You probably already knew the story of Irv Gordon, an American professor who traveled about 5 million kilometers with his Volvo P1800 . Today the news we bring you is one of those we'd rather not have to share: Irv Gordon, a petrolhead with heart and soul, passed away at 77 years of age. The news was confirmed by a globetrotter fan page, which cited a Facebook post from Irv Gordon's daughter.
Irv became famous for doing one thing we all love: driving. Simply accumulating mile after mile in his Volvo has earned him fame, a place on the Guinness World Records and, most important of all, hours and hours of driving pleasure.
Irv bought his new Volvo P1800 in June 1966. At the time his goal was just to have a reliable car as his two previous cars (two Chevrolet Corvairs) had given him problems and Irv needed a car that would allow him to do the job. home-work-home route (about 200 km daily) without breakdowns or headaches.
And the kilometers accumulated
After he bought the Volvo Irv he never stopped riding it. When he reached around 400,000 kilometers without having done any major repairs (just normal maintenance) he wrote to Volvo, who congratulated him. When he covered about 1.6 million kilometers (one million miles) Volvo gave him a 780 Coupe, which he drove to 725,000 kilometers and sold.
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Meanwhile, the kilometers on the P1800 were accumulating and Irv achieved the Guinness record by reaching 2 million and 720,000 kilometers covered. About a million kilometers later Irv decided to have the engine rebuilt (even if it wasn't necessary). In 2002 the P1800 reached 3 million and 200 thousand kilometers and Volvo gave it another car, this time a C70.
Irv Gordon"I'm going to drive this car until there's nothing left of me — by then the car should still be around. It's in better shape than I am."
In 2009 the P1800 needed an engine transplant (the original was losing compression). Along the way, he still had to receive some sheet metal work, as a less careful employee on transport to SEMA damaged the traveling Volvo. The last kilometer update for the P1800 was in May this year when the Volvo reached around 5 million kilometers.