Tråd: Mannen som gjorde de tre millioner kilometer merket

De fleste ekteskap varer ikke nesten like lenge som Irven Gordons Volvo P1800 har vart. Og de fleste par sannsynligvis bruke ikke så mye tid sammen som Irv har tilbrakt i bilen sin elskede.
Irv sier han ikke hadde hørt om Volvoer før et par dager før han kjøpte bilen, 30 juni 1966. På tiden var han lei av sin turboladet 1963 Corvair Spyder, som han sier var stadig gjør ham sent for hans ungdomsskolen vitenskap undervisning jobb ved å bryte ned en rute. Mens du blar i en Bil og sjåfør med en bil kunnskapsrike venn snublet han over en annonse for lokal Volvo forhandleren, med et bilde av en P1800. Disse er flotte biler, fortalte venn ham. Så ned han gikk til Volvoville i Huntington, NY, og tok en P1800 konvertible for en snurr. Han kjørte i tre timer, og så kjøpte mye billigere coupe, for $4,150 eller $30.000 i gjeldende dollar, ca hans deretter årslønn.
Den første helgen rullet Irv 1500 miles, tilbake til forhandleren mandag for hans biler første checkup. Han hadde ikke planlagt å kjøre gjennom helgen, men han sier han hadde mye moro å slutte-opp til Boston, ned til Philly og over mellom før retur til sitt hjem på Long Island. HMS kjørt P1800 entusiastisk siden. På 24 September i fjor traff han 3 millioner miles.


Irv har i gjennomsnitt 63 000 miles årlig-172/dag-selv om dette tallet har variert fra 50k i løpet av årene undervisning nord for 100k bokføre pensjonisttilværelsen 1996. Forutsatt en gjennomsnittlig hastighet på 45 miles i timen med årene, er det nesten 4 timer i døgnet. (Irv blåste tanken om å gjøre slike estimert fraværende registreringer av hastigheter reiste over tid [se grundig, under]. Men for noen som har logget 3 millioner hovedsakelig rekreasjons miles, ofte kryss og tvers i landet, men som tilbrakte 30 år pendling 125 miles per dag på for stivnet Long Island Expressway-totalt rundt 675,000 miles-45 mph virker fornuftig for meg. )
Det tar en eksepsjonelt godt bygget bil å nå 3 millioner miles. Når han åpnet Irvs motor for sin andre gjenoppbygge, sier det var i veldig god form, Duane Matejka, av R Sport Engineering i Pipersville, Pennsylvania. Ventilene viste noen slitasje, og ventilseter-som forventes. Matejka marvels det ventilen springs ikke hadde brutt etter en milliard (1 000 000 000) komprimering sykluser. På lagrene, hadde det ytterste laget av bly slitt ned, avslørende det underliggende kobberet. Til ledelsen ble en offisiell hazmat, sier beste lagrene inneholdt et ytre lag av denne myk metall, som kan absorbere eventuelle partikler fra olje, hindre scoring peiling overflater, Matejka.
Motorer Hovedproblemet 2 millioner miles etter sin første gjenoppbygge (som sin forhandler trodde unødvendig, men som Irv hadde insistert på fordi han ikke kunne tenke seg en motor ikke trenger en gjenoppbygging på 687K), var faktisk et par ferska stempelringer. Matejka sier trolig var ansvarlig for P1800s lackluster bestigningen av Sierras, symptomet som motivert den andre gjenoppbyggingen.

Bilen er sterkt over designet, sier Matejka, som har maskinteknikk og som kjørte en P1800 i mange år. De fire sylinderen har mer betydning enn en Chevy V8. Matejka sier de fleste biler krever ettermarkedet Koblingsstenger å rase, men hans P1800s lager stenger gjorde jobben. Disse og veivakselen er forfalsket, noe som gjør dem sterkere enn mer vanlig støping. Matejka bemerker også at svenskene er anal om deres metallurgi.
Resten av bilen er så godt bygget som motoren. Bortsett fra den første gjenoppbyggingen hadde P1800 bare vedlikehold-relaterte reparasjoner før etter at den hadde nådd 750 k, når overføringen utviklet en oljelekkasje, sier Irv. (Vic Dres, Goleta, ca, rapporterer at hans millioner mil, 88 Volvo 740 bru hadde ingen ikke-vedlikehold problemer før overføringen gikk kaput etter hed logget halv en million miles, og sjelden Cooper sier hans millioner mil, 87 240 sedan er fortsatt svært pålitelig. Verken motoren er gjenreist. )
Likevel, theres mer nå tre millioner miles enn kvalitet. Motoren, Matejka sier, var veldig rent, fordi [Gordon] er så grundig, adjektiv andre har brukt Irvs vedlikehold vaner. (Faktisk, en tidligere student av Gordons, Richard Brunswick, MD, som jeg møtte på Arlington Masss Barismo kaffehus han overhørte meg snakke om Irvs Volvo, roste hans undervisning i lignende søkeord.)

