Rusty But Trusty

If you’re fed up of angles, folds, and corners, and would really prefer something a little more organic and rounded, consider a 1997 Ford Taurus. Or better yet, consider the Volvo 544 – an updated version of the ’42 Ford knockoff, with a one piece windshield, hunchback styling, and some actual sporting pretense. Fitted with Volvo’s B18D engine as of 1964, putting out 90-95hp through a 4-speed transmission, it was no rocket, but had quite respectable performance for a family sedan. 1964 also brought a 12V electrical system, and from 1963 North American cars were assembled in Halifax, NS (indeed, if you drive a Volvo 740 or 940 it’s quite likely your car was built here) to bypass trade tariffs. Check out this tax-evading 1964 Volvo 544 for sale for $2450 in Rodeo, CA.

Dark colors work well on these, and also do a good job of hiding body damage. Looking closely at the pictures, you’ll notice the car is in a wrecker’s yard, and looking them up on street view shows they go through some interesting cars, including a handful of VW Beetles, an Alfa Spider, and a Triumph Spitfire. Not much detail is given on the car, other than it is in running condition, so it’s left to us to surmise what shape it’s in.

It’s nice to see this is a black plate car, pointing to a long life in the relatively dry California climate. The classic badging looks great on these old Volvos, and confirms the B18 engine spec. Bumpers are bent up as you might expect, and the trunk lid shows a patch of surface rust. Crappy overexposed cell phone pictures mean you can’t really see much more.

In case you want it, another picture with the seller’s phone number. Headrests look to be attached to seats from a later Volvo, while the side of the car shows either reflections or body damage. Fitting the car with stock hubcaps (or lowering over widened wheels from a 140-series car) would do a lot to smarten the look. But before you do that, you’ll want to give it all the mechanical attention it likely needs and deserves – would you take on this shapely Swede?

Tags: 544, Feature, sedan, swedish, volvo

This entry was posted on July 3, 2014 at 3:54 pm and is filed under Feature. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.