Previous | Done | Next 1973 Volvo P1800ES Firsts: 1st Swedish car; 1st Volvo; 1st "project" car; 1st station wagon (of sorts) While I was driving the R5, I entered into my first "project car" experience. While I was out exploring in the Finger Lakes one day, I found a Volvo P1800ES for sale outside Seneca Falls. When I was a kid, my friend's sister had a P1800, and I was really taken with it. At one point I made a pledge to myself that if I ever had the opportunity to buy one I would not turn it down. This, in particular, was the ES model, with the station wagon rear end, making it particularly desirable to me. Having disposable income for time in my life, I decided to honor my pledge, despite the fact that I knew this would not be a runner until I'd done some serious restoration. I paid the guy $750 for the car and then an additional $150 (or so) to have it flat-bedded back to Syracuse. I parked it outside my apartment and waited until I had enough extra money to start working on the car. During that time I found a Volvo specialist named Otar who gave me a lot of advice. I told him that the car had a totally rusted frame. He said that this was a common condition for P1800's. It was completely reparable, but it was difficult to find a welding shop that would take on the job, and that it would probably cost more to have the work done than the car would be worth. When it came time to move to a new apartment, I had the car towed to my friend Ross's place. He got 2 parking spaces in his apartment complex, but he only used 1. But when I left town I had to get it towed to Otar's place where he said I could keep it for a while. Weeks turned to months, and the months began to pile up. Eventually I made plans to move out of the Syracuse area. I wound up giving the car to Otar in exchange for the storage fees he said he'd have to charge me if I sold the car to anyone else. Previous | Done | Next