For eksempel youd tror en 66 Volvo, sans garasje på Long Island, halvt kvartal fra Atlanterhavet, ville har rustet ut allerede. Min venn, Pattys 1968 145, opprinnelig en California bil, som foreldrene hadde kjøpt nye da hun var 10, hadde spiret begynnende råte da hun og hennes mann donert bilen til NPR rundt 2008, etter 18 år i snø beltet. Når jeg hadde lurt på hvorfor Irvs var fortsatt perfekt, sa han han spyles understellet vinteren. Jeg prøve å få alle sprekker, der salt og sand vil bygge opp, sier han. Du må bare få ned på hendene og kne.
Til slutt, Irv går lett på bilen. Tidlig på, deltok han i veien rally, men etter en stund, jeg sa, hvorfor jeg drepe bilen min? Irv sier han akselererer forsiktig, og at hans toppfart er 60-65 mph. Jeg liker å se hvor lenge jeg kan gjøre ting sist, sier han.
Irvs love for bilturer sannsynligvis datoer fra sommeren 47, da han var 8, og familien min kjøpte en ny Buick og tilbrakte hele sommeren reiser rundt om i USA. Senere, når faren hardt arbeidende hadde en helg fridag, tilbrakte vi hele dagen i bilen på vei et sted. Irv voks veltalende om gleden av besøker nye steder på bilturer.
Men Irv har kjørt seg inn i en ubehagelig paradoks. Miles har forvandlet P1800 fra en innbyrdes ombyttelige vare til et stykke historie, nedfelt i Guinness Book of World Records. At historiske status gjør P1800 en eiendel for Volvo og Irv, også. Siden den første millioner milepælen, Irv har gjort annonser og hendelser for Volvo, bibeskjeftigelse som han elsker, men en som han sverger han mottar bare utgifter (sann, sier Jessica Snell for PR fast, Haberman, siste kontrakt til Volvo). Likevel, gjennom årene, Volvo har gitt Irv to nye Volvoer-en på begynnelsen av hver millioner km, med en tredje på vei.

Volvoer følelse av verdiskapingen var tydelig fra frakt Irv og P1800 til Alaska for 3 millioner mil, snarere enn tillater hendelsen i mer dagligdagse omegn. Frakt bilen var nødvendig, fordi da Volvo besluttet å skyte hendelsen i Alaska, måtte jeg bare 200 miles til 3 millioner, Irv forklarer.
All denne verdien har begynt å veie. Oddsen for en biler som summeres-en skjebne Texan Norbert Lissys P1800 LED rundt 700 000 miles-stige med eksponering. I alle hans kjøring, sier Irv han aldri har forårsaket en krasj, men at metallet har blitt bøyd kanskje 11 ganger. Et år siden, Irv var på vei til Baltimore på en relativt tom I-95, sier han, når en fyr i pickup lastebil kjørte inn i bilen min når jeg gjorde 65. Og jeg var på vei til film skyte for Google! Helt siden deretter Im får å være paranoid.
Og så, i dag, hans andre Volvo-2002 C70 han mottatt for 2 millioner milepæl-blir mer bruk. Im så forsiktig som jeg kan være om hvor og når jeg [stasjon på P1800], sier Irv. Spurte om hed noensinne selge på P1800, sier han, jeg bare fikk invitert til å gå til Brussel auto show. Når jeg bli kvitt bilen ingen skal ringe lenger.

Most marriages dont last nearly as long as Irven Gordons Volvo P1800 has lasted. And most couples probably dont spend as much time together as Irv has spent in his beloved car.
Irv says he hadnt even heard of Volvos until a few days before he bought the car, on June 30, 1966. At the time, he was fed up with his turbocharged 1963 Corvair Spyder, which he says was constantly making him late for his middle school science teaching job by breaking down en route. While thumbing through a Car and Driver with a car savvy friend, he stumbled upon an ad for the local Volvo dealership, with a photo of a P1800. These are great cars, the friend told him. So down he went to Volvoville in Huntington, NY, and took a P1800 convertible for a spin. He drove for three hours, and then bought the much less expensive coupe, for $4,150, or $30,000 in current dollars, approximately his then annual salary.
That first weekend, Irv rolled 1,500 miles, returning to the dealership on Monday for his cars first checkup. He hadnt planned to drive through the weekend, but he says he was having too much fun to stop—up to Boston, down to Philly, and all over in between before returning to his home on Long Island. Hes been driving the P1800 enthusiastically ever since. On September 24th of last year, he hit 3 million miles.


