Summary

• Irv Gordon’s Volvo P1800S has coated an unimaginable 3,250,257 miles in 52 years, making it the very best mileage automobile on the earth.
• The Volvo’s sturdiness and longevity have been largely attributed to its authentic transmission, which survived your entire distance with out breaking down.
• Irv’s meticulous upkeep and cautious driving performed an important function in reaching such a excessive mileage, with the automobile requiring minimal repairs throughout the first 500,000 miles of possession.

When you purchase a brand new automobile, it’s solely pure to consider how lengthy you’ll be driving it earlier than it lastly stops, or it turns into time to promote. For some vehicles, this quantity reaches the million miles mark, and consider it or not there are a few cars which have far surpassed even that mammoth mileage.

While there could also be a number of vehicles able to making it to seven-figure miles, there may be all the time one automobile that stands out from the rest and that automobile belonged to a person who lived and breathed driving; Irv Gordon and his Volvo P1800S, overlaying an unlimited 3,250,257 miles.

We’re speaking a mean of over 60,000 miles a 12 months for private use (not enterprise use) for over 50 years. When he purchased the automobile again in 1966, he picked it up on a Friday afternoon and by Monday morning he was again on the dealership for the automobile’s first service at 1,500 miles.

In order to provide the most modern and correct info doable, the info used to compile this text was sourced from numerous producer web sites and different authoritative sources, together with Hagerty, Hemmings, Road and Track, Guinness World Records, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo.

The Three Million Mile Car

A Life Spent Behind The Wheel

Three million miles isn’t any mere feat, particularly for a small sports activities automobile from 1966, however that didn’t cease this Volvo P1800S from ticking alongside mile after mile for 52 years. Its proprietor, Irv Gordon, purchased the automobile when he was 25, paying an entire 12 months’s wage of $4,150 and unknowingly taking step one in what would grow to be a history-making journey.

For the following 5 a long time, Irv drove as a lot as doable, overlaying the equal of 120 laps of the planet or seven spherical journeys to the moon in his little Volvo, breaking and re-breaking his report 3 times to face out because the all-time highest mileage car on the earth. His every day commute to and from his middle-school instructing job was 125 miles, however to hit the large milestone of three million miles he was averaging simply over 170 miles each single day.

In the phrases of Irv himself, there was all the time someplace to go, and the drive was a part of the pleasure of journey for him, so the miles added up pretty simply.

The Car That Drove Three Million Miles

Looking on the Volvo P1800S, you wouldn’t guess that such a modest and compact sports activities automobile was able to the immense feat of reaching over three million miles. However, everything seemed to click when Volvo moved manufacturing to Sweden in 1963.

Originally produced in England, the shift to Sweden to fabricate the 1800S (S indicating the brand new location they selected to construct the vehicles) labored out for Volvo with the sporty 1.8-liter four-cylinder managing to surpass all different vehicles for sturdiness and longevity. Possibly essentially the most spectacular a part of this automobile is the power of the transmission, with the four-speed guide surviving your entire 3,250,000 miles with out breaking down, one thing that’s extraordinary with at the moment’s vehicles.

While the engine had a rebuild at 675,000 miles and once more simply shy of three million miles, the engine block itself was nonetheless authentic which supplies credit score to the staff behind the engineering at Volvo. With zero at-fault accidents throughout its lifespan and solely common upkeep work conserving it working for therefore lengthy, it begs the query; was it the automobile or was it the meticulous care of the driving force, Irv?

Performance Specifications

(Data was collected from Volvo and Carinfo)

Was It Car Or Was It Driver?

The Car

With just one Volvo P1800 managing to get such a excessive variety of miles, it makes you surprise if there was one thing distinctive about Irv’s automobile specifically. While typical issues to anticipate from the Volvo are rust, gasoline leaks, and electrical points, this isn’t in any respect stunning and you’ll anticipate these issues to happen in any automobile with excessive mileage.

It’s while you have a look at the numbers that issues get actually spectacular, and partially due to Irv’s strict upkeep schedule. Ensuring he saved his automobile working in addition to when he purchased it, Irv had some guidelines he abided by; no consuming or consuming within the automobile, nobody else was to drive the automobile however him, and (consider it or not) he adopted the service guide’s suggestions for upkeep. 52 years of driving something is spectacular, not to mention a automobile that has traveled to this point, and the numbers are mind-boggling.

