updated 3.4 Saloons remanufactured by Heritage Motors in England? Beauties!
Flattened while parked! I loved 150's, especially the way the fenders took a while to catch up with the car in sharp bends, but I never owned one!
Push-button tranny controls. Self-cleaning engine - inside crankcase gunk slid down the slant and stayed away from the moving parts. Ran fo-evah.
I'm looking around for a less expensive but reliable fun car in the order of 2 seat coupe. Mazda and Porsche have come to mind.
Three weeks ago, I drove an ‘02 911 Carrera that had less than 18,000 miles. It drove like a gocart. $30,000 plus it needs $1500 worth of tires. The 6 speed transmission had been replaced at 900 miles...
Nah. It was tipped over so it could fit under the lower bonnets of modern cars. It also allowed a long intake manifold that helped performance. The crankcase is on the level. Great engine, even if generally lousy bodies.
My theory? Chrysler built excellent engines and transmissions through the '50's, '60s, and '70's and thus had no money left to spend on the car bodies. They did have a run of really bad engines and even worse transmissions recently, but that is over?
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