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Record Miles Driven Car Ever Still Kicking, Owner Turns 70

Slowly and surely (and it couldn't have been any other way), the 1966 Volvo P1800 purchased back in the hippie age by a then largely unknown Irv Gordon managed to clock 2.8 million miles (4.5 million km) on the odometer.

Since that year, Gordon has become the holder of the Guinness Book of World Records title for the most miles driven by a single owner in a non-commercial vehicle. And his car keeps on shattering all records just by moving an inch.

Gordon turned 70 this month and, just like his car, doesn't plan to give up traveling any time soon. With the sight set on reaching the 3 million miles (4.83 million km) mark by his 73rd birthday, Gordon is only worried that his body might fail him sooner than the engine in the Volvo would fail the P1800.

“Three million miles by my 73nd birthday sounds right. But, whether I reach that mark is more up to me than it is the car. The car’s parts have long proven they can take it, but I’m not so sure about my own. Either way, it will be a fantastic testament to the engineering genius of Volvo as well as to the resiliency of folks my age.”


As you can see, Gordon blames the longevity of the car on the “engineering genius of Volvo.” Others  however claim Gordon and his car are “a monument to the payoff of proper car care.“

Whatever the truth may be, the car's achievements are staggering. To give you a taste of what 2.8 million miles means, we'll tell you that the distance from the Earth to the Moon is 252,000 miles (405,500 km - apogee distance). Traveling 2.8 million miles in 44 years means Gordon averaged 63,636 miles (102,412 km) each year, or 174 miles/day (280 km).
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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