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Hey all...
Earlier this month, walrus3 posted something about the Dutch Volvo V44 Club coming to the USA for a cross-country cruise (their itinerary is at http://gsvsa.org/dutch.html in case you are interested in crossing paths with them). Friday evening, they were spending the first night of their drive just north of Washington, DC in Laurel, MD. I was heading up to New Jersey from my home in Alexandria, VA and figured I'd make a stop in Laurel and meet up with them and check out their cars.
On my way northward up the Baltimore-Washington Parkway I saw quite a few old timer Volvos heading in the opposite direction toward DC--the brave souls who wanted to drive into downtown DC, hehe. I arrived at one of the hotels they were staying at and saw their cars parked out in front of their rooms. I came across one group of members sitting outside their room enjoying the warm early evening, so I walked up and chitchatted with them for a bit.
It seemed they were pleasantly surprised to meet an American who was just as enthusiastic about the old Volvos as they were. Among the group that I spoke with were the owners of a 1970 121, a 1972 P1800 wagon, and a 1960 Duett.
The 121 was most interesting to me because it is the very first correctly-running Amazon I've gotten to hear in person, and as it turns out, my 122 isn't that far off. Most reassuring! The owner made mimimal modifications, notably different rims, a throatier exhaust, and an electric fan mounted in front of the radiator. One additional modification that he made right before he came to the US for the tour was a lead-additive spritzer that was basically a plastic bottle of lead additive mounted next to the coolant overflow bottle, and had a tube running to the carb. He was concerned since he would not be able to fill up with leaded fuel while in the US, so he put this in. Has anyone done this to theirs by any chance to prevent having to replace valve seats?
In chatting with the P1800ES owner, his car was originally from California and he had it shipped to The Netherlands. In essence, this trip is a homecoming for his car. :) The Duett was basically a well-maintained and handsome original with its B14 that keeps on truckin'.
Earlier that afternoon on my way home from work I noticed that the temperature was 103°F, and I was wondering how they might have fared in the muggy mid-Atlantic summer heat. In speaking with them, I gathered that the first leg of the journey went well with minimal incident. Apparently, in preparation for the cross-country tour, all cars had to go through a thorough inspection and fix anything that may come up as an issue on the drive. Just in case, though, they had 2 vintage Volvo mechanics on-hand for the trip. This has been the practice for their other roadtrips in the past, among which have been a drive to the northern tip of Norway, a drive to Morocco, and a cross-continental drive to Moscow back in 2000. The Duett owner gave me a hat that commemorated the Moscow journey. :)
At any rate, I only got to spend about 20 minutes chatting and looking at their cars since I was under a timetable to get to Jersey, but it was great opportunity to spend time with fellow enthusiasts from across the Atlantic and take a look at their wheels. If the tour is coming through to your area, I would highly recommend that you stop by and say hi.
- Dan
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