Can we get this '59 Volvo PV544 on the road again.

A bit of history...

A long time ago, in a city far, far away (southern California), I was sitting around with friends having a conversation about what kind of car we'd each really like to have if we could have anything.  The usual lists of exotic cars were mentioned including the European imports and American muscle cars.  When it was my turn, I said I was having difficulty deciding between a Volvo 1800 and a Volvo PV544, much to my friends' confusion.  I really liked the former, having lusted after that car since seeing Roger Moore drive it on the TV series, "The Saint," but wanted to be realistic in my dreams.  The 1800 was, at the time, still outside what I could afford and I wanted to be practical, one hallmark of a Volvo owner, even in my dreams.  So, I decided on the Volvo PV544.  It was, indeed, practical, rare enough to turn a head, and plentiful enough making locating one relatively easy.

That was pretty much the end of it at the time.  I would occasionally see one around town but did not actively look for one to buy.  At the time my transportation collection included a '76 Honda 750 motorcycle and a '70 Ford Maverick.  I was working in a factory on the graveyard shift for not much more than minimum wage,and  attending college full time, so I certainly didn't need a "project car."  Then one Sunday morning in (date to be determined but I think it was in '78) I was out for a motorcycle ride and was buzzing along Pacific Coast Highway through Sunset Beach when I spotted a 544 parked along the highway with a "For Sale" sign in the window.  I circled around it and stopped for a closer look.  It was definitely a "used car" but looked in pretty good shape.  I admit it, I was hooked.  I copied down the phone number and gave it a call later in the day.  The guy on the phone said that he was selling it for his girlfriend who'd stepped up to something more modern to take her between Sunset Beach and Palm Springs, a drive the 544 had been doing frequently.  I have little recolation of the remaining details other than I paid $800 for it and he said that the cylinder head had been redone about 10,000 miles ago.

I was immediately impressed by how it handled.  Such a low center of gravity!  It cornered better than anything I'd driven on 4 wheels.  It ran great and quickly became my daily diver, sort of.  I add that reservation because I was still a motorcycle devotee and preferred two wheels to four when given the opportunity.  Plus, living in a crowded place like southern California, beating the crowds is one advantage to motorcycling where you are never stuck in traffic or at a loss for a parking space.  I did drive the Volvo to school occassioanlly (it still has the remains of a parking sticker on the rear bumper) and once in a while to work, but it was more of a "fun car."  Probably the longest drive I remember doing in it was an excursion to Hollywood to pick up some photographic supplies at Freestyle Sales on Sunset Blvd.

While it did run well, it did have some issues.  The choke linkage was missing which required one to manually set the chokes, start the engine, then back off the chokes and close the hood before actually going anywhere.  It seemed like a small issue compared to the leaky SU carbs.  I rebuilt them and that pretty much solved the problem.  I had the exhaust system replaced and put new tires on it, but outside of that, it pretty much just waited until the next short drive it got to go on.

Life then got busy in the early 80s.  My girlfriend, now my wife, used it to go to and from her job for a while until I got around to replacing the dead water pump in her car. Then we bought a house, got married, and started having kids.  The 544 ended up just taking up space in my driveway.  At some point it got moved into my backyard.  My motorcycled had died (blown transmission) about the time our first child came around and I decided I'd put motorcycling on the bad burner until the kids were grown.  Now I had two non-op vehicles with many gumption traps blocking getting them running again.

In 1991 I made a career and geographical change and landed in Montana, dragging all of my "projects" behind me.  Both the motorcycle and the 544 took up residence in the shed in my back yard, out of site, but not completely out of mind.  Move ahead to 2007, and I was able to realize my other dream car and picked up a '72 1800E.  With that as motivation, the Internet to provide access to information and parts, and a 16-year old son interested in participating, the PV544 Project was born.

We'll keep track of its progress on our blog (linked on the left.)