Original owners and the cars they love

Bob Cafarelli was a new teacher and a new husband in 1968, still finishing his postgraduate education during summers when "she" joined the family. "She" was hot in those days --- fashionable and fast.

"She" is Cafarelli's beloved 1968 Chevrolet Camaro convertible. He and his wife, Christina, bought it new for $3,100, and over the next 40 years, it was there as their family grew. In an e-mail to Act 2, Cafarelli, now 65 and living in West Islip, wrote: "She has witnessed the birth of two children, seen them grow up, witnessed them being married and enjoyed the attention that the grandchildren paid to her."

Richard Lentinello, editor of the Vermont-based collector car magazine Hemmings Motor News and its website, hemmings.com, says it's not uncommon for cars to become love objects and remain in the hands of their original owners decade after decade. "We run into it all the time," he said. "They save them for their sentimental value."

That pretty much describes Jerry Malkes, a retired respiratory care practitioner from Hewlett. Malkes, 61, who bought his Toyota Celica for about $8,000 in 1980, decided almost immediately to stay with it until death do them part and has babied it -- racking up a mere 19,000 miles in 30 years. John Herman of Dix Hills, a 59-year-old Citigroup vice president who is an acquaintance of Malkes, has owned his '77 red Celica even longer and vows to keep it despite a lack of interest from family members.

Probably the best known of Long Island's longtime car owners is Irv Gordon of East Patchogue, who bought his 1966 Volvo P1800S sports car new for $4,150 plus tax and has been driving it almost daily ever since, becoming a media celebrity in the process -- with help and encouragement from Volvo for the obvious advertising value. On. Jan. 26, he and his Volvo will be briefly featured on the PBS series "NOVA scienceNOW," at 8 p.m., WNET Ch. 13.

Gordon, 70, said recently that he's driven the car 2,840,000 miles - equivalent to circling the globe about 114 times. More than a million miles ago, in 1998, Gordon and his prized Volvo earned a spot in "The Guinness Book of World Records." In the 2011 edition of "Guinness World Records," it's listed for the "highest vehicle mileage," with 2,721,000 miles as of August 2009.

The engine was rebuilt at 675,000 miles and again about a year ago because, Gordon said, "It was having trouble getting over the Rocky Mountains." The car has been partially repainted a few times -- after mishaps in which it was hit while parked. But those dings don't shake his loyalty to the Volvo.

"Why would you get rid of a car that starts every time you hit the starter, takes you where you want to go and never gives you any grief?" he reasoned.Gordon was a middle-school science teacher and was single when he bought the car. He married about seven years later, but the Volvo has outlasted that union by 14 years.

Herman's Celica has outlasted three marriages - and has 77,000 miles on it. He bought it for $5,350, including tax, to replace a 1972 Corolla. The Corolla, Herman said, was "fabulous" and, after clocking more than 140,000 miles in it, he was hooked on Toyota.

So in 1977, when it was time for a new car, the Celica was a natural choice. "I was enamored of it," he said. After driving it daily for five years, he decided to keep it forever. But his two daughters, now in their early 20s, don't share that attachment. One of them learned to drive a stick shift on the Celica, he said, but generally, they ignored the car.

Members of other families sometimes are similarly unenthusiastic about love-object cars. Cafarelli, a retired high school print shop teacher, says his wife wanted him to get rid of the Camaro in 2007 when a freak accident in his garage sparked a fire that nearly destroyed the car's interior. "She said, 'Let's take the money and run,' " referring to the insurance payout, Cafarelli recalled. "I said, 'I don't think so. It's been part of the family all this time.' "

So, he took up an offer from a car collector friend to do the restoration - a two-year process that left it looking good as new.

Cafarelli says his daughter and son, now 41 and 39, respectively, had little interest in the Camaro but that his five grandchildren are enamored of it. "They had never driven in a convertible and were amazed to discover that when you cranked the handle the window went down," Cafarelli wrote in his e-mail.

Cafarelli says he and his wife bought the Camaro before they had children. It still has its original powertrain, he said, including a 327 cubic inch V-8 engine and automatic transmission.

Unlike Gordon, who drives his Volvo nearly every day - and often uses it for cross-country trips - Cafarelli, Malkes and Herman baby their cars.

Malkes says his Celica has the original tires and even the original windshield-washer fluid. Since retiring, he has become active in auto enthusiast groups like the Antique Automobile Club of America. "The reason I kept the car is because I bought it when my father was alive," Malkes said. "I guess it's a remembrance of him. When I drive, I feel like he's alongside me."

Cafarelli, Herman and Malkes say they have no plans to sell their vehicles, but if they did, none is likely to get rich, said Hemmings editor Lentinello. His guess puts the Camaro's worth at $18,000 to $20,000 -- six times its dealer sticker price, but small change compared to the $100,000-plus prices often fetched at auctions by certain 1960s muscle cars prized for their specific equipment, especially engines.A recent check of Hemmings' website found only three Celicas listed, and none worth very much.

Gordon, seemingly half in jest, said he'd consider selling his famed Volvo for the right price. "I keep telling everybody who asks, 'If you want to buy it, we'll start with a dollar a mile and figure it out from there.' So far, I haven't heard anything."

Herman's Celica most likely has a permanent home, too. "Every once in a while I would kick around the idea of putting it up for auction, but I would always back down," he said. "I can't do it. I can't do it."