Motor Not Included: 1971 Volvo 1800E
The P1800 was a 2+2, front-engine, rear-drive sports car (marketed as a touring machine) built by Volvo Cars between 1961 and 1973. While its styling was influenced by Ghia, its mechanical bits were borrowed from the 122 Series (aka Amazon). The cars were made famous in The Saint TV show of the 1960s. This example from 1971 is a stalled project that’s been hanging around for years, but it’s a roller with a drivetrain available at additional cost. Located in Olympia, Washington, this needy Swedish automobile is available here on eBay where the bidding has only reached $610 with no reserve.
Big news for the 1800 arrived in 1970 when fuel injection was added to the mix and the car rebadged as the 1800E (the ‘E’ stands for Einspritzung, a German word for fuel injection). With Bosch D-Jetronic FI and a revised camshaft, the P1800E’s engine displacement rose from 1778cc to 1986cc which produced 130 hp and enabled the car to top out at about 118 mph. Not only could the autos go faster now, but they could also now stop better with the addition of four-wheel disc brakes.
Restoration work on this Volvo was started about seven years ago, with the red paint removed on the passenger’s side of the vehicle. And that may have been where things stopped other than pulling the engine and transmission. Some surface rust has begun to appear on that side and the rest of the body is said to be pretty solid. The bumpers and seats were removed, too, and will go along with the car. But if you want the B20 motor (which may or may not be original) and the M41 4-speed manual with overdrive will set you back another $800 and could need rebuilding, too.
The trunk and the rest of the Volvo are full of parts, but that does not mean the project is complete (for example, some of the chrome trim may be MIA). Since the vehicle steers and the emergency brake works, loading and unloading the 1800E on/off a trailer shouldn’t be a problem. Once you finished restoring the car, you could have a $50,000 vehicle (on the outside), though $30-35,000 is more realistic (according to Hagerty).
Comments
Common sense also not included.
Seller eliminated the need to photoshop what it would look like as a patina’ed gasser…
20 bids and its already $400 bucks over scrap value unless scrap value has gone up recently
This cries out for an LS swap.
You got that right!
With enough welding, everything fits everything. LS? Maybe. With a big enough shoehorn, a 454? Probably some serious cutting away would be needed, but if a 428 will fit in a 67 Mustang, I’ll bet you could stuff some real horses in it.
Engineering and BRAKES should be at the top of the list. I’m
Strangely enough, I think this has a degree of potential although it’s a shame that the panels that have been taken down to bare metal have been allowed to rust. These cars generally have huge problems with rust which is very difficult and expensive to repair but this one appears to be reasonably solid. Any 1800 that is restored will normally be completely dismantled and while this one may look pretty awful at the moment it’s probably how any restoration candidate will look during the process.
I satisfied my craving for one of those 1800Es, it’s in line for retirement restoration one of these years ;)
Nice write up and cool cars but I think the mechanicals actually pre date the Amazon and go back to the PV 444-544 series
The PV parts are way different from Amazon/1800.
The design came from Frua and was penned by a young Pelle Pettersen who also designed Sverige, the 12 meter America’s Cup challenger
$400 for a parts car seems to be all this one is worth in the shape it’s in. What retail prices are worth on rebuilt models doesn’t necessarily mean that is what the car will sell for once you finish.