Irv Gordon - RIP

Just read that Irv Gordon, owner of the 3 (4?) million mile 1966 Volvo 1800s, passed away today.

My friend Mike is a Volvo guy and parked next to Irv at a show one time. People kept asking him to start the car so that they could hear it run. Mike had to ask him to knock it off, as the car stunk so bad.

RIP Irv.

They should bury him in the car. 

If anyone every truly owned a car, it was Irv.

His mechanic once said something like he put three kids through college on that car.

With all the publicity that Volvo received from Irv and his car over the years, I hope that Volvo makes the family a stupid-generous offer for the car and then put it in their museum in Sweden.

In reply to CJ :

He used to joke the price would be "$1 per mile." 

Unfortunately, as meticulous as he was about maintaining the car, he was apparently somewhat less so with estate planning.  He daughter posted on Facebook asking for information about how to find his attorney. 

I was fortunate to meet Irv a couple of times at Volvo gatherings.  He also posted on the Yahoo group 1800list from time to time. While he eventually embraced the "brand ambassador" role, you could also tell he was generally amused by the fact him fame was simply because he drove his car a lot and for a long time.

So how many times did they rebuild him before they finally junked him?

CJ said:

With all the publicity that Volvo received from Irv and his car over the years, I hope that Volvo makes the family a stupid-generous offer for the car and then put it in their museum in Sweden.

Bonus points if the send Irv and his Volvo off in a Viking funeral instead of making a museum piece. 

Ian F said:

In reply to CJ :

He used to joke the price would be "$1 per mile." 

Unfortunately, as meticulous as he was about maintaining the car, he was apparently somewhat less so with estate planning.  He daughter posted on Facebook asking for information about how to find his attorney. 

I was fortunate to meet Irv a couple of times at Volvo gatherings.  He also posted on the Yahoo group 1800list from time to time. While he eventually embraced the "brand ambassador" role, you could also tell he was generally amused by the fact him fame was simply because he drove his car a lot and for a long time.

The problem is that he passed away on the way to China or was in China. His daughter is trying to figure out how to get him back home through the consulate in which is why she is asking for his attorney to take care of that matter. 

He was a legend with for his tenacity. You can't call it thrift at some point. 

RIP Irv