People who own classic Volvos are notorious tightwads. That's our reputation, anyway. I'm the exception, of course -- if I had a substantial budget for car improvement, I couldn't think of a better car to spend it on than an old Volvo. But I don't, at the moment, and I suspect the same is true of many of you.
We often moan that classic Volvos aren't worth enough. I find it offensive that an immaculate 1800 is worth only a fraction of its contemporary -- and comparably priced when new -- cars to collectors. That sword has two edges, of course -- someone like me can own an 1800, while I couldn't even get close to an Austin-Healey 3000 on the current market. We must be careful what we wish for -- I once sold a '59 Corvette for a pittance; three years later, Corvette prices had risen to the point where I'll never be able to own another one like it (not a great hardship, to my mind, but I'm illustrating a point).
Part of the reason old Volvos are so cheap is that they are not seen as exciting cars. Volvo didn't market the 122S with the slogan, "All the quality and better performance than a Mercedes" -- instead we heard "Drive it like you hate it." In the 1800, they had a potential sports car that never attempted to compete on its performance -- it was "Sort of a souped-down Ferrari" that cost a lot less than European exotics. Fact is, it did cost about the same as a much faster Corvette, and a Healey 3000 would run away from it on anything smoother than a fire road and cost substantially less. We know the performance potential is there, but it was never capitalized on by Volvo.
Another reason is, ironically, that old Volvos are viable daily drivers. Big Healeys or Jag XK-Es simply aren't; they were high-maintenance right off the showroom floor and nearly impossible to keep as regular drivers five years later. And who can afford to feed a tri-power, 7-liter Corvette Stingray these days? Wealthy collectors are attracted to expensive toys, not comfortable old shoes.
Suppose you were a classic car broker approaching a wealthy potential buyer. "I've got the car of your dreams," you'd say. "A rare GT -- one of only 4000 built that year. Leather Recaro-designed seats, gauges the size of breakfast plates, styled in Italy. It's as fast as an XK-E and handles better. Wherever you go, people will stop you in parking lots and go ga-ga over it. It's in perfect shape and I can get it for you for $30,000 -- a steal!"
Odds are you'd go away $20,000 richer. All you left out was that the GT was a Volvo 1800 and that it had a few non-original mods. After all, the stock version really doesn't go nearly as fast, or handle nearly as well, as an XK-E. Nonetheless, a lot of us with limited budgets badly want the car described above (or its parallel in a PV, Amazon or 140 flavor). The most common question we get is, "How do I make my Volvo have more power and/or corner better?" The second most common question is, "How can I do that on my budget?" Until recently, we haven't had an answer that satisfied on both counts.
Ever since I've been involved with Volvos, the performance aftermarket has been dominated by IPD, which once sold an impressive line of street and race performance parts for OHV Volvos. As new Volvo models have come along, IPD has been quick to develop high-performance accessories for them, unfortunately at the expense of their product line for older Volvos. It's an economic reality. OHV sales now only represent 5% of the overall Volvo market, and it makes a lot more sense to sell products to people who paid $40,000 for their cars than to people who paid $1500. While there are occasional new offerings for OHV (the new urethane rear bushings for '67 1800s and Amazons are a welcome example), their OHV engine parts line has been greatly reduced in an effort to hold prices down. Reality must, and should, intrude in business -- but it's made the answer to "performance on a budget" questions continually tougher to answer.
In addition to IPD's formerly-impressive catalog, there have been "high end" B18/20 performance products all along, starting with Volvo's own R-Sport line (now long defunct). Racers find old Volvos to be terrific platforms for hot-rodding and they've built many OHV motors by intelligently mixing parts from various suppliers, doing custom machine work, and investing a great deal of time and money in research and development. The same goes for suspension and braking improvements. Such products, however, have been either not marketed (a racer doesn't necessarily want his track competitors using all that good stuff he's spent ten years perfecting) or simply way out of financial reach for most owners. And while anyone can buy special pistons, connecting rods and cams, the average home builder simply hasn't put in the years of development necessary to make such parts work in concert.
That sad situation is changing now, due to the vision and efforts of two smaller suppliers (and no doubt others I'm not aware of). David Hueppchen at OJ Rallye Automotive is importing a comprehensive line of Swedish high performance parts, both for OHV and OHC Volvos. John Parker at Vintage Performance Developments is manufacturing his own line of engine and suspension products. These parts are the result of many years of testing on dynos, flow benches, roads and tracks, and are available individually or as kits customized to your specific car and needs. Both will do custom head work to match, or build you a complete motor. The R & D has been done -- you get predictable results.
What you don't get is a "one size fits all" approach (the same street performance cam and header are supposed to be excellent for a high-compression B18 with SU carbs and a late B20F with fuel injection, or whatever other version of Volvo motor you have?). More effort is required on the part of the buyer -- you should be prepared to discuss what specific characteristics you expect from the finished product and you'll generally wait some weeks for your parts to arrive, but you'll end up with a car that makes what's long been the "standard" street performance Volvo look pretty silly.
Yes, it does cost a bit more, but not all that much more. And how else can tightwads like us get $30,000 performance on a budget that's a small fraction of that figure?
It's a steal.
