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'66 Volvo Set To Hit 3 Million Miles In September

Irv Gordon in his Volvo P1800S.
Seth Wenig
/
AP
Irv Gordon in his Volvo P1800S.

It's been a year since we posted about Irv Gordon and his 1966 Volvo P1800S, and as you would expect from someone who had already put 2.97 million miles on his car already, he hasn't stopped driving.

Volvo is projecting that this coming September in Alaska, Gordon and his P1800S will drive their 3 millionth mile.

With that, according to a package we got in the mail from the car company on Monday, "Gordon will reach a milestone no other individual has accomplished, nor likely will ever accomplish."

We're also intrigued by some of the "Irv Gordon fun facts" Volvo sent us:

"0 = the number of people besides Gordon who have driven his P1800." [We assume that's not counting a mechanic or two.]

"11 = the number of collisions Gordon has been in."

"48 = out of the 50 U.S. states Gordon's P1800 has seen."

"3 million miles = driving around the earth 126 times."

The company is riding Gordon's record for all its worth. It's got a "3 Million Reasons to Believe" website tracking "Irv's story."

We'll keep an eye on his progress.

Editor's note on Feb. 2, 2017: That "3 Million Reasons to Believe" website appears to have been deactivated, so we've removed the link. Volvo has collected videos and other information about Gordon and his car here.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.