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million miles sing of love of open road Original owner of '66
Volvo just keeps driving to tune of setting a world record
By Craig Wilson
USA TODAY
WASHINGTON -- Irv Gordon isn't quite
the guy he was back in June 1966 when he bought his red Volvo
P1800 for $4,150. His stomach is a bit closer to the steering
wheel these days, and getting in and out of the sporty little
two-door coupe isn't quite as easy.
But the Volvo? Never looked better. Not bad for a car whose
odometer is about to roll over for the 20th time. Translated,
that's 2 million miles.
Gordon, at 61, is a retired teacher from East Patchogue,
N.Y., an avowed old car nut, and a man who has never met an
open road he didn't want to drive down.
He admits his wanderlust might have cost him his marriage,
but he's still got his car, and next week in New York, Gordon
will drive through Times Square and into the Guinness World
Records. His Volvo will have the highest certified mileage
of any car driven by the original owner in non-commercial
service.
The license plate says it all: MILNMILR.
Not that he hasn't been down this road before.
In October 1987, he celebrated his car's 1-millionth mile
by driving a loop around Tavern on the Green in Central Park.
But he's not delusional. He knows the car is the celebrity,
not him.
''I'm no good without the car,'' he confesses. ''I'm just
chopped liver. If I sold this car, I wouldn't get invited
anywhere.''
Not that he'd consider such a thing. When asked how much
he'd take for it, his reply is quick: ''I'll entertain offers
of $1 for every mile it's gone.''
After buying two ''lemon'' Chevrolets, he ended up with his
Volvo by chance. ''I'd never even heard of a Volvo,'' he says.
''It could have been a banana for all I knew.''
But he test-drove the little roadster and was smitten. ''I
wouldn't have brought it back to the dealership, but we were
running out of gas. We were gone three hours.''
Chatting away in the cozy quarters of his car, Gordon is
zipping through Washington on his way home to Long Island,
visiting a variety of auto shows, dealerships and car clubs
before his grand entrance Wednesday at Volvo's 75th
anniversary celebration.
Now that he's retired, he goes wherever he wishes.
''What people don't realize is, I didn't say I'll be home
when I get 2 million miles.''
When he was still married, his wife would fly and meet him
places.
''But if you fly, all you see are the cities, and they're
all pretty much the same. How do you see the world from 35,000
feet? You can't.''
So Gordon remains close to the ground, putting high-octane
gasoline into his little gem, getting 25 to 35 miles a gallon
on the open road.
''Just for the hell of it'' he still might drive from Long
Island to Baltimore for the day. On average, he doesn't drive
less than 1,000 miles a week.
And ''just for the hell of it'' again, he'll have the car
shipped to Europe to drive it around on vacation. He's been
behind the wheel on trips through Holland, Denmark, Germany
and Sweden.
He says he can't even remember how many times he's been
across the country and back, but he does remember certain
places he's been.
One of his favorite stories is when teenagers in Green
River, Wyo., surrounded his car one night when he was walking
out of a 7-Eleven.
''Looks like they're bringing back fins,'' he overheard one
of them say.
Gordon says he chuckled all the way to California.
A couple of radiator hoses have broken over the years, and
the generator died on him three or four times, ''but that's
about it.''
People toot and wave when they pass, often he's asked for
his autograph, and just last week parking attendants at a
downtown hotel here left a love note under the wiper blades.
It was to the vintage Volvo, not Gordon.
Gordon admits he loves all the attention, but one thing he
does not allow is to have his car valet-parked.
''All I have to do is ask them if they know what a manual
choke is,'' he says. ''Or do you know where reverse is on this
thing?''
When he gets blank stares, ''I just drive the car to the
lot all by myself.''
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