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Vintage Does anyone know what motor oil Irv Gordon used??

JohnMc said:
I think he was a bit OCD about driving. Supposedly he picked his car up new from the dealer on a Friday, and came back the next Monday morning for his 1500 mile service. As documented by the warranty booklet.

And he got unusual service life from his 1800 because he didn't drive it 'normally'. He drove it gently. And most of the time, it would get one cold start in the morning, and he'd drive it all day long, through multiple tanks of gas, multiple warm stats (with oil still in the bearings).

ANd once he retired from his 'day job' - I think Volvo paid him to drive the car around.
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this, coupled with some luck from being assembled by sobered up workers on a wednesday, and perhaps the car being on the opposite end of the lemon bell curve.

Since it was babied, and became famous, the dealer service department would have treated the car with care and respect too. Irv probably would check their work and there was little chance for errors to cause harm.

Naysayers: This isn't typical, tehis was the perfect storm.
 
JohnMc said:
And he got unusual service life from his 1800 because he didn't drive it 'normally'. He drove it gently. And most of the time, it would get one cold start in the morning, and he'd drive it all day long, through multiple tanks of gas, multiple warm stats (with oil still in the bearings).
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I wish I could drive like this. But people get pissy when I feather the throttle, and I get sent to the store for stuff after hours of not driving.
 
I've certainly never ridden in Irv's car, but I did own two 1800E's. And they have a completely effortless freeway cruise. I don't think they're particularly aerodynamic (Cd) - but the do at least have a lot less frontal area. Get up to speed, click the OD on, and you're just barely tickling the throttle to keep it rolling along at 55 - 60 mph. And then just putter along like that for the next 250 miles until you fill up with gas again. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat.

I'm not saying Irv was nuts, but I think he compulsively drove. A lot.
 
ANd he'd take it into dealerships along the way for the servicing, AFAIK Volvo was footing the bill. So each and every dealer that serviced it would have needed to know what fictional mileage to put down to make the service records support the mileage increase over the years.
 
hessam69 said:
Also, I don't see the point in lying about anything, he doesn't seem like the type. I'm not sure what he would get out of doing so
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Notoriety. Guinness Book Of World Records. I suppose you guys believe you can stack Volvos 7 high and not have the roof collapse on the bottom car as well? Who was responsible for that mega myth? Volvo themselves. Car companies lie to the public all the time. The most recent example is Volkswagen with the emissions test faking software. The simple math just doesn't support the story. It would be a full time job to drive as many miles as Irv supposedly did. There are traveling salesmen/women that put that kind of mileage on their vehicles. Irv was a school teacher. That by itself is a 50-60 hour a week job. I know, I was raised by a school teacher and school principal. He must have gone on 48 hour non-stop driving marathons during his weekends off. I'm not saying Irv didn't put an incredible number of miles on his P1800. I just think he spun the tale into a much bigger tale to the point it becomes ridiculous.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9NRDfDIxcc
 
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2manyturbos said:
Notoriety. Guinness Book Of World Records. I suppose you guys believe you can stack Volvos 7 high and not have the roof collapse on the bottom car as well? Who was responsible for that mega myth? Volvo themselves. Car companies lie to the public all the time. The most recent example is Volkswagen with the emissions test faking software. The simple math just doesn't support the story. It would be a full time job to drive as many miles as Irv supposedly did. There are traveling salesmen/women that put that kind of mileage on their vehicles. Irv was a school teacher. That by itself is a 50-60 hour a week job. I know, I was raised by a school teacher and school principal. He must have gone on 48 hour non-stop driving marathons during his weekends off. I'm not saying Irv didn't put an incredible number of miles on his P1800. I just think he spun the tale into a much bigger tale to the point it becomes ridiculous.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9NRDfDIxcc
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What if it was only 10,000 miles each year for 50 years, that is a half million ?:rofl: Definately castor oil :oogle:
 
My dads 131 had covered over 400,000 miles on teh original untouched engine before he took it off the road for body repair. Whilst the bores were worn it could have managed more miles. Being in mind it did a mix of short and long runs and colder climate I have no doubt a million miles on the original bore is possible.
Considering my dad was driving anywhere from 30-50,000 a year in the uk where the most you can do is about 1000 miles in a day I can see it is possible.

It would also be no shock if it spent odd days set on a rolling road knocking up miles
 
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