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Junkyard Gem: 1973 Volvo 1800ES

Volvo began selling cars in the United States with the 1956 PV444, a sturdy unibody machine that looked quite a bit like the 1946 Ford from some angles. Reliable, sensible — maybe stodgy is a better word — PV544s, Amazons and 140s followed the 444s across the Atlantic as the 1950s became the 1960s. Starting in 1961, though, a genuinely sporty Volvo arrived here: the P1800. Members of the P1800 family were sold here through 1973, and I've found one of those final-model-year cars in a Northern California self-service wrecking yard. The P1800 (later named the 1800S and then the 1800E) was based on the chassis of the Amazon and was available only as a coupe from 1961 through 1971. The 1800ES shooting brake version with its all-glass hatch debuted as a 1972 model, and just under 9,000 were built before production ended the following year. The U.S.-market 1800ES got a 2.0-liter pushrod straight-four engine with Bosch fuel injection, rated at 112 horsepower. Its dirtier-running European counterparts got more power. This engine was known as the B20F. First-year Volvo 240s got the B20F as well, before moving up to the SOHC "Red Block" engine for 1976. A 1966 P1800 holds the world record for most mileage on a street car: more than 3.2 million miles. That car has a B18 engine that was rebuilt twice. The highest-mile junkyard car I've found was a Volvo as well, though it only had 626,476 miles. Does the credit go to the cars or to their owners? Yes! This car appears to have sat outside near the Pacific for too many decades; it has the top-down rust associated with living in the salt spray and fog near beaches in NorCal. This is pretty bad, but I've seen worse. This Volvo's final parking spot is just about a mile from crashing ocean waves. Worth restoring? No way, not when much nicer examples sell for a few grand. All the chawed-up seat foam suggests that raccoons and other Golden State wildlife lived inside for quite a while. The good news is that many of this crusty old Swede's components will live on in other Volvos. In fact, one of my regular readers scored a junkyard bonanza when he found this car (and several other vintage Volvos) not long before I arrived. Northern California car graveyards still offer plenty of old Scandinavian steel. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. You tell 'em, Christina!

Volvo Concept Recharge full of sustainable materials

In June, Volvo showed us the conceptual exterior of its future vision in a swoopy wagon-like package called the Concept Recharge. The Swedes are now ready to show us the vision's interior and tell us what it's made of, calling it "a manifesto for Volvo Cars' future." With the context being Volvo's aim of selling only EVs by 2030 and being carbon neutral by 2040, the battery-electric Concept Recharge is a way for the automaker to get there and look stylish while doing it. It starts and nearly ends with employing sustainable, recyclable materials everywhere. Outside, the front and rear bumpers and the rocker panels are fashioned from flax composite. Only six percent of the materials in the specially developed Pirelli tires come from fossil resources, the rest from recycled and renewable materials like natural rubber, bio-silica, rayon and bio-resin. Every aspect of the bodywork has been shaped to increase aerodynamic efficiency, from the wheel design to the compact, upright rear end. Efficiency will also be a key development for the batteries. Volvo hasn't mentioned those yet in regard to the concept, but we know the company doesn't simply want to add more cells to increase range, since that adds weight and increases a vehicle's carbon footprint. Volvo is working with Swedish firm Northvolt on more energy-dense battery packs with shorter charging times. Inside, the Concept Recharge takes an evolutionary leap from the sustainable cabin now available in the C40 Recharge. The seat backrest and top of the instrument panel are dressed in "responsibly sourced Swedish wool" woven into a breathable, additive-free cloth. The seat bolsters and door panels areas that will see a lot of contact are covered in Tencel, a soft-touch yet durable cellulose fiber product. The floor and lower doors are wrapped in 100% wool. The seatbacks, the fronts of the headrests, and part of the steering wheel are covered in a material Volvo developed called Nordico. The company's being secretive about the composition, only telling us that Nordico's been created out of recyclable ingredients found in sustainable forests. And flax composite shows up again inside in the storage pockets, the back of the headrest, and the footrests. The automaker says that if the Concept Recharge's battery is charged using renewable energy, it would contribute less than 10 metric tons of CO2 over the wagon's lifespan. The U.S.

Translogic 189: 2015 LA Auto Show

The LA Auto Show has become known for its green cars and concepts, and 2015 was no exception. Translogic host Jonathon Buckley gets all the details on BMW's 330e plug-in hybrid straight from BMW President of North America Ludwig Willisch. Then we get up-to-date on Honda's latest FCX Clarity hydrogen fuel cell car. We round out our tour with a stop at the Elio Motors booth for a look at their updated, three-wheel P5 concept and a chat with CEO Paul Elio. But first, we jump in a time machine at the Volvo booth to discuss Concept 26, an interpretation of how car interiors might evolve in the era of self-driving cars. "The reason why we talked about it as a time machine [is] because, really, Concept 26 is giving you back something that is so precious," explained Volvo senior director of design Tisha Johnson. "We're letting you delegate driving to the car, so that you can then have that time to yourself." Click here to learn more about our host, Jonathon Buckley.