The Car That's Driven 2.8 Million Miles

from the feeling-like-a-slacker-yet? dept

These days, any time you hear of a car that's been driven over 200,000 miles, it's pretty impressive. But, apparently for a guy named Irv Gordon, that was just what it took to break in his 1966 Volvo P1800. Shocklee points us to the astounding story of Gordon and the 2.8 million miles he's put on the beloved car, which he bought new all the way back in 1966. He's hoping to get it up to 3 million in about 3 years. For anyone who believe "they don't make 'em, like they used to," apparently here's a datapoint. The guy drives 125-mile commute daily, but also apparently just loves driving and takes the car all over the place.

As for repairs and maintenance, obviously he takes pretty good care of the car, but doesn't seem to do anything special, beyond following the factory (not dealer) manual. He began to realize the car was pretty damn reliable when he surpassed 250,000 miles without needing a single repair beyond basic maintenance. And, yes, the engine has been rebuilt twice, but he admits that the first time it shouldn't have been. Volvo, of course, is well aware of Gordon and even gave him a free car years back when he hit 1 million miles. But he saw no reason to stop driving the original one. And, if you're wondering, yes, Gordon is in the Guinness Book of World Records. But he got there way back in 1998 when he only had 1.69 million miles on the car. Suddenly, "just" having 200,000 miles on a car doesn't seem so special.

Filed Under: 2.8 million miles, cars, p1800
Companies: volvo