Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Detroit Can Make Much Better Cars

So, the Big Three are looking for a bailout...

No that's not a picture of me below, but the guy in the picture is standing beside a P1800 very similiar to ours. This is the famous (in Volvo circles) Irv Gordon who owns the same make and year of Volvo Gwen and I have - a 1966 Volvo P1800.

To make a long story short, I have no decent pics of ours and at the moment its not here to take a picture of it - the car is at another place having its engine and transmission installed.

But when I used to drive it a few years ago (house construction took over from this other long term car restoration project) I remember being constantly amazed at the fuel mileage the Volvo offered given its age, and forty or so year-old technology!

The last forty years has seen a large advancement in computer technology, etc; so what happened to cars and there engines!!!???

What happened to the technology GM and Saturn developed when they first released the EV-1 to the public 10 or so years ago? Of course, this is a rhetorical question. Most of us all know exactly what happened. There's no political willpower to change the path of greed our system fosters...

2.48 Million Miles On A Volvo

Record-Breaking Volvo Driver Irv Gordon Clocks Four Million Kilometers in His Trusty P1800.
Irv Gordon, Volvo's "Two-and-a-half Million Mile Man," just became the "Four Million Kilometer Man," breaking records in the same shiny red 1966 Volvo P1800 he has been driving for more than 40 years.
Some stats:
  • 710 oil changes. Irv recommends changing your oil every 3,500 miles (5,632 km).
  • 100,000 plus miles (160,934 km) per year since retiring in 1996.
  • 0 false starts. Zero. Zip. Not even on the coldest of mornings.
  • 0 replaced engines. The Volvo P1800 still has its original engine, though it was rebuilt at around 675,000 miles (1,086,307 km).
  • One new starter.
  • $4,150. The cost of Irv's Volvo P1800 back in 1966. "The best $4,150 I've ever spent."
  • 99 tune-ups (every 25,000 miles, or 40,233 km).
  • 8,285 tanks of gas (The Volvo gets 25 miles, or 40.23 km, per gallon
Found the above stats and pic at: http://j-walkblog.com

2 comments:

Ruth said...

2 1/2 million miles - that's nuts!

I loved my Volvo, but I didn't keep it more than 5 years. It kept me safe when I hit 2 deer (moose mobile).

Yours and Irv's is a cool model. Mine was a wagon, '98 I think it was.

John Ackerson said...

We've got a friend who's had a few Volvo wagons. What interior space!

Never hit a deer or a moose myself, and I hope I never do, although I have come close. Very glad you didn't get hurt Ruth!