Originally Posted by javacontour
Think about how much of his life was spent changing oil. If he did 3000 oil changes, that's probably 1500-3000 hours of his life, or 2 to 4 months spent changing oil. He was either doing it, or had to go to the dealer/shop and wait while it was done, etc.
In the video, he says he changed the oil every 3,500 miles. If we assume he did this religiously, and (at least on average) stuck to the schedule, then 3.2 million divided by 3500 = 914 changes. Looks like he did at least some himself, if not all, and I think 45 minutes is a fair estimate, at least on average (30 minutes when you're young, an hour when you're old). Based on that, I figure about 685 hours or 28.5 days.
Originally Posted by aquariuscsm
If it was on its third engine,wouldn't it technically have the original mileage capped at the very first rebuild,thus making it a 3.2 million mile chassis and not a 3.2 original mile car?
Technically, it WAS still the same engine, just had two rebuilds. Depends on what your definition is of "same engine" but I would say that it was. Typically, the identifying part of the engine is the block, right?
That said, Irv was certainly a man with a mission, and from what I could see, a very nice man. It seemed he loved driving around in his Volvo, and he did a lot of that, so I'd like to think his life was a fulfilling one to him.
RIP Irv Gordon