• Original gearbox and transmission: 3,250,257 miles
• Original engine: 675,000 earlier than rebuild
• Original clutch: 450,000 miles
• 130,000 gallons of gasoline
• 3,714 quarts of oil
• 928 oil filters
• 520 spark plugs
• 180 tires

The Driver

For the primary 500,000 miles of possession, the Volvo P1800S didn’t want a single restore; probably attributable to Irv’s meticulous upkeep and cautious driving. When he booked it in for its first engine rebuild, the Volvo mechanics mentioned it wasn’t wanted as there was nothing unsuitable with it, however within the spirit of preventative upkeep, Irv went forward anyway and gave the automobile one other two million miles of life (earlier than the second engine rebuild).

If there was ever a person destined for driving three million miles, it was Irv; in reality, he drove fairly much more. Volvo gifted Irv two vehicles throughout his record-setting streak; a 780 Bertone coupe in 1987 when he hit a million miles, which he drove for 450,000 miles earlier than promoting, and a totally loaded C70 coupe in 2002 when he hit two million miles, which he then put a tidy 130,000 miles on. In whole Irv drove Volvo’s for simply shy of 4 million miles, so he was all the time going to be setting a report a technique or one other.

Over his P1800S’ 3,250,000 miles (and alter), Irv would have burned via over 130,000 gallons of gasoline on the modest 25 miles per gallon he squeezed out of the Volvo, however this implies for a automobile that he paid simply over $4,000 for in 1966, he would have spent round $187,000 on gasoline throughout the 52 years he drove his P1800S (based mostly on historical gas prices).

The Mercedes Mileage Machine (In Second Place)

The 240D, Mercedes-Benz’s Crown Jewel

Unlike the Volvo P1800S, the second-highest mileage of all time is held by a taxi driver whose automobile was used totally for enterprise, a 1976 Mercedes-Benz 240D by a person named Gregorios Sachinidis who drove 2,850,000 miles. Mercedes-Benz is thought for making vehicles that can fortunately keep on the street deep into the tons of of 1000’s of miles, with multiple models hitting the million-mile mark.

Gregorios’ 240D isn’t even the one one to go a million. One factor that holds true throughout these fashions is that hitting giant milestones appears very simple; sustain with oil adjustments and upkeep and Mercedes-Benz’s wonderful engineering does the remainder.

Performance Specifications

(Data was collected from Mercedes-Benz)

Where Is It Now?

After reaching such a major milestone in simply 28 years in comparison with Irv Gordon’s 52 in his Volvo, you’ll assume Gregorios could be on observe to far surpass the report (though it could be a separate report as it’s enterprise mileage). However, in recognition of his achievement, Gregorios donated his Mercedes-Benz 240D to show within the Daimler-Benz museum in Stuttgart, and in return they gifted him a model new C-Class as thanks.

If he had saved driving the automobile at 100,000 miles a 12 months, the odometer could be nearly to hit the 5 million miles mark, assuming it was nonetheless working as easily because it had for its 28 years on the street.

Another spectacular instance of Mercedes engineering is Magnus Sæle’s 1991 E-Class W124 which clocked up 2.1 million miles throughout his taxi driving profession. However, at 86 years of age, he’s having fun with not having to drive round fairly as a lot as previously and his W124 is displaying indicators of its age and distance with some rust harm and put on and tear slowing it down in recent times.

The Future Of Mileage Monsters

Can Anyone Surpass The P1800S?

Since setting his information, nobody has come near overtaking Irv Gordon for non-business miles, and as time passes the chance decreases as vehicles grow to be extra complicated and replaceable. While some vehicles have raced to the million miles mark, few have managed to maintain up with the calls for that placed on a automobile and it begs the query of whether or not it’s even doable to exceed the report.

This is even additional put into query as electrical vehicles enhance in reputation, whereas some fashions ought to last more than 300,000 miles, nobody is admittedly positive how lengthy they will hold driving. Some of the million-mile vehicles have additionally had vital work achieved, just like the 1.5 million-mile Tacoma which had the engine and transmission totally changed, so like Theseus’ ship; is it nonetheless the identical automobile? Should having a inventory engine or inventory physique be the qualifier?

However you resolve to measure the very best mileage automobile on the earth, it’s clear that Irv Gordon’s spectacular Guinness report goes to face for a few years and he leaves behind an unimaginable legacy of driving and a terrific instance of how taking care of your automobile can pay you again tenfold.

While Irv was a person devoted to his automobile and the enjoyment of driving (he sadly passed in 2018), his spectacular odometer report begs the query; was it the person, or was it the automobile? With the next-best automobiles coming in at 2.8 and a couple of.1 million miles, there’s one thing in Irv’s report that stands out from the remainder.

Another issue to contemplate is that Irv set his report initially in 1998 and re-set it once more in 2014, but since then nobody has topped it and even surpassed the three million miles mark. Ten years on from setting such a powerful report, we’re taking a deep dive into the person, the parable, the automobile legend, and his excellent Volvo P1800S.