1988 Volvo Passes Million-Mile Mark

Vic Dres recently hit the million-mile mark in his 1988 Volvo – a feat he’s been working toward for 26 years.

Sure, Guinness World Record holder Irv Gordon has him beat, passed the three million mile mark in his 1966 Volvo P1800 last year. But the million-mile mark is nothing to sneeze at either. That’s just what Vic Dres experienced recently, when he watched the odometer click over to seven figures. Well, almost. You see, his odometer has only six digits, so all he really saw was zeros. But you’ll just have to imagine that glorious “1″ to the far left.

When Dres bought his Volvo GLE in 1988, he was already a man with a million-mile plan. To prove it, he even bought a personalized license plate that read “GL1000K.” And for the next two and a half decades, he kept at that goal, despite the naysayers.

“I don’t think they believed me at all,” Dres told reporters with California’s KSBY recently. Oh, but they do now. Of course, Dres’ 160-mile daily commute with one gig helped him quickly rack up 800,000 miles. But then, things got a bit slower when he took a new job just six miles from his home in 2005. He didn’t let that stop him, however. Instead, he continued chipping away at the remaining 200,000 until earlier this month.

Dres let the folks at Volvo know about his goal, and they were all for it, even awarding him a fender display medallion for each 100,000 miles. The sweet Swedish ride still has its original engine and gasket, and Dres says it’s kept up like a real trooper with nothing more than the standard recommended maintenance, including oil changes every 5,000 miles.

So now what? Dres and his trusty steed are aiming for the 2 million-mile mark and hope eventually to catch up with Gordon. We believe he can do it – especially with a set of E3 car spark plugs installed. They burn cleaner, stronger and more efficiently than the rest. Find out where to get yours here.

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