Somebody told me in here that the 544 was a much better handling car than the 122. I must concur. IPD sways don't hurt either. Thanks to Matt B. for the screamin' deal and the help getting her fixed up to drive home. In case you didn't know it, Matt some sort of Volvo wizard. We needed a seatbelt bolt for a 544 and he went scrounging around through the trunk of this old 122 parts car. Two minutes later, he pokes his head out of the trunk with a chromed bolt in his hand. "This is a 544 seatbelt bolt" he exclaimed... And he was right. He also can stretch open a hole in an 1/8" thick seatbelt buckle mechanism with nothing more than a channelocks, a screwdriver and a bolt. Lastly, He knows exactly how much 18 month old gas is in a 544 so that we can drive three miles and run out of gas no less than four feet from the pump. "Thats good" he said, "You want all that old gas out of there anyway".

I hope Matt enjoys the rear end in his 122 wagon as much as I'm going to enjoy this car. Before Matt owned it, some idiot de-badged, de-chromed and de-bumpered it then put on lots of wavy bondo and painted it white with lots of overspray and runs. It's mechanically very good though, I passed a bunch of cars on the way up Wolf Creek Pass.

Here's a pic of the the 544 with the wife's 744 in the backround ouside of Buena Vista Co. this morning.



--
Bob W.
'91 744T 173K
'82 245Ti 238K
'81 245 GLT, non-turbo 275K
'67 122 wagon

Just noticed the 'updated' 122 turn signals. Someone had too much time on their hands at some point!

Dang, that's a great yarn you wove. That's a fantastic drive for sure. From the seat of an old Volvo it's even better. I drove Wolf Creek twice in my 1800. What a hoot! Glad you got home safely and didn't lose a mirror on the way. That look is very 'mod,' to borrow a term from the scooter world.
--
Justin 66 122E, 71 145S
Read vclassics!

Best kind of old Volvo - runs great, and a little crooked so you don't worry about dinging it!

We should have an 'ugly Volvo' contest, my 1800 with its rust holes and crooked bodywork would do well!

He He He..... You think you could pass folks up on Wolf Creek... I shoulda let you try them DCOEs.. You'da been flying by 'em.

Glad to hear you made it home safely. I still can't believe we found that seatbelt bolt... and I'm glad you didn't need it! Nor can I believe how the carbs came out just right, and running out of gas at just the right time. And that damn loose brake drum nut.... Geez, that was a hellofa good Volvo day best I can tell....

As for the swaybar... reinforce, reinforce, reinforce... as others have said...

I wanna see pics of that 544 car with flames in the next week or two....hurry it up!

-Matt

Looks like a little crunch around the right light...

Is the blonde in pink yours?

I remember a Memorial Day trip through Colorado in 1994 - Between
Silverton and Durango we passed places that had 12 feet of snow or more
still on the ground. For a guy who lived in Panama at the time it was a bit
much. That was the same trip on whose return the white 164 ("Righteous")
gave out in San Simón, Arizona. Ya know, the rental car we finally got in
El Paso sure did feel GOOD. If there were any problems with it, they WEREN'T
ours! What a trip!
--
George Downs, The "original" Walrus3, Bartlesville, Oklahoma

I think '94 was the year we got those really huge storms. Lots of roofs fell in that year. I shoveled mine off several times.

That's our 2 year old daughter in the picture.

I don't think that crunch will be as visible when I get flames painted around the fenders :-)

look carefully under the rear driver's door, Matt got the car hung up on a rock in the snow and needed to lever against something to get unstuck. If the car was straight, he wouldn't have traded it for a 122 wagon rear end!

Let me know if you're ever coming this way again, I'd like to meet you.



--
Bob W.
14 Volvos ('62-'91) and counting
544-122-240-740