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 is just 34,000 miles (54,700km) shy of racking up 3 million miles (4.8 million km) on the odometer. It’s already travelled the equivalent of almost 1,176 times across the globe.
The retired schoolteacher from Long Island hopes to reach the 3 million mile mark by next year.
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.
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“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 a 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 licence plate says "MILNMILER." And his boot 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."
5 comments:
I do love my old Volvo as well.
I just caught the tail end of this story on the TV news last night (so thanks for the details). I do remember when Volvos started to become fashionable, especially with the Jewish and Antique dealing population, that they put out publicity saying that they had the longest life expectancy of any car. I seem to remember it was 15 years.
Of course it could be like the man who'd had the same broom for 50 years. It'd had 20 new heads, and 15 new handles!
Wasn't that "My Grandfather's Axe" - 4 new handles, 3 new heads and as good as the day he first bough it!
Nice car!!
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