Look back in pride
A couple of notes for those considering replacing their side mirrors on the Volvo 1800: It takes at least an hour to do it right, and you'll need some pretty small hands.
About three months after I brought my 1800 home, I discovered my rear-view mirror — broken at its base — lying on the hood of the car. My girlfriend had found it earlier lying in the street beside the car, and she had placed it on the hood so it wouldn't get any more damaged than it was.
A year later, I finally got it replaced with the correct vintage mirror (not the new "OEM" mirror that looks nothing like the original). The mirrors mount from inside the door, so although it's a simple enough task, expect to spend a while dismantling and reassembling the door (I took the opportunity to refresh the plastic and paper inside the door, too). The tight quarters in which the mirror mounts inside the door are also evidence that child labor was at work when these doors were built — if you've got big hands, you may want to enlist the help of a friend with a slighter build (fortunately, I happen to have manly hands like those of a schoolgirl, so…)
September 8th, 2005 at 2:06 pm
How exactly do you ‘refresh’ the paper and plastic inside the door? Replace the paper dust cover is…. easy, i guess, if you had a new piece of paper large enough, you could just recut the pattern….but the plastic?
Reply: Plastic sheeting (aka Hefty trash bag) is just about as simple to cut as paper. And duct tape is everybody’s favorite solution.
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March 19th, 2006 at 9:08 pm
Where did you get your mirror? Mine broke off.
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March 22nd, 2006 at 12:35 am
They tend to do that, don’t that? I wish I could offer a good source, but I just managed to find mine on eBay. Good luck!
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