"It's just a car I enjoy driving."
That's for sure.
Irv Gordon, a 72-year-old retired teacher from Long Island, N.Y., has now driven his beloved 1966 Volvo P1800S nearly 3 million miles, The Associated Press writes. He's only about 34,000 short of that ... milestone (sorry, we had to say it).
That's an average of about 65,000 miles a year. And he's still putting on the miles. According to the AP, "with trips to Montreal, Texas and Michigan in just the last month, the last leg of his [3 million mile] trip should not be too hard."
The Volvo still has its original engine, though that motor has been rebuilt twice. Gordon started accumulating the miles quickly after buying the car for $4,150 in 1966: "With a 125-mile round-trip daily commute, a fanatical dedication to vehicle maintenance and a passion for driving, Gordon logged 500,000 miles in 10 years," Volvocars.com wrote two years ago.
No longer able to keep track of the miles with the odometer, the mileage has been verified by Gordon's meticulous maintenance records. "Now divorced," the AP says, "Gordon takes road trips alone."
The P1800S has been recognized by the folks at Guinness World Records as having the "highest vehicle mileage" known to exist. And Gordon's been getting attention for several years. In 2010, Gordon told Autoblog that he just might be tempted to sell the car some day — for "a dollar per mile." And he's been a star of a "Classic Volvo Restoration" video.
He also thinks the car will be around after he's gone.
"I have a feeling I'll be dead long before the car," Gordon told the AP.
Some Two-Way readers will recall that we like stories about cars that have gone a long way: " After 567,000 Miles And 48 Years, Florida Woman Parks Her 'Chariot.' "
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