75k: 90 Miles: 1973 Volvo 1800ES
The Volvo 1800ES Schneewittchensarg (which translates literally to “Snow White’s coffin” in German) is a favorite at DT because it offers a seldom scene vehicle with good looks, a bulletproof engine and hardy chassis at a great market value. Today’s ES breaks the mold because it is offered for a lofty asking price, but it is as close to a museum piece as you will ever find. Find this 1973 Volvo 1800 ES
with 90 miles on the odometer for sale in Syosset, NY for $73,999 buy-it-now on ebay.
We won’t do our regular dissection of the cars flaws because this one is about perfect…so we’ll just share the beautiful photos and sum it up at the end with one made-up word.
Fantasticspensive! tips@dailyturismo.com
"These seem to have that narcotizing waft of accessibility that has landed
many a novice in hot water with the household COO/CFO. "
My favorite DT comment.
One of Doctordel's finer moments of clarity.
~ viewed this on eBay during national Volvo search a day or two ago. is this the most pristine ES in existence or what??
This has been for sale for quite a while.
The dilemma is; Do you drive it if you bought it?
You would want to enjoy the car but you will run the value down at a quick pace.
I guess the solution is to be rich! Now what 6 numbers should I select?
90 miles…And I'll bet that effing Smith clock is STILL only accurate twice a day. What does one do with this after the purchase?? From personal experience, the cargo area is merely satisfactory as an impromptu bivouac. And forget getting your Snow White back there with you, the roof is too low. So, from the perspective of mobile domiciles, as an alternative to a nice 3/2 double-wide in Port St Lucie, I'm not so sure. Not that Snow Whites in PSL wouldn't love this ES…maybe. But a condo is likely the better investment, anyway. And with each passing mile you only depreciate the ES further, making actually driving the thing the equivalent of lighting your Kingsford with Benjamins. So…you can't drive it…can't live in it…can't realistically expect to flip it at this price…I think the eventual buyer for this actually does want to be buried in it. As coffins/caskets go, 73 large is steep but isn't exactly unheard of. And it would be an environmentally-conscious choice for interment, too, as this car will return its entire unibody to the earth as iron oxide within, say, 6 minutes after burial. It's the circle of life.
You could drive it 3,000,000 miles ! You would never need another car.
The ES had a VDO clock that did not suffer the issues of the smiths clocks. BTW, the smiths clocks can be easily fixed with a transistor and a couple of resistors. The one in my 67 is working perfectly and has been for about a year and a half.
My '73 ES may actually have a VDO clock but they decided to spell it S-M-I-T-H-S on the face. Probably VDO's factory seconds, rebranded at by the manufacturer to reflect their anticipated level of accuracy.
I read somewhere about a gentleman who restored these clocks as a hobby. IIRC he said the same thing you did about their reliability once properly sorted. It is a future project of mine to get that thing to tell me something more than a suggestion of the actual time of day. If you want to help a brother out with this, whatnext, gimme a shout. brandt(at)symptify(dot)com
Hear hear! I would very much like to fix the clock in my ES but it has defied our local neighborhood clocksmiths. Any advice would be appreciated.
Looks exactly like mine . . . looked 41 years ago.
When it was for sale for 40 large and no one ponied up====and no one will at 80 large either.
jpb 70E,72ES,61 544
Once again THE conundrum. Who wouldnt want a brand new unused no miles 1973 1800ES?
Talk about turning back the clock! But then how could you drive it and maintain its value.or at least the price you paid? The only soluton is for it to be sold at an inflation adjusted price of the 1973 sales price. At least in my world
I think this is the car that was stored by a previous Volvo dealer for many years and then placed on the market at 49k. It disappeared after about a year on the market. Seems to me this is a case of one flipper trying to bury another. However, it only takes ONE ! But, there is no competition in this 90 mile group of ONE !