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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 and Starbucks to put charging stations at coffee shops

Volvo and Starbucks are joining forces to give electric vehicle owners a more pleasant charging experience. The two companies have announced a plan to install EV charging stations at Starbucks coffee shops across several U.S. states as part of a pilot program to study the project's scalability. About 60 chargers will be installed at 15 Starbucks locations along a 1,350-mile route between Denver and Seattle, which is home to the coffee giant.  Volvo told Autoblog that the chargers will be a mix of ChargePoint DC chargers comprised of Express 250 units, capable of delivering 62.5 kW, and Express Plus units, capable of delivering up to 350 kW. All chargers will have both CHAdeMO and CCS plugs. Placed about 100 miles apart, the charger-equipped Starbucks fall within the range of most EVs, and their relative proximity should limit the amount of advanced planning one would have to do during an EV road trip. The companies plan to offer them to any drivers of electric cars. Charging fees will apply, but Volvo vehicles will get to use them either free of charge or at a discount. The locations of these chargers will show up in ChargePoint's smartphone app, or with an in-dash app on Google-equipped Volvo models. Jokes about latte-sipping Volvo drivers aside, the program opens a world of new opportunities for charging. A Volvo C40 Recharge takes about 40 minutes to replenish its batteries from 20% to 90%. Other electric cars are comparable. A coffee shop is a much more pleasant place to wait that out than a Kroger or Walmart, and as we discovered last week, EV chargers and businesses like Starbucks are banned from interstate rest areas by federal law. Add the availability of wifi and clean-ish bathrooms at most Starbucks locations, and it makes for an ideal pit stop opportunity. Besides, on a long road trip, drivers must replenish their caffeine just as cars must replenish their fuel tanks or batteries. The solution — chargers at coffee shops — is so glaringly obvious, it's a wonder why it's taken so long for a partnership like this to happen.

Cyan Racing shows slightly tamer resto-modded Volvo P1800 GT

Cyan Racing, which was known as Polestar until Volvo purchased the rights to the name in 2015, has unveiled an evolution of its resto-modded P1800 that puts a bigger emphasis on comfort. Called GT, the coupe remains as attractive as its more track-focused sibling. If you need a refresher course, Cyan Racing branched out into street-legal cars when it unveiled a P1800 with classic good looks and modern performance in 2020. That was arguably the worst year to launch anything, let alone an expensive reboot of a relatively obscure classic, but Cyan was on to something: it didn't take long for the brand to receive its first orders.  Viewed from the outside, the GT looks a lot like Cyan's original P1800. It features two-piece bumpers, a front splitter, wheel arch flares and a racing-style fuel filler cap that pokes through the trunk lid. It's inside that you'll find some of the bigger changes: Cyan fitted more comfort-oriented front seats and installed a different roll cage, for example. The brand also notes that it installed more sound-deadening material. Power still comes from a turbocharged, 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine, though it has been tuned with a focus on drivability rather than on flat-out performance. How much power varies from car to car. The output of Cyan's previous P1800-based builds ranges from 350 to 420 horsepower. The turbo-four spins the rear wheels via a five-speed manual transmission, and the coupe weighs less than 2,200 pounds thanks in part to a carbon fiber body. The adjustable suspension system is specific to the GT and softer than the track-bound model's, too. Cyan notes that production of the P1800 GT will be limited, though it doesn't have a specific number of units in mind. Every build starts with a donor P1800, and production takes place in Gothenburg, Sweden. The process requires between 12 and 15 months of work per car. As for pricing, it depends on how the car is configured. Cyan told Autoblog that the average price of the cars built so far hovers around $600,000. That's a lot, but customers keep coming: Cyan notes the second car from the production run has already been shipped to the United States. Featured Gallery Cyan Racing's Volvo P1800 GT, official images View 9 Photos Aftermarket Design/Style Volvo Coupe Luxury Performance Classics