Like Vincent Van Gogh, today’s Nice Price or No Dice Volvo was less appreciated during its production run than in later years. Let’s see how appreciative we might be about this tidy example’s price.
With an estimated 48 million players and counting, Pickleball is the fastest-growing participation sport in America. I think most of us, however, would rather spend our off-hours at the autocross or on a track day. Motorsports, after all, is far less taxing on the Achilles tendons and rotator cuffs. The 1985 Porsche 944 we looked at yesterday was touted in its ad as being a turn-key track car. Questions abounded about just how much track time—and hence wear—it had already seen, and that made its $12,500 price tag a bit too much to swallow for many. The result was a 57 percent No Dice loss.
Porsche and sports cars go together like COVID and a cough, but when you think of Volvo and sporty coupes, there’s pretty much only one place you’re mind can go: the P1800 and its later iteration, the 1800ES.
Built in both swoopy coupe and remarkably handsome two-door wagon forms, the sportiest Volvo hit the market in 1961 and only went out of production in 1973 due to impending safety and emissions regulations in its biggest market, America. In total, Volvo built about 48,000 of the cars, with only a little over 8,000 of those being the Swan Song 1800ES wagons. Since then, collectors and Volvo fans alike have coveted those long-roof models.
This 1972 1800ES looks great in the photos, although its seller describes it as a good 5-10-foot car due to some imperfections in its cherry-red paint. From the factory, the two-liter B20 four under the hood made 125 horsepower with its Bosch D-Jetronic fuel injection. According to the ad, on this car, that old-school injection has been supplanted by a more modern Megasquirt system. That should improve both the reliability and driveability as long as it’s dialed in correctly.
Behind that upgraded engine sits Volvo’s M41 four-speed manual with the desirable Laycock de Normanville overdrive. Various suspension and supporting hardware have also been replaced or upgraded, and the car purrs through an IPD exhaust. Interestingly, the ad touts the installation of new Michelin tires in 2022 and claims the car has only done 800 miles since.
In total, there are 147,500 miles on the car, and the interior shows none of those. The black vinyl upholstery is paired with dusty-red carpet and factory faux woodgrain on the dash. This is a car of a certain age, so everything in it is manual, and those seeking the sweat-reducing joys of A/C should look elsewhere. On the plus side, there are vent wings in both doors.
The 1800ES’s chef’s kiss, though, is its all-glass rear hatch. Bracketed by chrome-topped fender fins, that’s just as dramatic today as when it first debuted. On this car, that hatch looks to be in great shape, although the carpet beneath it appears to have faded due to an excess of sun.
That’s just a minor quibble and one that’s acceptable if the seller’s goal of making the car “the ultimate driver, not a concours winner” is to be believed. A clean title rounds out the car’s bona fides, although the seller notes that it’s being sold with a bill of sale since Maine, where the car is located, exempts cars 25 years or older from needing a title for transfer.
With that out of the way, let’s now consider this Volvo’s $21,500 asking price. That gets a new owner a solid driver and one that could be enjoyed without requiring any immediate aesthetic updates.
But is that a fair price for the car as it sits? What’s your take on this Volvo and that $21,500 asking? Is that an on-target price for this shooting brake? Or is that too much for this wagon to haul?
You decide!
Portland, Maine, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to FauxShizzle for the hookup!
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