On a Friday in April 1966, the young teacher Irv (Iving) Gordon struck gold. He bought a brand new Volvo P 1800 S. At the time, he was living on Long Island, New York, and had recently started earning an income as a teacher. The price was $4,150. The purchase and the subsequent long history made both Irv and his beloved Volvo P 1800 S world famous. He kept the car all his life and drove it extremely far. The car is the longest-running passenger car in the world. An almost unbeatable world record
Irv had picked up his new car on a Friday and after the weekend he returned to have the car serviced for the first time after 2,400 kilometres. Apparently he had been very keen to drive his new sports car (”touring car”) and put many miles on it.
The Volvo P 1800 was manufactured by Volvo in Sweden and England between 1961 and 1973 in almost 40,000 units. The S in P 1800 S stood for the fact that the car was manufactured at Lundbyverken (Torslanda) in Gothenburg. The engine was the reliable Volvo B 18 engine with 115 hp, which gave a top speed of 175 kilometres per hour.
Irv was entered in the Guinness Book of Records when the odometer passed one million miles, which was a world record at the time. This is how road distances are measured in the USA. In Swedish terms, it was about 1,600,000 kilometres. By the time Irv died in 2018, after a long life as a teacher and car enthusiast, the car had travelled 5 150 000 kilometres. In an early interview, Irv explained that he didn’t buy the car because he expected it to be reliable and dependable, he simply bought it because he thought it was beautiful. ”I liked the way it looked,” he said. However, when after 21 years he broke the world record with 1 600,000 kilometres, he said ”I like the way it drives, too.” Irv was 78 years old and had been driving the car for 52 years. Irv died of a heart attack while in China on behalf of Volvo to promote cars. For a long time, he also worked for the company Castrol, which sells motor oils. Irv insisted that he only used Castrol oil.
A few years after his death, his daughters sold the car back to Volvo, which now keeps it in its collection of old and reliable cars. It is still in running condition and is displayed at various events. Sometimes someone might get the chance to test drive it.
Irv took care of the car like a baby. He said himself that he was extremely careful in servicing and maintaining the car. He never allowed anyone else to drive it. Nor did he allow himself to eat or drink in the car. Nor did he or anyone else smoke in the car.
Since the car travelled 5,150,000 kilometres over 52 years, this meant 8,250 kilometres per month or almost 100,000 per year. According to official Swedish statistics, a taxi cab travels on average 55,000 kilometres, a heavy truck 40,000 and a passenger car 11,000 kilometers per year. But many taxis will probably still travel more than 100,000 kilometres a year. Only logging trucks average 97,000 kilometres per year in the official statistics.
Irv often ended up in the Guinness Book of Records because he repeatedly broke his own world record with the car that had already travelled the longest of all. In an interview late in life, Irv explained that he would drive the car ”until there is nothing left of me and then the car will be in better shape than I am”.
Irv commuted over 200 kilometres a day by car to his job as a school science teacher, but he also made many long journeys for pleasure. He drove the car in Alaska and he also transported it to China and drove it there. It was in Alaska that the odometer passed 3 million miles. The car had been driven in all US states except Hawaii. In addition, Irv had driven it several times in Europe. He himself always said that he drove calmly and as gently as possible for the car. Many people could testify that Irv drove very carefully.
With the support of his logbooks, Irv could note that up to 400,000 kilometres he had not had to make any repairs at all, but only carefully managed all service perfectly according to the instruction book. Volvo had many opportunities to use the car and Irv’s good-natured personality in their marketing. When Irv managed to drive 1 million miles (1,609,000 kilometres), Volvo rewarded him with a new Volvo 780 Bertone. But Irv only drove it 30,000 miles before it was sold. Irv stuck with his trusty P 1800 S. By 2002, the cherry red sports car had rolled two million miles (3,220,000 kilometres). Volvo again welcomed the advertising opportunities and again rewarded Irv with a new Volvo, this time a C70.
The engine has been overhauled twice. Once in 2009 because compression had become poor. But the original engine block has been retained. The wheel axles, gearbox and even the radio are original to the car. It has been repainted several times and the bodywork was repaired after the car had suffered some dents while participating in a car show.
But there are also other Volvo owners who have travelled long distances with their cars. Rita Neumann drove her Volvo V70 for 1,000,000 kilometres between 2006 and 2020 (73,000 kilometres per year on average). She worked in home care and drove long distances for her job. Jim O’Shea in Pennsylvania, USA, drove his Volvo 240 DL (1987 model year) as much as 1600,000 miles (64,000 miles per year) between 1987 and 2012. A Finn drove a Volvo 245 GL, 1979 model year, 2620,000 miles over 35 years (75,000 miles per year on average). In an interview, this Finn explained that he too believed that the car lasted so well because he drove ”carefully”. Irv had done the same.
Thorulf Arwidson 