I had just recently sold a couple cars as I was trying to get back down to three cars. Well that did not last long, this Volvo followed me home yesterday, I do not know what I will do with it if anything but it was free and I could not say no.
I had just recently sold a couple cars as I was trying to get back down to three cars. Well that did not last long, this Volvo followed me home yesterday, I do not know what I will do with it if anything but it was free and I could not say no.
Very cool car. And the price was right!
Is it a stick or autotragic? Worth fixing in any case.
Cool car, especially the wagon/hatch version. If you need them, I've got a few freshly rebuilt gauges for those that I'll let go cheap (long past project leftovers).
That's the coolest free car ever!
I expected something way less cool. Nice come up!
It is a manual with overdrive. I have not gone through the box of parts yet but may be interested in the gauges, I will keep them in mind. The previous owner said they purchased it from the original owner who bought it in Sweden before moving to the States and brought it with him. Supposedly it was a running driving car but the hood let loose from the hinge while driving and swung into the windshield( smashing it) then the man decided to tear it apart to rebuild/restore.
I have never even been offered a free car, let alone one that awesome. Nice score!
Congrats! That's a super-cool car before you even get into the price (or lack thereof)!
Neat! My dad had two P1800ES’s, but they were before my time.
That is so cool!
Duke said:I have never even been offered a free car, let alone one that awesome. Nice score!
It does not happen often for me but the last car I got for free was a 35th anniversary thunderbird sc with 5 speed and lsd, windows would not roll down though.
Does anyone know if a Maserati biturbo engine will fit in this? Thinking about picking up an 85 5 speed to do an engine/tranny swap in the Volvo.
Oh, I love those things. Congrats!
So your build budget for the Challenge stands at $2000 right now... 
Those 1800E wagons are extremely collectible cars. Before you decide what to do with it, you should check the going prices on Ebay and other sites. I think you'll be surprised
djsilver said:Those 1800E wagons are extremely collectible cars. Before you decide what to do with it, you should check the going prices on Ebay and other sites. I think you'll be surprised
I have noticed what they go for locally. Do you think straying from stock would devalue it much? Stock is so boring to me. If I did stray from stock I would keep the factory parts to go along with it if I do sell. But in reality I have no real plans for it yet.
Or, you could mate it with a Miata and a small block Ford V8 engine like Nohome is doing with his car: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/volvo-p1800eskinda/72311/page1/ 
A lot depends on how sound your car is, though, and if it makes financial sense to restore it to original.
I took a quick look at Hemmings, there are a half dozen of them for sale for anywhere from $20,000 to $40,000.
Young_olds said:djsilver said:Those 1800E wagons are extremely collectible cars. Before you decide what to do with it, you should check the going prices on Ebay and other sites. I think you'll be surprised
I have noticed what they go for locally. Do you think straying from stock would devalue it much? Stock is so boring to me. If I did stray from stock I would keep the factory parts to go along with it if I do sell. But in reality I have no real plans for it yet.
I have one of these! I will give you the standard speech that I got both here and on the Volvo forums and then you can go ahead and ignore.
Rust. These things always have more rust than you think and most repairs that have been done in the past are going to scare you when you uncover them. I hope yours is an exception.
Don't try to engine swap these things. The car was literally built around the engine and between the silly cowl shape, the steering column and the steering linkage and box, there is no room to negotiate with a new engine.
Both of the above turned out to be true.
That said, I am not good at taking advice.
I started with a bare sandblasted and epoxy primered shell and thought it would require very little rust repair. The truth is that by the time I went through it with a fine tooth comb, the bottom 6" of the car got replaced with new metal. Not an issue if you can weld.
If your goal is to make a bit of money on this, now is the time to cash in. The car is a good candidate for a restoration in that it is all there. You might get up to 5k as is if you clean it up and find the right buyer who wants to restore one of these. Any money you put in will be money down the drain. If you are like me and prefer projects to cars, then by all means dive in and have fun. The car looks like the ideal base for a project.
Word on the street is that old Volvos can be driven reliably in todays traffic. There is a big Volvo meet that I attend every year and I am amazed at how many people blow in from far flung places. Not at all like the Brit car crowd who seldom stray past the towing limit distance on their classic ar plan. My plan is to debut my car at this years show and find out what a Swedish pitch fork looks like!
Pete
Young_olds said:djsilver said:Those 1800E wagons are extremely collectible cars. Before you decide what to do with it, you should check the going prices on Ebay and other sites. I think you'll be surprised
I have noticed what they go for locally. Do you think straying from stock would devalue it much? Stock is so boring to me. If I did stray from stock I would keep the factory parts to go along with it if I do sell. But in reality I have no real plans for it yet.
IMHO, it depends on how much is cut up.
For sure, at some point, the car will get rare enough and desireable enough that stock and as original as possible will get the biggest dollar. And before that, modified ones that look as stock as possible (aka, invisible engine and trans upgrades, and some suspension) will get that same level dollar.
But I would suggest, at this point, if you keep the permanent cutting on the car to a minimum, and keep the original parts, you will have enough to both keep it fun and updated, and still have the original parts for the value.
What would be a fun, and I bet desireable, swap would be a Volvo turbo powertrain in it. But that's just me...
Now if you NEVER want to sell it, then the "value" is not really relevant, as you'll never see the return- so anything goes.
Have fun- cool cars for free are always great finds!
The original pushrod Volvo engine is super strong, and can be totally reliable to at least 150 HP in normally aspirated form. Also safe to 7k RPM! The later "red block" will not fit in the chassis. The pushrod called B20E in this application might accept a turbo, and would certainly retain reliability. I do not know if it has been done, and would be a serious packaging challenge. Crankshaft nose will not support a mechanical supercharger.
If you advertise that car correctly, you would easily get $2500 with no effort at all. Spend $2500 to get it re assembled and running, $7500 easy, even with a red hood. If you spent $25,000 to restore it, using your own labour, you would easily get $17,500. If you spent $30,000 to hot rod and customise, you would easily get $10,000.
Your car.
If you’re bored, modify the BiTurbo, not that Volvo.
Bent-Valve said:So your build budget for the Challenge stands at $2000 right now...
And I'll give him an extra $100 if he goes for the biturbo engine approach.
Streetwiseguy said:If you spent $30,000 to hot rod and customize, you would easily get $10,000.
Your car.
Welcome to my world!
What people forget to factor in is if you hot rod it properly, the experience and education are well worth the $20k price of admission. Kinda like serial killing...The "Car" at the end is just a by-product that needs to be disposed of so you can get started on the next one.
Pete
Pete
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