Subject: Soon to be owner - 1800
Date: Sat, 2 May 1998
From: Drslmr <Drslmr@aol.com>
Glenn,
As far as I can tell, you seem to be the voice of reason on many of the Volvo pages where I have seen your posts, and this brings me to my question(s). I will be purchasing a 1964 1800S, chassis # 8558, within the next couple of months. I am so excited that I can hardly contain myself.
The car that I am buying has nearly no interior. No door panels, seats, carpets. I realize that this will be somewhat more difficult than buying a car outright with all of the pieces, but I just can't pass this one up. The body is nearly perfect, no rust, the chrome is impressive, and all of the instruments are working. The odometer reads around 84,000 miles. The current owner has a Volvo repair shop and has had the car for a few years and had serviced the car for several years prior to his ownership. Needless to say, the engine/transmission is in fine shape as well.
My dilemma is this. Restore the car using original interior components, etc., or take the aftermarket route and upgrade the car to more modern specs. I have found a seat manufacturer that has bolt-in seats for the 1800 series car, a carbon fiber steering wheel and carpets.
I already plan on the entire suspension being a rolling IPD showcase, but the interior is a point of distress. My thinking is that I may alter the car in such a way that the integrity and original class may also suffer. I do want to enjoy the driving experience as much as possible, and not having ever sat in an 1800 let alone driven one, I am a little apprehensive about making a bad choice.
If I know you as well as I think, you will tell me to make the car whatever it is that will make me, the owner, happy. That is what I intend to do. However, I lack experience with these cars. If I could drive the car as it was intended to be, I might have more direction, but the owner tells me that he believes there are less than 10-12 cars in the entire state of Utah. I know the whereabouts of 5 or so, but not wanting to impose on the owners, I am at the mercy of informed/experienced people as yourself. I apologize for the seemingly high drama, but I am truly lost. Help me Glenn!!!
Drslmr - Congratulations on your anticipated purchase. Sounds like you got a good one.
Your dramatic letter made me think about the ramifications of customizing. My personal philosophy has always been to make whatever modifications suit me, but try to make sure that the car could be returned to stock easily if necessary.
Why? Can't be because I plan to sell the car -- I don't. Couldn't be that I intend to make the car stock -- never will. Must be one of two things. Maybe I'm making room for the next owner. Face it -- someday, if the car is not wrecked, someone else will own it. Or maybe it's just respect for the original design and engineering. Most people find the car attractive. Some people deride the looks and some change them, but I haven't seen anyone do a better job than the people at the Frua bodyworks who designed the first P1800.
Subsequent models got further from the original design, but large manufacturers like Volvo are able to make their changes look very professional.
Well, you guessed right about my reply to you, which is, fix it the way you like it. But there's also the question, can you do better than Frua? -Glenn.