1965 Volvo PV544 Sport 2-dr sedan - dk red - rvl

Very successful track and rally car in late 50's thru mid- 60's. Very
respectable performance car. 1800 cc's - 90 HP.
--
Paddy's Pig

Looked vaguely like a miniature '46 Ford Tudor. This thing would blow the
doors off many of the typical used cars teenagers acquired in the mid-50's
such as the 1951 Ford I got in the 11th grade. That's why I lusted after a
'55 - '57 Chevy V8 - so I wouldn't have to suffer the indignity of losing to
a pipsqueak 4 banger. Alas I didn't get a performance car 'til I got out of
the service and I got married. Both my Corvair Monzas would put the Volvo
in the weeds. When I bought a five year old Ferrari 250GTE 2+2 in '69 I was
able to stop worrying about small time stuff like whether my car could hold
its own against a crummy Volvo (or almost anything else for that matter).
There may have been a few cars that could out accelerate me but few street
machines of the day would go 120. One evening on the southbound I-5 coming
out of the LA area on a Saturday a big-block Corvette came along side me at
about 65 MPH and downshifted. The freeway was almost deserted. He paced me
for a half mile, goosing his throttle a few times. I kicked it out of
overdrive, downshifted to 3rd, then downshifted again to 2nd, and the next
time he hit the throttle I did too. He stayed with me to about 90 and began
to fall back. I watched his headlights get smaller and smaller in my
rearview mirror. I was in pig heaven. I knew he was probably running
4.56:1 gears and knew if we were going from a dead stop he'd eat me alive
but we weren't. He never had a chance under these circumstances. I shut if
off at about 140.
--
Paddy's Pig

"Padraig" > wrote in message
...


> When I bought a five year old Ferrari 250GTE 2+2 in '69

On the face of the above line makes it sound like the car was built in '64.
As time went by I doubted that, but the title and pink slip showed it to be
a '64 year model. Yet I now think the GTE 2+2 may have been superceded by
an upgraded model at the end of the 1963 model year, meaning there must have
been a discrpancy somewhere in the 1964 year model shown on my California
registration. I have no explanation for that. I bought it from Autohous in
Culver City, CA (now defunct).
--
Paddy's Pig

These were great cars. I owned a 1966 122S that I loved. It could outrun a
lot of domestic cars on anything with a few curves, especially if there was
some braking involved, and if there were rough roads or gravelled surfaces
it was hard to beat. I even learned to synchronize the 2 SU carbs (more or
less) and remember adding oil to the carbs on a regular basis just like on
my MGA. That car only ever let me down once when the gas line froze with
water in the tank at 35 below. A few hours on a hoist in a heated garage, a
can of alcohol in the tank, and a clean-out of the fuel filter cured the
problem. In its day there were no seats that could match Volvo's for
comfort and support.

Max

"Padraig" > wrote in message
...
> Very successful track and rally car in late 50's thru mid- 60's. Very
> respectable performance car. 1800 cc's - 90 HP.
> --
> Paddy's Pig
>
>

"MagisterMax" > wrote in message
news:Kggsi.59322$Io4.43496@edtnps89...
> These were great cars. I owned a 1966 122S that I loved. It could outrun
> a lot of domestic cars on anything with a few curves, especially if there
> was some braking involved, and if there were rough roads or gravelled
> surfaces it was hard to beat. I even learned to synchronize the 2 SU
> carbs (more or less) and remember adding oil to the carbs on a regular
> basis just like on my MGA. That car only ever let me down once when the
> gas line froze with water in the tank at 35 below. A few hours on a hoist
> in a heated garage, a can of alcohol in the tank, and a clean-out of the
> fuel filter cured the problem. In its day there were no seats that could
> match Volvo's for comfort and support.

My current Volvo S80 has pretty good seats too. I bitch about that car and
it does have some faults but they're not many and they're not huge (although
I'll never forgive Volvo for the friggin' sound system. Everything works
great except the AM radio which is usually all I want to listen to).
Generally it's a pretty solid car even though it takes forty acres to do a
U-turn. I'm pretty happy with both my cars and figure to keep them awhile
(kind of a new deal for me because I always changed cars regularly during my
working life). It's a pity neither one of them are American. I owned or
leased quite a few cars over the years - mostly Cadillacs although I had
some M-B's too. I was generally very happy with all of them. I recall once
I went to lunch with a vendor in his company-leased Pontiac in the mid
1980's and as we came back to my office he needed to make a LH turn. There
was some oncoming traffic so he had to wait but finally there was an opening
just as the light was about to turn red and he hit the throttle just as a
guy coming at us from the other direction decided to run the light. My guy
stomped on it to avoid being hit by the other idiot (I was on the RH side of
the car) but that Pontiac didn't respond very well. Its "California legal"
engine sputtered and you could hear the pre-ignition detonation loud and
clear. Damn near got me killed. Barely cleared the intersection. I never
had that kind of problem with any of my cars. You may have read that Judi
has agreed to stand down and not bitch too much if I get a Corvette or
Porsche (as long as I do a certain thing first). If I do that I will have
to sell one of my existing cars and it will likely be the Volvo. I've only
got a 2 car garage & with the cost of California real estate it ain't
practical to buy a bigger house with more garage space. :-) Secondary
thought: If I do go ahead and get my "toy" car that will leave us with two
basically 2-person cars. The CLK does have a rear seat but only my
grandkids can sit back there. It may as well be a two seater. Hmmmm. What
am I gonna do?
--
Paddy's Pig

"Padraig" > wrote in message
...
> "MagisterMax" > wrote in message
> news:Kggsi.59322$Io4.43496@edtnps89...
>> These were great cars. I owned a 1966 122S that I loved. It could
>> outrun a lot of domestic cars on anything with a few curves, especially
>> if there was some braking involved, and if there were rough roads or
>> gravelled surfaces it was hard to beat.


A friend bought a Volvo in about 1986. It was one of the old squarish
looking things, a 2-door sedan. Was there a model 244? I think that's what
it was. He said the brakes squealed to much that pedestrians in an
intersection two blocks down the street could hear him coming.
--
Paddy's Pig