Like Vincent Van Gogh, at this time’s Good Value or No Cube Volvo was much less appreciated throughout its manufacturing run than in later years. Let’s see how appreciative we is perhaps about this tidy instance’s worth.
With an estimated 48 million gamers and counting, Pickleball is the fastest-growing participation sport in America. I believe most of us, nonetheless, would reasonably spend our off-hours on the autocross or on a observe day. Motorsports, in any case, is much much less taxing on the Achilles tendons and rotator cuffs. The 1985 Porsche 944 we checked out yesterday was touted in its advert as being a turn-key observe automobile. Questions abounded about simply how a lot observe time—and therefore put on—it had already seen, and that made its $12,500 price ticket a bit an excessive amount of to swallow for a lot of. The end result was a 57 p.c No Cube loss.
Porsche and sports activities vehicles go collectively like COVID and a cough, however if you consider Volvo and sporty coupes, there’s just about just one place you’re thoughts can go: the P1800 and its later iteration, the 1800ES.
Inbuilt each swoopy coupe and remarkably good-looking two-door wagon kinds, the sportiest Volvo hit the market in 1961 and solely went out of manufacturing in 1973 on account of impending security and emissions laws in its largest market, America. In whole, Volvo constructed about 48,000 of the vehicles, with solely somewhat over 8,000 of these being the Swan Tune 1800ES wagons. Since then, collectors and Volvo followers alike have coveted these long-roof fashions.
This 1972 1800ES appears to be like nice within the images, though its vendor describes it as 5-10-foot automobile on account of some imperfections in its cherry-red paint. From the manufacturing unit, the two-liter B20 4 underneath the hood made 125 horsepower with its Bosch D-Jetronic gas injection. In response to the advert, on this automobile, that old-school injection has been supplanted by a extra fashionable Megasquirt system. That ought to enhance each the reliability and driveability so long as it’s dialed in accurately.
Behind that upgraded engine sits Volvo’s M41 four-speed guide with the fascinating Laycock de Normanville overdrive. Varied suspension and supporting {hardware} have additionally been changed or upgraded, and the automobile purrs by an IPD exhaust. Curiously, the advert touts the set up of latest Michelin tires in 2022 and claims the automobile has solely completed 800 miles since.
In whole, there are 147,500 miles on the automobile, and the inside exhibits none of these. The black vinyl upholstery is paired with dusty-red carpet and manufacturing unit fake woodgrain on the sprint. This can be a automobile of a sure age, so all the things in it’s guide, and people in search of the sweat-reducing joys of A/C ought to look elsewhere. On the plus facet, there are vent wings in each doorways.
The 1800ES’s chef’s kiss, although, is its all-glass rear hatch. Bracketed by chrome-topped fender fins, that’s simply as dramatic at this time as when it first debuted. On this automobile, that hatch appears to be like to be in nice form, though the carpet beneath it seems to have pale on account of an extra of solar.
That’s only a minor quibble and one which’s acceptable if the vendor’s aim of creating the automobile “the last word driver, not a concours winner” is to be believed. A clear title rounds out the automobile’s bona fides, though the vendor notes that it’s being offered with a invoice of sale since Maine, the place the automobile is positioned, exempts vehicles 25 years or older from needing a title for switch.
With that out of the best way, let’s now contemplate this Volvo’s $21,500 asking worth. That will get a brand new proprietor a strong driver and one which might be loved with out requiring any speedy aesthetic updates.
However is {that a} truthful worth for the automobile because it sits? What’s your tackle this Volvo and that $21,500 asking? Is that an on-target worth for this taking pictures brake? Or is that an excessive amount of for this wagon to haul?
You determine!
Portland, Maine, Craigslist, or go right here if the advert disappears.
H/T to FauxShizzle for the hookup!
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