By Glenn Goodspeed (April, 2000)
There were more 1800s at the spring, 2000, meet in Waco than I've ever seen at a Volvo Club of America Texas Chapter event. I can't tell you exactly how many, though, because I didn't count them. I wasn't planning to write a review of the meet, so this is more of an impression than a review.
In my mind, I can count eight 1800s. There were two gold ESes, an orange one, the yellow show-stopper ES driven in by Gary Sievert of Houston, a red E that I saw last year in Temple, Keith Hewson's black E driven by dad, Al Hewson, a powder blue '65, and John Newhouser's "best of show" S.
I didn't get to talk with John about his car, but it looked much as it did last year, which is to say, perfect. There were a couple of picnic tables covered with spare parts behind the main row of cars. I was looking at them with Al Hewson when I found a pair of new old stock foam gaskets for the taillights. The gaskets on my car turned to dust several years before I acquired the car, so I asked Al who they belonged to, and he thought they were John's. We went over to John, who admitted ownership and tried to give them away, but I managed to trade him a couple of dollars and a big "thank you" for them.
There was a Volvo restoration specialist from Houston, Rolf Larsen, who had trailered three vehicles with him to the meet, two 1800s and an odd-looking four-wheel-drive thing with "Mud Patrol" stenciled on the side. He brought an ES that belonged to a customer of his, and he had installed a rack-and-pinion steering system on it. He was allowing club members to drive it, and Al and John urged me to give it a go. I declined, because after driving my 1,600-pound Austin Healey Sprite for the past six months, I imagined that even with rack-and-pinion steering, an 1800 would seem heavy. Instead, I photographed the setup for future reference.
I drove the hundred miles from Fort Worth to Waco in the Sprite, because the Volvo was waiting for new seat upholstery to arrive. On the smaller state highways, it is a beautiful drive. I passed many flower-studded fields and had to slow down for a parade in the small town of Blum. Little Jenny (the Sprite) never missed a beat, and I kept her at 60 miles per hour on the open road.
I arrived at the meet at about 11:00 Saturday, which was really too late to see everything before the business meeting at 11:30. Al Ringle, the president, co-founder and mainstay of the Texas Chapter, made several announcements and presented awards. He told the story of how the night before, after everyone had dessert at his house, the driver of one of the nicest 1800s had not been gone more than five minutes when a gust of wind blew a tree down right where it had been parked. Close call!
George Dill, the other co-founder of the Texas Chapter, announced the July meet would be held in Fredricksburg. George is one of the funniest people alive, and in describing the July meet and accomodations and drawing for door prizes, he got more laughs than all three of the Stooges.
After the business meeting, everyone went out to get in their cars and go to the restaurant for lunch. I had planned to skip the lunch and scout around downtown Waco for a while before heading home. As the twenty-or-so cars queued up for a caravan, I noticed Rolf Larsen tying down his cars on his trailer. I shot a few photos of the unusual sight of the two 1800s and the "Mud Patrol" car on the trailer, which happened to be parked with an impressive view of the First Baptist Church of Waco in the background.
As the caravan began to move out of the parking lot, I fired up the Sprite and headed out to see the sights before taking the long journey home.