Irv has averaged 63,000 miles annually—172/day—although that number has ranged from 50k during his teaching years to north of 100k post his 1996 retirement. Assuming an average speed of 45 miles an hour over the years, thats nearly 4 hours a day. (Irv scoffed at the notion of making such an estimate absent records of speeds traveled over time [see meticulous, below]. But for someone who has logged 3 million predominantly recreational miles, frequently crisscrossing the country, but who spent 30 years commuting 125 miles a day on the sclerotic Long Island Expressway—for a total of around 675,000 miles—45 mph seems reasonable to me. )
It takes an exceptionally well-built car to reach 3 million miles. When he opened up Irvs engine for its second rebuild, It was in very good shape, says Duane Matejka, of R Sport Engineering in Pipersville, Pennsylvania. The valves showed some wear, and the valve seats—thats expected. Matejka marvels that the valve springs hadnt broken after a billion (1,000,000,000) compression cycles. On the bearings, the outer layer of lead had worn down, revealing the underlying copper. Until lead became an official hazmat, the best bearings contained an outer layer of this soft metal, which could absorb any particulates from the oil, preventing them from scoring the bearing surfaces, says Matejka.
In fact, the engines major problem 2 million miles after its first rebuild (which his dealer had thought unnecessary, but that Irv had insisted upon because he couldnt imagine an engine not needing a rebuild at 687K), was a couple of busted piston rings. Matejka says those probably were responsible for the P1800s lackluster ascent of the Sierras, the symptom that motivated the second rebuild.

The car is greatly over-designed, says Matejka, who has a mechanical engineering degree, and who raced a P1800 for many years. The four cylinder has more bearing area than a Chevy V8. Matejka says most cars require aftermarket connecting rods to race, but his P1800s stock rods did the job. These and the crankshaft are forged, which makes them stronger than the more usual casting. Matejka also notes that the Swedes are anal about their metallurgy.
The rest of the car is as well-built as the engine. Aside from the first rebuild, the P1800 had only maintenance-related repairs until after it had reached 750k, when the transmission developed an oil leak, says Irv. (Vic Dres, of Goleta, CA, reports that his million mile, 88 Volvo 740 GLE had no non-maintenance problems until the transmission went kaput after hed logged half a million miles, and Selden Cooper says his million mile, 87 240 sedan is still very reliable. Neither engine has been rebuilt. )
Nonetheless, theres more to reaching three million miles than quality. The engine, Matejka says, was very clean, because [Gordon] is so meticulous, an adjective others have applied to Irvs maintenance habits. (In fact, a former student of Gordons, Richard Brunswick, MD, who I met at Arlington Masss Barismo coffeehouse after he overheard me talking about Irvs Volvo, praised his teaching in similar terms. )

For example, youd think a 66 Volvo, sans garage on Long Island, half a block from the Atlantic, would have rusted out already. My friend, Pattys 1968 145, originally a California car, which her parents had bought new when she was 10, had sprouted nascent rot by the time she and her husband donated the car to NPR around 2008, after 18 years in the snow belt. When I had wondered why Irvs was still pristine, he said he hosed the undercarriage during the winter. I try to get all the crevices, where the salt and sand will build up, he says. You just have to get down on your hands and knees.
Finally, Irv goes easy on the car. Early on, he took part in road rallies, but after a while, I said, why am I killing my car? Irv says he accelerates gently, and that his top speed is 60-65 mph. I like to see how long I can make things last, he says.
Irvs love for road trips probably dates from the summer of 47, when he was 8, and my family bought a new Buick and spent the entire summer traveling around the US. Subsequently, whenever his hard-working father had a weekend day off, we spent the entire day in the car going somewhere. Irv waxes eloquent about the joy of visiting new places on road trips.
But Irv has driven himself into an uncomfortable paradox. The miles have transformed the P1800 from a fungible commodity into a piece of history—enshrined in the Guinness Book of World Records. That historical status makes the P1800 an asset for Volvo, and for Irv, as well. Since the first million milestone, Irv has been doing ads and events for Volvo, an avocation which he loves, but one for which he swears he receives only expenses (true, says Jessica Snell of the PR firm, Haberman, lately contracted to Volvo). Nonetheless, over the years, Volvo has given Irv two new Volvos—one at the turn of each million miles—with a third on the way.

Volvos sense of value added was obvious from the shipping of Irv and the P1800 to Alaska for the 3 millionth mile, rather than allowing the event to take place in more mundane environs. Shipping the car was necessary, because by the time Volvo decided to shoot the event in Alaska, I only had 200 miles to go to reach 3 million, Irv explains.
All that value has begun to weigh. The odds of a cars being totaled—a fate Texan Norbert Lissys P1800 suffered around 700,000 miles—rise with exposure. In all his driving, Irv says he has never caused a crash, but that the metal has been bent maybe 11 times. A year ago, Irv was headed for Baltimore on a relatively empty I-95, he says, when a guy in pickup truck ran into my car when I was doing 65. And I was on my way to do film shoot for Google! Ever since then Im getting to be paranoid.
And so, nowadays, his other Volvo — the 2002 C70 that he received for the 2 million milestone — is getting more use. Im as careful as I can be about where and when I [drive the P1800], says Irv. Asked if hed ever sell the P1800, he says, I just got invited to go to the Brussels auto show. Once I get rid of the car nobody is going to call anymore.