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1967 1800S – Exceptional
Location
Santa Fe NM
Category
Description
The car is a long-term New Mexico car that was in storage for about 20 years with the previous owner (an engineer) keeping it as his retirement project. A few years ago I met him when he bought a replacement fuel tank from me.
When he took it out of storage to his mechanic, he found the engine had seized. He called and asked me to buy it. After visiting with him, I bought it sight unseen (first time in decades, I had done that).
Once I saw it, I found it to be one of the very best original cars I’d seen. It needed an engine rebuild, a new windshield, and some general updating for a 50 year old car. The only rust we found was a small spot on the right rear quarter panel about the size of a quarter coin where it had been scratched.
Although I had sworn off any more projects (there are at least a half a dozen still in my storage), the car was so nice and original we brought it back to life.
The car is the 1.8 liter with dual SU carburetors as it came from the factory; the transmission is the M41 Volvo 4-speed manual with the Laycock overdrive unit. Car has original dealer installed A/C (any of these cars with A/C is dealer installed; there were no factory air cars)
As I remember, the odometer showed about 100k miles, but was broken. It was reset to 0 miles when I had it rebuilt. The car has fewer than 500 miles since completing the rebuild.
The car was repainted in the original color, and as with all my repaints, we removed all the glass, for the respray. A new windshield and the other original glass was reinstalled with all new rubber gaskets and trim. A new grill surround was installed as they are almost always dinged. New stainless Swedish side trim was purchased from VP-Autoparts and installed. I chose to keep the original bumpers as they were quite nice with patina.
The interior needed both dash pads which I replaced, I had the front seats recovered in black leather, and installed new carpets. The panels and rear seat were retained as they are in nice original condition. The gauges were rebuilt where needed. The radio is an aftermarket, not original, and the steering wheel has been upgraded to a wooden aftermarket piece which is period appropriate.
Somehow the engine appeared to have ingested some moisture into the No. 3 cylinder. I learned a long time ago to never patch up mechanicals. Consequently, we completely rebuilt the entire engine including:
1. Block was overbored sufficient to clean rust from the No. 3 cylinder.
2. Pistons, piston rings, camshaft, camshaft followers, main and rod bearings, timing gear set, oil pump and overhaul gaskets with a rear main seal were installed. Head was rebuilt with new seals, valve grind, and valve job. Valve guides were replaced where necessary. Overall engine was in good shape except for water damage before the rebuild.
3. SU Carburetors were completely rebuilt with all worn parts replaced. A new fuel pump was installed as well.
4. All hoses and belts were replaced.
5. The clutch and brakes appeared to be nearly new. They were checked but not replaced. The master cylinder was replaced.
6. Tires are new
7. Battery is new
8. Ignition was redone with new spark plugs., spark plug wires, distributor cap and rotor, and points and condenser. Air filters were replaced as well.
Finally, I had my friend (Volvo Mastertech of the year 2014) completely go over the car and drive it to insure everything was in excellent shape. This fellow is a bit of an aberration as he makes his living in his own shop maintaining current Volvos. However, his true love is the older cars which he restores and/or hotrods His current cars are a 122 Volvo Wagon, a 122 Volvo coupe, a 1934 Dodge pickup he created from a 1934 Dodge sedan with a 354 Chrysler hemi, a 1959 2-door Ford station wagon on airbags he built, and several other projects.
Kurt, the mechanic replaced the fuel tank and fuel pump with new, removed and resealed the transmission (they tend to leak around the speedometer gear) and corrected lots of little issues at a cost of about $6,000. He drove it a bit to make sure everything was functional and safe.
