Are you and your signification other sick of sharing the 1969 Volvo 1800S? This probably isn’t the reason that the owner of this 1969 Volvo P1800 has two of them, but it seems like a great reason to own two identical cars. In this case, the fact that there were only seventeen hundred 1800s built in ’69 might be a better reason to have two of them parked around the house. Richard R stumbled on this pair by chance and being a Volvo guy and owning an 1800S himself, he couldn’t help but stop and take a look. Read Richard’s story after the jump.
Here is a pair of Volvo 1800s sitting in Columbus, Ohio. The one sitting on the street does not appear to have moved for months, yet appears to have a current registration. The car in the bushes definitely hasn’t moved in recent memory. Both cars appear to be 1800 S models, and both appear to be from 1969. As I was working on my own ’69 1800S project last summer, a chance detour led me down this street. I stopped and was looking the cars over, when the landlady approached me to ask what I was doing. I explained that I owned an 1800 myself, and she lamented that her tenant had parked these cars, and she would be most happy to see them gone. I scratched out my contact info on pieces of paper and left them on the cars, but no contact came from the owner.
Later, in the latter part of autumn, a Michigan man who restores (and parts) these cars posted a “want-to-buy” ad on Craigslist, looking for any and all 1800 cars. I contacted the guy and told him about these cars, thinking maybe I could broker a deal between these two fellows. Once again I left my contact info on the cars, but still no contact from the owner.
I assume that one day eventually I’ll drive by again and the cars will be gone…. somewhere. One other interesting note: If indeed these are both 1969 models, then with my car this would make 3 ’69s living within a mile of each other. Considering that the total production of 1800s that year was under 1700 units worldwide, it is remarkable that 3 of the remaining cars are so close to each other.
We want to thank Richard for sharing his find with us and we hope the owner will eventually contact him. Maybe someday he will be able to add these two to his collection!
The driver is probably approaching difficult times keeping ‘them’ on the road.
Parts availability now on the internet and not your local parts store.
And keeping them outside in an Ohio winter is probably a little counterproductive also…
I would talk to the owner and offer my help and see where that conversation takes it !
No edit ?
It’s nice to see these cars are still around though….
You can have the Land Lord file a deserted and abandoned property on her land and she can have them towed and just maybe you can get them free. Then you apply to your DMV for a Lien Sale title. I have done that many times. http://www.mtshastaophanclassicsgroup.shutterfly.com, Offer to pay her Filing fee’s. Man I would jump on it in a second. I have sold car’s out of Ohio, sitting at my desk tto Collectors in Australia and even Japan. I am surprised someone hasn’t already done this. I have bought a Yard of Old Cars without Titles and received Lien Titles on them. Lot’s of times Used Car Dealer’s will sell off a bunch of old cars that has been sitting around for a long time in a Lot Sale. Buy one you buy them all. Sometimes at $10.00 per car. Just a cost to file with the State.
here is a 1901 Oldsmobile I found in a Forest Fire and it had no title, I licensed it and restored it. I have several that way.
Many parts have gotten easier the last few years ‘cept the really rare parts… such as the factory tow hitch!
Probably more effective if you talk to the owner in person!
how can he talk to the owner if he never replies back to the guys #
It’s a little difficult to see with the frosting on it, but it looks like the one in the yard is a 1966 or earlier judging by the chrome trim that follows the body line up to the rear fender. I believe the trim was changed in ’67 to the straight strip like the one parked on the street.
Completely agree with the previous comments about contacting the owner to see if these can be rescued before nature takes its course.
I think I might know the person who owns these. If you have interest contact Jesse & he can give you my e-mail address. If it’s not the same person then that’s wierd due to me knowing someone who has a pair of 1800’s for sale !
Stylish and built to last. I hate to see them in this condition.
Stylish and built to last but a sheep in wolf’s clothing. A resto mod with some extra heat under the hood would be nicer..
As of July 1st Ohio law makes it difficult if not impossible to get a abandon title. Take it from someone that has a 1800ES with the same problem. And I paid a former used car dealer for it. .
Those were nice cars in their day. I hope someone who will at least park them inside a garage will get them before they are beyond repair.
Don’t tell me that a local police officer at the nearest police station can’t run DMV on both plates for that landlord and get them moving along. We can’t see the plate of the one on the street, but the plate on the one placed out the rear would still be a valid one, too. That one is a pre-2003 plate, which was the bicentennial plate for the state, but I’ve seen many on cars to this day. And someone can place a plate from the year of the vehicle’s manufacture in lieu of a historic plate.
what shocks me, is that its on a public st and no cop has marked them for a tow, great police department
@ Richard, don’t give up. What others have said here applies, and I am one with experience at winning a derelict, small production vehicle. Not too far from my house, in the fringes of an office building parking lot, I could see a car from a couple of hundred yards away. It was always there, any time, day or night, so I decided to have a look at it one afternoon.
What I found was a 1989 Dodge Colt Turbo, one of 1550 imported to the USA. Over the next six months I left my name at the office front desk for the owner, on three separate occasions. I was pretty much expecting that the company would have it towed, but it just sat there for a whole year. Nearly two months after my last note to the owner, I got a call, and found out that it likely had a blown head gasket, or something…. I got it running enough to actually drive it to my home and park it behind my workshop, where it remains… as the parts car to my two other ’89 Turbos: One a Dodge Colt, and one a Mitsubshi Mirage.
So go for it. Did the landlady indicate that the cars’ owner was still at the location? If he has moved on, she has every right to file a claim on the vehicles he abandoned. There are a lot of different angles to work, and they need not cost you much. I fact, you could get everything you want, and profit from selling what you don’t.
Hi rapple,
Definitely not a 66, with side marker lights and 3-spoke steering wheel. And the straight trim spear is missing behind the door, but the holes are there. Thanks everyone for all the interesting comments. My interest in the cars was just to see anything happen to them besides disintegration. I’ve got all the cars I can handle at this point! And it seems the only way you’re gonna get those titles is to pry them from the owner’s cold…….well, you know.