Hey all...

Long time Volvo owner, two 940s and an s70, and a few 240s over the years...

My fiancee told me I'm working too hard and need a hobby, so I've settled on restoration of a 1800.


My question, and it's really stupid I'm sure: Whats the difference between an 1800s and an 1800P? Didn't get the 1800P-- price way too high for a car that needs frame off restoration, plus I wasn't looking forward to towing it home from Philadelphia, anyway. I'm looking at an 1800S now.... they look the same, so what's the difference?

Is one easier to get parts for than the other?

Any general caveats I should be aware of? I've restored VWs before but never a Volvo, though I do work on my 940s by myself, so I know quite a bit in general.

any advice is greatly appreciated!

Fred

In addition to what the others have said... The Jensen cars had much cooler interior. No opinion about it... thats a fact :-) neater looking front seats, and a much less practical, but better looking rear seat area.

THe Jensen cars also have the neater looking bumpers (which were also on the '64 and some '65 Ss). Jensen cars also have the neato script badge behind the rearmost side windows, neater looking (though usually sun-trashed) semi-translucent switch pull handles. Two horn switches... the one in the steering wheel being loud, and the stalk on the right of the column a 'friendly' tone. That was later replaced with the overdrive stalk switch. The P1800 would have had a toggle switch on the dash for the OD. Early P1800 also had full wheel covers rather than the smaller hubcaps. Rare to see them still on a car though.

THe biggie problem with the Jensen cars is the damn suspension differences. Specifically the lower A-arm bushings, which are the same as the upper A-arm bushings, and don't hold up.

Also, the brakes are different. Or at least the calipers are, and new pads and/or calipers can be hard to source. If you end up with a P1800, you would do well to swap out the whole front crossmember inlcuding suspension and brakes with one from a later 1800s. It is a direct bolt up operation.

Overall, I'd say the 1800s cars are the best for easy spares sourcing and easier restoration for that reason, and most reliable for daily use...

Congratulations on the project... what year is it?

-Matt
--
-Matt '70 145s, '65 1800s, '66 122s wagon, others inc. '53 XK120 FHC

It's a 1969 1800S. It's from Texas and is relativly rust free. It runs, but in the owners own words: "is not known to do so for any long distances." Hehe.

So it clearly needs some carburetor/ignition work, but most of the work looks like interior and some exterior work.

Of course I'll have it painted anyway, and do everything right... But soon as it's here, I'm sure I'll be on here asking away....

Thanks all of you,

Fred

If you haven't bought your car yet, here are a few tips : RUST, RUST and RUST. The 1800s are rust buckets. The unibody construction creates all sorts of little hiding places for road dirt, salt, etc. If the paint is bubbled anywhere there is a rust problem, usually moderate to severe, behind it. Most rusted areas on the 1800s are extremely hard (and expensive) to repair. Other than that, they are easy to work on, sedan mechanicals for the most part. Parts are plentiful with the exception of some model-specific trim parts. Lots of repro stuff around though. Parts suppliers are all over the place. There is an abundance of information and expertise on this forum alone. If you should get an FI model, you can have it humming along by reading any of the posts here about FI. There are some electrical gremlins but alot of that can be cured by cleaning connections, fuses and grounding points. I hope you get a good one that can be easily restored and driven for the sheer pleasure of driving one. Best of luck in a really worthwhile endeavor.
--
Roy Olson

Hey,

I think it's a good project too. I went out of my way to look for relatively rust free cars. The first I was serious about was a philadelphia car, but was garage kept for many years.

The one I am now considering is a west texas car.

I'[m looking forward to working on this car. It will be a relief to not have to worry about sensors or computers for a change.

Thanks for the advice, and I'm sure you'll be hearing from me lots in the immediate future.

Warmest regards,
Fred

Congratulations on the REAL Volvo!!
(Real Volvos don't have struts, etc)
Work on them is definitely easier and you don't need a bunch of
metric tools.
--
George Downs, Bartlesville, Oklahoma, Central US

Hi there,

and here I thought we 900 owners had a monopoly on the "Last real Volvo" line!

:)

Well, it's not 1800P... I think you mean P1800.

P1800 is used incorrectly as the popular name for the whole 1800 line -- but here's the real deal:

'62-'63 = P1800, the first 6000 cars of the series built by Jensen in England. Volvo did not have the production capacity and farmed them out.

'63-'69 = 1800S, the "S" standing for "Sweden," not "Sport." Volvo took over production partway through the '63 model year.

'70-'72 = 1800E, with fuel injection, disk brakes all around, and some interior redesign.

'72-'73 = 1800ES, the "Sportwagon."

Regardless of badging, the P1800 and 1800S are model P180, the 1800E is model P182, and the 1800ES is model P183.

The Jensen-built cars have a number of trim differences and a few minor mechanical differences from the S models, but are not generally considered more valuable -- whether they're more desirable is a personal taste. Mechanical parts are pretty much available for all models.

P1800 - early cars. Bodies made in England by Jensen, shipped to Sweden for drivetrains and finishing. Curved end of bumpers, various other fairly minor trim differences. In very general terms they are worth more, being rarer. It seems like they started rusting a little quicker? Mechanically, very little difference from the 1800S.

1800S - mid production cars - completely made in Sweden as Volvo was very unhappy with the quality and spotty supply (labour strikes!) coming out of England. Produciton of the bread & butter sedans was shuffled around and the 1800 got an older, smaller facility for itself.

1800E - late production. The earlier cars were basically 120 sedan mechanicals with a shorter wheelbase ans swoopy body, the 1800E updated most of the mechanicals (except for the front suspension, though it got the new brakes) to 140 sedan mechanicals. It now had a 2 liter engine in place of the previous 1.8 liter used from inception. The E stood for Einspritzen, referring to the very advanced (for the time) Bosch D-jet fuel injection. In the last couple of years of production the 1800ES replaced the trunk with a hatch and sport wagon rear end.

Although trim details changed here and there and the HP gradually crept upwards (peaking with the 130 HP of the 70 and 71 B20E motor) the cars were really not changed very much at all over the years. The 1800E marked the single greatest change between the models.

John, I believe the Jensen cars were driven off the production line -- Volvo supplied the drivetrain components, but they were installed in England.

Even after production moved to Sweden, body shells were still supplied by Pressed Steel in Scotland through the end of the S models. The E was the first that had a fully Swedish body.

That's how I heard it, anyway...

Um, what's mechanically very different about the Jensens, other than throttle linkage and a few suspension bits?

As for rarity, there were way more Jensen-produced cars than were built in any single model year in Sweden, if you care to think of it that way -- the "A" production lot was far and away the most numerous.

"Um, what's mechanically very different about the Jensens, other than throttle linkage and a few suspension bits?"
??? - Ahh -- I looked at my post and saw the egregious typo. Sometimes my hands lag behind my head and type out the wrong thing... Very little difference!

I guess you are right on the details of the Jensen produced cars, for some reason I had gotten that jumbled in my head.

Production numbers for the 1800: http://www.saint.org/volprod.htm
Only 6,000 Jensen produced cars out of roughly 39,000 coupes. They are rarer now merely because of their added age, although the E's are catching up quickly.

Aha... typo! I was frankly surprised to read how what you said originally came out, 'cos I know you know your old Volvos.

8^)