Once again the Volvo Enthusiasts Club took a stand at the Classic Motor Show held at the NEC Birmingham.
Our stand this year was again organised by Kevin and would be his last Club event before retiring as Chairman of the Club at the end of the year. The display featured a selection of 8 Classic Volvo’s which showed both the standard Volvo built model and also an alternative e.g. Convertible or Rally Car.
Cars Displayed were as follows:
Volvo 480GT 1994 Owner: Glynn Jones
Towards the end of the production run of the 480, Volvo produced two Limited Editions – ‘The Celebration’ and the ‘GT’. The rarer of the two is the ‘GT’ with only 250 examples being built.
The car was available in only two colour variants _ Burgundy Pearl Metallic and Racing Green Metallic. Standard fitment was ‘Vesa Style’ cross-spoke alloys, as was the leather interior.
The leather interior has a unique hand painted geometric pattern etched onto the hide surface, meaning that no two are alike.
This example is a 1994 registered ‘GT’ and is the pride and joy of Glynn Jones, a avid fan of the marque.
Volvo 480 Convertible 1992 Owner: Colin O’Dell
The closest Volvo has come to glamour is its classic P1800 which was enhanced by Roger Moore, as Tv’s Simon Templar in The Saint.
Volvo’s frustrated stylists refused always to tow the sombre line and in 1986 they unveiled the sporty 480ES.
In 1991 Volvo tentatively announced that would go into production of a two seater convertible with an electrically-operated roof. Four prototypes were produced 2 in the Netherlands followed by 2 in Belgium. The Netherland cars being a 4 seater in red and a 2 seater in ‘Paris Blue’. Volvo actually never in fact put the Volvo 480 Convertible into production but decided to work with TWR in Oxfordshire and build the C70 Convertible
This 480 Convertible was produced as a design exercise by a company in Coventry. The owner found the bodyshell on top of a skip waiting to be scrapped.
Volvo PV444-08 1957Owners: Colin & May Tatlow
Imported from Sweden in 1985. Was a showroom ornament for 14 years, covering only 1000 miles in that time. It is one of only four Volvo PV444 08’s known in Europe and the only example in the UK. PV444 08’s were produced for the USA Market only but a few did escape onto the home (Swedish) market. These cars can be recognised by being fitted with the sports B16B engine which has twin SU 1¼ Carburettors.
The Reg. No. is Cornish, a cherished transfer, which is only 1 day different from it’s original Swedish Registration.
349 BAF has had some cosmetic paint work on the outside, other than that, is completely original. On her 2nd set of tyres, she has covered just 56,000 miles from new.
Volvo PV445 Convertible 1952 Owner: Kevin Price
Imported from Sweden by the late Mike Lawrence of Volvo Specialists ‘Cumbers Garage’ of Brixham, Devon in early 1991. This very rare Volvo Convertible built by Swedish Coachbuilders Valbo under licence on a Volvo PV445 Chassis. The car has been in store since 1999 and has only recently been returned to the road.
FSK 532 is the only example of this model in the UK, and very few of these cars survive in Sweden. The Valbo Builders Plate on the front outer bulkhead identifies that the vehicle is No: 52 -Volvo Convertible.
A number of Swedish Coachbuilders built specialist Vehicles on the popular PV445 Chassis, Other builders of Convertibles were Nordbergs of Stockholm and Ringborgs Karossfabrik of Norrkoping
Valbo Karosserifabrik Coachbuilders – Sweden
Valbo Karosserifabrik started serious coachbuilding in 1923 in a former brickworks and tar producing factory in Valbo on the outskirts of Gavle, Sweden. On the outbreak of World War II there were about 80 employees with Gunnar Ahlenius, son of the founder as Managing Director. Customers at that time included the Swedish Army, the Swedish Mail, Swedish Tele Communications and Vattenfall, the Swedish electric supply company. Following the war the company prospered with the need for a growing requirement for vehicles. In the early 1950’s production changed to a production line conveyor belt system and at this stage 1½ cars were built per shift.
In 1960 it was confirmed that Valero had to date produced 10,000 vehicles, of which 4,000 were, vans, Foreignness, ambulances and other larger units. After 40 years the company went into liquidation. New owners AB Galvle Motorfabrik was founded in 1962 and in 1985 following the company restructuring, vehicles were produced for Swedish Television, Prison Service and other Specialist Vehicles.
Volvo 740 Saloon 1986 Owner: Robert Hughes
History:
Purchased on eBay for just £250.
The guy I bought it from had only owned it for 3 days. He had bought it for his wife who declared it ‘Too big to drive’ and refused to use it.
It went on eBay with a ‘buy it now’ price of £250. Being the Volvo nut that I am I bought it without seeing it. It was described as a ‘One owner, low mileage, good condition’ car and it was.
When I collected it, it had covered just 40,000 miles and still had the original tyres fitted to it which were still legal.
It now has 60,000 miles on it and is known as ‘The Staff Car’ as this is the one the family use when ever their own car isn’t working.
It won Runner-up Best 740 in this years VEC International Gathering.
Volvo 740 Saloon Rally Car 1990 Owner: Colin Hughes
History: Purchased in September 2007 for £350 in preparation for the ‘Coyote Rally’ in April 2008.
The maximum you can spend on a car entering this rally is £500.00 but you can then spend whatever you want getting it prepared.
The Volvo was sprayed to replicate an American Yellow Cab and the 2.3lt engine has been slightly “tuned” to increase its output from 165bhp to 216bhp. It allegedly will reach 130mph.
It completed the ‘Coyote Rally’ around Northern Europe covering 5,000 miles in 4 days and in doing so raised £2826.21 for Cancer Research.
Visitors were encouraged to look and touch and advised It won’t bite…but beware of the coyote inside!!!!
Volvo 1800E 1970 Owner: Colin & Pauline Atkinson
I purchased the car in 1989, having just sold my Lotus Esprit and was looking for a new project, when one of my friends told me of a car which I may be interested in. The car was hidden in the back of a small garage under a heap of cardboard boxes in Colchester. The garage owner told me that it belonged to a gentleman who lived in Ipswich who may wish to sell. On closer inspection I found that the entire engine apart from the block was in the boot, the rest was scattered around the garage. Looking at the scale of the project I decided to go home and think about what I could be taking on. A week later I returned and purchased the car at an agreed price which included the replacement of the engine. Unfortunately after waiting 6 weeks the engine had not been replaced so I decided to take the car home and finish it off myself. I have all the cars MOT’s and the Service Book, with the name and address of the original owner and supplier.
Volvo 244DL 1979 Owner: Phil Edwards
This Volvo was originally purchased by a member of the British Embassy in America. Delivered direct from Sweden in RHD form, the car spent a year on America soil with the Virginia Registration of NXM - 213.
The owner, his wife and the Volvo were the last Embassy staff and their car to return to Britain via the Cunard Liner QE2, arriving at Southampton on 9th June, 1980.
The car was then reregistered with a Worcestershire Registration Number dated 1980.
AAB 995W was purchased from the original owner in Malvern and has covered just 28,000 miles from new and is in ‘Original’ condition.
Classic & Sports Car Magazine Awards 2009:
On the Saturday evening Classic & Sports Car Magazine once again held their annual Club Awards and I am pleased to inform members that The Volvo Enthusiasts Club was again recognised for one of the awards being one of the Runners-up in the Best Club Event – our 2009 Reliability Challenge
In all a most enjoyable and successful show. May I thanks all those who helped in any way build and man the stand, those who displayed their cars and also all those Members, Volvo owners and visitors would came along and supported us at this great event.
SEE YOU ALL NEXT YEAR
