I've always liked the volvo 1800's since I first saw them vintage racing in the 90's. I'm getting ready for another project. My ideal car would be a coupe that is still being driven. I can't justify buying a non-running car, but I enjoy improving/repairing them. Rust is a major issue, I don't want to have the car in paint jail for a year before I can enjoy it.

I've been stalking ebay and craigslist for a couple of months, and it seems like there are 3 types of cars for sale on these sites:

1. Parts cars - cars that have been abandoned or stored outside for lots of years. Ebay seems to have a couple of these all the time for $2k or so.

2. Fully restored cars - some on CL and ebay come up, generally from $15-40k asking prices. Nice paint, nice interiors. Out of my price range.

3. The driver or partial restoration - seems to be some cars in between the options. It seems like most of these are not selling, capping on ebay before hitting reserve, generally stopping between $6 & $8k.

I guess that I have a bunch of questions and would appreciate any comments.

A. Is there such a thing as too many miles? I like this one on CL, but don't know if 225,000 miles is enough to push me away?
1970 Volvo 1800 E

B. I'm looking for a car to enjoy, not preserve. Numbers matching or a certain year is not important to me. Am I correct that the most important thing is limited rust? Am I correct in assuming that a low-rust car will be between $6-10k in running condition?

Sorry for the newbie questions, just that these are a little different that other projects that I've done (42 chevy street rod, 72 lemans restomod, 08 MINI mods).

Thanks for any advice.

Mike

 

no such thing as too many miles on the 1800S, you just have to get an engine guy to look at it and carefully go over the maintenance records. Mine ('68) has about 260,000 miles, I am the forth owner. It sat (indoors) for over 10 years, rubber was all rotted out but six months later it is a gem. If the seller is honest, the engine isn't seized and the car is free of rust, buy it. Everything else is mechanical and can be fixed. The original B18 engines were tractor motors and are pretty bullet proof. Join a local Volvo Club, they have lots of good advice and guidance.
Jamie Graham, Victoria, BC