Like Vincent Van Gogh, in the present day’s Good Worth or No Cube Volvo was much less appreciated throughout its manufacturing run than in later years. Let’s see how appreciative we may be 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, nevertheless, would moderately 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 automotive. 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 outcome 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.
In-built 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 attributable to impending security and emissions laws in its greatest market, America. In complete, Volvo constructed about 48,000 of the vehicles, with solely a bit of over 8,000 of these being the Swan Track 1800ES wagons. Since then, collectors and Volvo followers alike have coveted these long-roof fashions.
This 1972 1800ES seems nice within the images, though its vendor describes it as 5-10-foot automotive attributable to some imperfections in its cherry-red paint. From the manufacturing unit, the two-liter B20 4 below the hood made 125 horsepower with its Bosch D-Jetronic gas injection. In response to the advert, on this automotive, that old-school injection has been supplanted by a extra trendy 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. Numerous suspension and supporting {hardware} have additionally been changed or upgraded, and the automotive purrs by way of an IPD exhaust. Apparently, the advert touts the set up of latest Michelin tires in 2022 and claims the automotive has solely completed 800 miles since.
In complete, there are 147,500 miles on the automotive, 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. It is a automotive of a sure age, so the whole lot 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 in the present day as when it first debuted. On this automotive, that hatch seems to be in nice form, though the carpet beneath it seems to have light attributable to an extra of solar.
That’s only a minor quibble and one which’s acceptable if the vendor’s purpose of constructing the automotive “the final word driver, not a concours winner” is to be believed. A clear title rounds out the automotive’s bona fides, though the vendor notes that it’s being offered with a invoice of sale since Maine, the place the automotive is positioned, exempts vehicles 25 years or older from needing a title for switch.
With that out of the way in which, let’s now take into account 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 instant aesthetic updates.
However is {that a} honest worth for the automotive because it sits? What’s your tackle this Volvo and that $21,500 asking? Is that an on-target worth for this capturing brake? Or is that an excessive amount of for this wagon to haul?
You resolve!
Portland, Maine, Craigslist, or go right here if the advert disappears.
H/T to FauxShizzle for the hookup!
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