Schneewittchensarg: 1973 Volvo 1800ES
The Volvo 1800ES was a shooting brake version of Volvo’s aging P1800/1800S/1800E platform, meant to breath new life in the old parts. The frameless glass tailgate equipped version only sold 8,000 units for the ’72 & ’73 model years, but the prices don’t really reflect that level of exclusivity…yet. As long as the Coronapocalypse doesn’t cause wholesale classic car values to plunge, this thing should be on its way up. Find this 1973 Volvo 1800ES offered for $13,750 in Morgan Hill, CA via craigslist.
From the seller:
1973 volvo 1800es
VIN: 1836353007326
condition: excellent
cylinders: 4 cylinders
drive: rwd
fuel: gas
odometer: 156000
paint color: blue
title status: clean
transmission: manual
type: wagon
Up for sale is a manual 1973 Volvo 1800ES.
This example has been swapped from the original fuel injection to a WEBER Carburetor.
(I have the original fuel injection parts, however 1 of 4 nozzles appear broken and I am not aware of the functionality of the remaining nozzles.)
There is a lot to go over with this car so I will list things via the good, what’s been done, and what’s needed.
The good:
– runs well, no oil leaks
– with mileage around 160k this car is in excellent condition
– repainted 2 years ago in the correct sapphire blue color code
– interior in great condition
– values are consistently going up for these cars
– very simple to work with an abundance of new parts available for reasonable prices online
– brand new tires
– interior was redone in biscuit leather
What’s been done:
ENGINE/TRANSMISSION
– new oil pan gasket
– new plugs and ipd wire kit
EXHAUST
– brand new exhaust
(SPARE PARTS INCLUDED BUT NOT INSTALLED SINCE NOT YET NEEDED)
– new heavy duty valve cover
– new rubber valve cover gasket
– new water pump
– new fan belt
– new rear main seal
SUSPENSION
– new bilstein shocks front and rear
– new center rod
– new ball joints
– new rear load straps
(SPARE PARTS INCLUDED BUT NOT INSTALLED SINCE NOT YET NEEDED)
– new polyurethane bushings
WHAT’S NEEDED:
– Carburetor needs to be tuned. It runs perfectly fine for around town driving, although it is running rich.
– Overdrive needs to be diagnosed as I believe the carburetor swap affected the functionality of the overdrive.
– Interior dash lights for night driving
– Needs a new speedometer cable
– Needs a new odometer gear as odometer does not work. ( Bought with 155k on the clock and less than 1k miles put on which makes my mileage guesstimate is 160k.)
– front and rear badges if desired. badges were removed for repaint and never reinstalled by previous owner
If you have any questions feel free to email me with any questions or additional photos as I may have missed a couple points to classic car buyers. I’m surely not an expert on these cars although I am a Volvo enthusiast and would want to see this car go to a loving Volvo home.
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I honestly don’t remember exactly what I sold mine for a couple years back but it had fewer needs than this one and went for less. These were undervalued then and still have a long value climb ahead of them, I believe.
Speedo cable is one of the most common fail points on these. The OD unit, not so much. I would like to hear from someone how the carb swap would affect an electric OD unit, tho. Seriously. Changing the bushings isn’t a huge deal but is time consuming pita. As for the odometer: who gives a damn. It’s a Volvo 1800. Which means is a damn perpetual motion machine and should be driven as such.
Miss Posix’ support notwithstanding, the cable itself wasn’t the problem, IIRC. I believe it’s the end connector at the OD that fails…
Always thought these were kinda cool a Gal who worked for my dentist had the coupe and it was in horrible shape a real eye sore, she never seemed to care drove it till it would go no more.