Date: Sat, 15 Nov 1997
From: Greg Morris <skankmo@lis.ab.ca>
Dear Glenn,
I have a 1968 1800S that I have owned for the last 12 or so years. This is the third 1800 I have had the pleasure of owning. I subscribe to the Volvo-ism - "Drive them like you hate them," and I think they really like it!
I first fell in love with Volvo when my grade 10 girlfriend's father used to let me take his daughter and his 122S out on dates. He probably thought the interior was too small to try any funny stuff in. Up here the 122S was also known as the B10 Canadian. It was a beautiful car; he was a heavy duty mechanic and had just rebuilt the motor. It shifted wonderfully. I can still recall his admonishments as I would drive away - "Be careful with my car" - no comment about his daughter.
Those first experiences lead to my searches over the years for Volvos. I have been very lucky. For my first two 1800s, I traded a Honda Elsinore 175 motorcycle and a Chevy van. I got a 1963 parts car where the parts were barely held together by rust. You could literally put you finger through any body panels with no trouble. As well, I received a '66 that I drove daily for three years and rallied with. That was in 1976 - 79. I parted with these sadly at that time. The '66 had many of the same problems that my '68 does today - gauges, rust.
Every fall from 1980 to 1987 I followed some strange instinct, and would peruse magazines and newspapers for Volvo 1800s. I would always find a few that were for sale, but then I wouldn't do anything about it. Finally after years of this strange fall ritual, my wife said, "Just buy the damn thing" (bless her heart). I bought the car sight unseen.
I had my brother's mechanic check it out, and he gave me a list as long as my arm of "problems," all of which I had anticipated. I sent him a couple of bucks for a few minor items so I could drive the 200 miles home, and took a bus to Calgary to get the car. I first saw the car in the garage parking lot. I bought it, drove it home and have not done very much to it. Tranny mounts, some carb work, an alternator, a fuel pump, a couple of tires. I have some rust on a couple of fenders and the rocker panels, the interior is a bit - quite a bit - ratty. Most of the gauges do not work. There were about 6 1800's around Lethbridge a while back, but I only see a couple of them any more. I am currently have some trouble with my vacuum assist on my brakes - front only on the '68.
g=
Greg -
I know the feeling. I recently went to look at another sports car, a model I've coveted for a long time, and spent a sleepless night trying to decide whether to buy it or not. It wasn't really the decision that kept me up so much as worrying that someone else would beat me to it. Now I'm the happy owner of an Austin-Healey bugeye Sprite, though it will take a year to complete enough repairs to put the thing on the road.
I'm afraid I have no experience with the brake booster in the 1800, since a previous owner removed the one in my car, and I never bothered to replace it. Seems the easiest course would be to find a rebuilt unit and swap it out.
- Glenn.