Irv Gordon,3 Million Miles And Still Driving!

 
I have a friend who's writing a book called Drive It Like You Stole It. This aroused my interest, but a different friend's book was more of a hit. Drive It Forever is the name of it. There are a lot of people who wish they could drive their car forever, especially during today's "Great Recession". One New Yorker who's coming close is Irv Gordon. He has a 44 year old Volvo P1800 sports car that, just this past summer, "turned" 2.7 million miles. He didn't use and fancy tricks or techniques to get this kind of mileage either. Regular "factory" maintenance is all he gave his car.

Car Care

  Irv Gordon doesn't have any type of special skills when it comes to car care. For 35 years he's been teaching science and has "just a little" knowledge about mechanics. To him, cars are built to be driven. He says they last longer when they're being used. That appears to be the trick for keeping mechanical systems in running order. When Gordon bought his Volvo P1800 in Amityville, N.Y., he paid $4,150. He bought it on June 30th, 1966 and to everyone's surprise,Irv Gordon's little red coupe didn't turn into an "Amityville Horror" because of Gordon's simple car care formula. He did not miss one 3,500 mile oil change. This car doesn't have any grease fitting. Every 100,000 miles, the wheel bearings get greased. Upon signs of deterioration, he changes the belts and hoses. Every 20,000 miles, he puts in new plugs and points. There wasn't anything wrong with it, but at 680,000 miles, the engine was rebuilt/restored by a Volvo dealer. Only because Irv Gordon never knew of an engine lasting so long. Just recently, at 2,010,000, he had the engine rebuilt/restored a second time. The wear internally was surprisingly minimal. There was one bearing broken, but it didn't create any damage.

Want to paint your vintage Volvo yourself?

Obsession?

Although Irv isn't obsessed with his car, he's a very careful driver. Irv Gordon has an old fashion car so of course he's not about "keeping up with the Jones" This car has a manual choke. If he doesn't give it time to warm up in then morning, it'll chug going down the road. He'll tell you, "These cars need more understanding". "People tend to forget what an older car was like."

Bad Chevys!

Irv drove to his teaching job everyday, at 125 miles per day, in 1962. Irv Gordon was driving a Chevy that had began experiencing serious engine trouble. This was something Chevrolet wasn't able to correct. The car was always breaking down, at just a year and half old. He went ahead and purchased another Chevy, but it wasn't any better. On the night he got it, just four blocks from the show room, it broke down. GM told him he was probably abusing it, which couldn't be further from the truth especially since the next car he bought, he's still driving. After borrowing some money from his father, Irv went to the Volvo dealership to trade in the Chevy for, what very well could be his "forever car' and to this day is still driving that car. Naturally, some things get replaced or changed. For instance, tires. For more than 30 years he's run on Bridgestones. He feels Bridgestones last longer than the other brands he's tried. Currently, Irv Gordon has about 30,000 miles on the tires he's using right now and will average approximately 100,000 miles from a set of tires, and when he gets the tires changed, he gets a completely new brake job done. Getting parts isn't a problem at this point in time. When he needs something, he'll get it from the local Volvo dealer.

Adventurous life.

One day a tractor-trailer backed into his car. There was a school bus that hit it in the front and one that hit it in the rear. It was run ito by an Oldsmobile. The left rear quarter panel was damaged when a woman tried to parallel park. The car was hit only when parked. Irv brought it to local shops to get a panel repair.

On top of all that, the car isn't parked in a garage. For 44 years, this car has been parked outside, in the elements, half a block from the ocean. At times, the car is there 24 hours a day and it's driven in the summer and winter. If he's going somewhere and would have to park the car out of site, he'll drive his new Volvo instead of his original one. Irv Gordon warns us that, "People are inconsiderate in the way they park," There was a tractor-trailer that backed into his car. Two school buses hit the car, one in the front, and one in the rear. The car was hit by an Oldsmobile as well. The left rear quarter panel was damaged by a woman tring to parallel park. The only times it was hit is when it was parked. Irv brought it to local shops for repair work.

Never in a garage.

The car never gets parked in a garage. For 43 years, this car has been parked outside, in the elements, half a block from the ocean. It's driven in the winter and summer and at times sits in one spot 24 hours a day. Irv Gordon doesn't drive the car if he's going somewhere and will have to park the car out of his sight, instead, he drives his new Volvo. "People have no consideration for other when parking", he says.










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