1972 Volvo 1800 Station Wagon

1972 Volvo 1800ES Station Wagon

The brand name Volvo was originally registered as a trademark in May 1911 with the intention to be used for a new series of SKF ball bearings. It means \"I roll\" in Latin, conjugated from \"volvere\". The idea was short-lived, and SKF decided to simply use its initials as the trademark for all its bearing products.

For consignment a car not seen every day, but when we do we are happy we did! A Volvo 1800ES Station Wagon from 1972. Only produced for 2 years, it is a beautiful mix of the Sedan and a Wagon, taking all the right cues from both and putting them together in a low slung, glass backed hauler that looks great, performs like a champ, and has a bullet proof, extra thick metal construction for added safety, which the Swedes are known for. Our car here has only 34,398 original miles.

Exterior
A sporty example donning our hallowed halls has been bathed in dark blue and it is showing nicely with just a few slight battle scars and some scratches obtained throughout the years. Chrome is excellent, all nice and shiny throughout. Looking over the exterior shape carefully, we can see the two cars coming together with the front end being the sedan styling. This being the single headlight mounted to the quarters, oval grille (shades of earlier Ferraris) in front of a vertically ribbed air space inside. Two thick bezeled round signal lights below the headlights, and a clean curved bumper below. Past the B pillar the other car (the wagon) takes over and becomes distinctly spacious while remaining ultra sporty with its low roofline, and large rear glass gate. Horizontal lighting is flanking below as is a crash bumper, and the curved dual exhaust outlets peeking out the passenger's bottom. Gray steel wheels with trim rings and chromed lugs are seen on all 4 corners. All window trimmings and add ons as to badging are looking pristine.

Interior
Decidedly Swedish with dark blue vinyl mixing with some peppered pattern dark and light blue with a hint of white speckled tweed inserts. Handles are shiny and the pull is showroom condition on each door. Inside the pattern continues with tuck and roll inserts in the peppered tweed, dark blue piping in lieu of the stitching, peppered bolsters, and clean smooth dark blue vinyl on the sides of these high back integrated headrest chairs. The second row is a bench, but more like a 2 plus 2 bench and is probably more comfy for kids and cargo as it would be for adults, but it works, and folds down to reveal a surprising amount of cargo space. Blue carpeting is covering all floors and is all clean and well kept. An original dash setup is there, and all working and is made up of padded blue vinyl dash top, and padded lower dark blue band with some wood applique being the background for the dash front. Headliner is plenty of tight vinyl real estate above in dark blue.

Drivetrain
Under the hood a clean well presenting 2.0 liter 4-cylinder engine sporting a Bosch EFI system, and a Laycock-Normanville OD 4-speed manual transmission. Nicely detailed with very little corrosion seen throughout.

Undercarriage
Within the patina rust free surfaces of the undercarriage is seen a new fuel tank, solid suspension with independent coil springs upfront, and on back, a rigid axle with trailing arms, panhard rod and coil springs. Power disc brakes are all around.

Drive-Ability
We definitely got excited about this model as only a touch over 8,000 were built during the two year run. Sadly, Volvo gave up on it as it was an older chassis and the new USA regs were killing them on expenses. That said, they produced a true winner with great performance, snappy acceleration, nice handling, and quick bias free braking on the panic stop.

So, we have a sporty low slung grocery getter, kid hauler, and fairly rare example of this greenhouse glassed gated Valve 1800ES wagon. A utilitarian sports car.