like the one that man is sitting in. It had those seat belts. They seemed strange, but I used them. It was the very first car I owned that had seat belts at all. I loved that car.

244DL back in the late 70s, I loved that car, drove it for 14 years. It was one of the last of the "B" block engines and was easy for me to work on.

I had lusted over the older models, especially that one (1961 Volvo 544), along with the P1800. They just had a nice look to them, never got to drive one, though.

At the monthly car show there was a guy with a restored P1800 and a hot rodded 122S.. Way cool. Reliable too the max. This guy went 3.2 MILLION miles on he car!!
https://www.autoblog.com/2013/09/18/irv-gordons-volvo-p1800-has-hit-3-million-miles/
The newer,now discontinued P1800 look alike is a beautiful car.. The C30..
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says the retired driver.

Rodger Moore aka The Saint drove a P1800 in the TV show.. Poor mans DB5..
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It was more like driving a truck than a family sedan. The four speed floor shift lever was long and rose from the floor of the car. You moved it a long way when you shifted gears. The front seats had you sitting bolt upright as you drove, and the best seat adjustment basically had you driving with straight arms, like a truck. One of my favorite features on the car was a ring on a chain under the dashboard. When you pulled it, a curtain was raised in front of the radiator to block airflow so the car would warm up faster on cold days.

It was a noisy car, too. Not much soundproofing material. You heard the engine. You heard the gears and bearings in the transmission. You heard the tire noises and the suspension noises as you motored along. Like a truck.

It wasn't really a fast car, and accelerating onto a freeway on-ramp always made you wonder if you'd be going fast enough to merge smoothly with the traffic. But it was a solid car. A sturdy car. A car that always felt like it could run for a million miles, and some actually did.

I overhauled the B16B engine in mine about a year after I bought the car, just to learn about that job. Rings, bearings, and a valve job. the main bearings on the crankshaft were wider than those in a big block Chevy V8. The rod bearings were oversized as well. Everything about that engine was over-engineered for long life and low risk of failure.

But, it wasn't a luxury car, or a sports car, or any sort of car that people noticed going down the road. It's body looked more like a 1940 Ford than anything else. The hood opened from the back and tipped forward, completely exposing the engine compartment, where there was more space than engine and other parts. Everything was accessible and visible. Replacing any component under the hood required a minimum of tools and no obstructions for tools and removal of that component.

It had British SU carburetors, with fewer parts than almost any other carburetor ever made. Once you understood them, you could completely rebuild the carburetor in half an hour. But, that was never a job that needed doing, really. They just worked.

It was never a fancy car. But it was a damned good car that promised a long life, safety, and reliability.

I've owned two Volvo 544s. If I was a nostalgic guy, I'd restore one to like new condition and use it as an everyday driver. The basic body design did not change much at all from 1948 until the line was dropped in 1967. The B14-B18 engines used in the 544 really didn't change much either. It was a solid car, built to avoid obsolescence. If I were to look for one to restore, I'd probably choose one made between 1959 and 1964. But, i won't do that. I no longer enjoy working on cars.

cars can sell for as much as $50,000. You can pick up one in need of restoration for a lot less than that, but restoration is $$$.

They're lovely cars, to be sure, and probably fun to drive, although not as sporty, performance-wise, as other cars of that vintage. There was a station wagon (estate wagon) version of the P1800, which I've always though was one of the nicest looking cars ever built. They made fewer of those, but you can buy a nicely restored P1800es for less than the P1800.

that sort of thing these days, I would be looking at that but currently I have somehow ended up with a far different situation than I am used to having. I, since last May, own two vehicles all to myself, never had that before. I.ve one of them for 15 years and love it so much that I had a hard time selling it last summer. When it didn't sell and it ended up not costing nearly as much as I feared to fix the main problems, I decided to keep it as my off-road vehicle and camping unit... a '92 4Runner. Last May, when I was awarded disability benefits, I decided to try and upgrade. Through series of strange events in my ability to obtain an auto loan, I ended up deciding to buy something used for cash. I found, the very same day as I made that decision, I found a BMWx3i online as a private sale within my budget. I bought it as there were very few things amiss and low miles. I am thrilled with it for the time being, it's a little odd looking but what I'm interested in is the fine machinery which I feel I deserve to drive after being a driver for hire for many years and had to drive a lot of crap along with the really nice machines I've had the pleasure to have operated.

I wold love to just borrow one of those for a week or two, just because. I still love Volvos and wouldn't mind having one, I just didn't have one fall in my lap like the car I got. I was able to winter test it in Feb. when I got trapped in blizzardland for a week, it's as good as the Toyota except for the low clearance. I still prefer a standard transmission though.

Must admit I liked my SAAB's better. Growing up in snow country, I was a front wheel drive kinda guy..Fantastic engineering at the time..
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We can't just disappoint the shareholders like that, can we?
Something done for the greater good seems quaint but highly
desirable. Kind of like MineralMan's Volvo 544 (I had one too).