LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
Our Last Word In Business today goes a long way - as in 3 million miles.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Irv Gordon was a young high school teacher when he bought his Volvo P1800 coupe.
WERTHEIMER: It was 1956. The car cost him just over $4,100. The Long Island resident has driven the car nonstop ever since.
IRV GORDON: It's not something I tried to do. It's just something that happened, over the years, of constantly driving the same car.
GREENE: Now, Gordon is not your typical car lover. More than once, he's driven across the country on a whim, sometimes just for a cup of coffee.
GORDON: I read about this new diner called the Fog City Diner, that opened in the city of San Francisco. It was a retro-1950s diner; and they made this whole, big thing about it in the paper. And I came home from work when it was just the beginning of school vacation; and I said to the family, pack a bag. I said, we're going to take a ride.
WERTHEIMER: Gordon, now retired, has become a sort of unofficial spokesperson for Volvo. The company brought him to the original factory in Sweden; and he's been invited to go to China, where Volvo's new owners are located.
GORDON: What a great opportunity. You go out and you buy an automobile, and that automobile changes your whole life - changes the things that you see and the people that you meet, and the places you get to go - all because of an automobile. And, I mean, that's what this car has done for me. It's been such a terrific relationship.
GREENE: So you can truly say, oh, the miles they have seen together. And that 3 million mile thing? It is in reach. Irv Gordon plans on reaching that milestone this September, during a road trip through Alaska.
And that's the business news on MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm David Greene.
WERTHEIMER: And I'm Linda Wertheimer.
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