Hello fellow bricksters. I hope everyone is doing well. Me and the Old Lady are doing good. The wife and kids are doing great too!

I brought my '58 444 to "A VolvoStore" (AKA Import Service, Inc., 851 South Lynnhaven Road, Virginia Beach, VA) yesterday for a routine checkup including a chassis/suspension/driveshaft lube, oil/filter change, and SU carb tune-up. I heard a lot of great things about this shop from my Volvo friends. The owner Terry and his son TJ are very familar with these old Volvos. They've been working on them for years. They took very good care of mine. Besides discounts for being a new customer and belonging to the VCOA, they gave me some great tips on fuel too that I thought I'd pass along.

It was way too hot here a few weeks back, around 105 degrees F. On July 4th, I took the 444 out for a spin and it was kicking and sputtering once it warmed up. I figured it had something to do with the heat and quickly put her back in the garage. I asked Terry about this and he said it was probably due to boiling of the water in my fuel due to the 89 octane ethenol/Gasohol I've been using. Terry recommended that I stick with 91+ octane Gasohol, and try to add a 12 ounce bottle of fuel stabilizor to the tank at least a few times per year. Another option would be to stay away from Gasohol if I could find a non-ethenol gas station. (Supposedly there are a few around.) He gave me a bottle of Amsoil PI (Performance Improver, gasoline additive concentrate, API-CN, UPC 097012280124) and I added that, plus a few ounces of Amsoil Saber Outboard 100:1 pre-mix (synthetic 2-cycle oil, ATO-BC, UPC 097012245086) to a full tank of gas. The Amsoil Saber was also Terry's suggestion. After driving her around yesterday, eating up about 1/4 of the new tank of gas, I could tell she was running much, much better.

After the discounts, the parts and labor set me back a little over $100, but I think it was well worth it. I learned a lot from Terry and I'll gladly be taking the Old Lady back down to his shop for future checkups.

Other than this, I have scheduled an appointment with a local upholsterer (Nick's Upholstery, 5207 Cleveland Street, Virginia Beach, VA). In a few weeks, Nick will be installing my headliner, re-upholstering my sunvisors, and installing kick panels, hat shelf panel, and tacking down my floor rubber. He's estimated $500 and should have the car finished in a week or two max.

I've recently received the re-chromed Yankee bars, have painted the insides with Rust-Oleum Rusty Metal Primer, and will be installing them as soon as I figure out what type of hardware I'll need to get the job finished. Hopefully within a few weeks.

Once I get all of this knocked out, I'll send some updated pics.

As for the PV 444 restoration book, it is currently on hold. My time is being consumed these days by work, school (going back to college for Bachelor's degree), family, and many other things. Hopefully I'll be able to work on it some more during the winter months.

Enjoy the rest of your summer!

Regards,

--
Anthony (Tony) Scarola
1958 Volvo PV444 (aka 44408, 444L, Old Lady)
See http://www.scarolas.com/58VolvoPV444/