According to this thread started by a 3d car artist at Maxforums.org, the Volvo 1800 (and the PV544, believe it or not!) may be appearing in a new video game, Crashday, to be published by Atari in January of next year (according to the preview video).

I'm not really a gamer, but this just might inspire me to pick up a new console before the year's end! How fun would it be to rev, roll, wreck and restore a "virtual" 1800 without scratching the paint on your own?

You can find out more about Crashday at the official Crashday Web site here. Enjoy!

When I first brought my Volvo 1800E home last year, I had every intention of logging every step of its restoration in a small yellow notebook I carried with me whenever I drove the car. Of course, the reality of everyday driving eventually put an end to this noble experiment, but I recently uncovered the notebook in, of all places, the back seat of my Volvo 240.

I spent a few moments tonight transcribing the rough notes — not beautifying, them, of course — so readers of this site (the logical extension of the original notebook) could see from whence I am coming: Absolute nowhere.

The entries are filed under the "Progress Report" section of this site, and I must say that even today, I find the naivete of these entries humorous. I still don't know anything, but at least I know more than I did. Ten more years, and I should be able to figure one of these new-fangled machines out.

Check out my first impressions of the 1800 here. I'd suggest reading them from bottom to top, as this will preserve the historical order. Enjoy!

While I don't intend to yell "LOOK!" every time someone mentions a Volvo 1800 on the Web or within other media formats, I think it's important to let others know when our favorite automobile makes its way into a headline or two. That said, I just stumbled across a nice article on About.com's site that speaks fondly of the nostalgia the Volvo 1800 elicits among the lucky few who actually recognize it. Check it out.

Editor's note: In case it's not obvious by now, I think I should restate that this site is intended only to promote the Volvo 1800 line of automobiles, and it is in no way purporting to be run by competent mechanics or knowledgeable professionals. I think this post will certainly drive this point home.

***

I've been putting off the inevitable for some time now, making one excuse after another to delay going after what I honestly think is the last of my current engine problems — what I thought was obviously a blown seal, but what I hoped was perhaps something a little less severe.

My main excuse has been that I simply haven't been able to see where the leaking fluid has been coming from, simply because of the mass amounts of acrid smoke blocking the view. The leaking oil was coming from somewhere under the manifold, and as it was leaking directly onto the car's rusted-through header pipe, and only when the car was hot, it was immediately creating its own smoke screen to protect its dark origins. So as any normal, red-blooded, um… freakin' idiot… would do, I simply pretended not to notice the column of white smoke rising from beneath the passenger side of the hood at each stoplight. With the windows down, I could even breathe every once in a while, especially once I reached cruising speed and the fumes could not keep up.

God help the passenger, however.

So first things first: Obviously, the blown-out header pipe was creating most of the havoc, with the exhaust rising prematurely out of the engine compartment rather than from the environmentally friendlier tailpipe (and yes, I know this makes me a bad person. That's why I got it fixed BEFORE I did anything else — including drive the car much once the troubles began).

Being the vigilant optimist, I even had myself half-convinced that the hole in the exhaust header was the whole problem — all the smoke was pouring out of that little worn-out JB Weld spot, anyway, and who was I to assume there was really a blown seal — or anything more sinister — sitting above it to blame?

So last night, the Heater spent its first night away from home at a local mechanic's place, where it received a bright, shiny eBay-supplied header pipe this morning. I picked it up after work, and immediately noticed the softer purr, the less pungent aroma and the approving nods of my neighbors. Of course, at the first traffic light to stop me, I also noticed the familiar whisps of white smoke pouring from beneath the hood.

Sigh…

So once I got home, I opened the hood. Wonder of wonders, the new header pipe shown like a diamond beneath the manifold. There was no sign of… wait. What was that? A drip. A tiny little drip from somewh… There! That cable, or hose, or whatever it was. (I don't know my car, OK?) But I'm learning. Quickly.

Was the oil running down the cable? Or actually dripping from the line itself? Regardless, at least I know it's not a blown gasket now. Excellent. But… hmmph… come to think of it… why would oil burn white?

A quick look in the Haynes manual, a few flipped pages, and voila! There's a picture of the exact cable — and, ugh, apparently, it is a hose. More specifically, it's a… holy crap… It's a fuel line!

And it's been leaking all over my manifold.

For months.

***

So needless to say, the 1800 is grounded for a bit. I've already poured through dozens of posts on the subject of fuel lines on the Yahoo! 1800list, and I now know a lot more about my car than I did this afternoon.

Each time something like this happens, I immediately feel like the world's biggest idiot… and then I start to feel a little less so. This car has been a crash course in automotive theory and practice for me. A few months ago, I barely knew how to change an oil filter; today, I've learned to replace fuel lines without blowing up. Fortunately, I've managed to stay alive thus far, and I hope others can learn from the sheer stupidity to which I'm admitting on this site.

Stay tuned for details on fuel-line replacement. All I need now is a willing companion to stand by with a fire extinguisher at the ready…

By the way, for anybody in the Raleigh, N.C., area with a European classic, I heartily recommend taking your car to Chris at Import AutoWerks at 1823-106 East Millbrook Road. Although he's a Volkswagen guy at heart, he did a great job replacing the header pipe on my Volvo 1800, and he's a real vintage car enthusiast. (In fact, he just picked up a sweet Volvo 122 for himself recently). I don't think you'll be sorry!

I got my first mug with the new Classic1800.com design on it the other day, and I have to admit, it looks great! I'll be getting a T-shirt too. Now all I need to do is join an active enthusiasts' club here in the Raleigh (N.C.) area to flaunt the new gear. Anybody know of (or want to start) such a club? Lemme know here in the comment section. Thanks!

Coming out of a downtown restaurant the other night, I practically tripped over a 1972 1800E sitting in the parking lot. I'm not sure how many vintage Volvos are still rolling around in your neck of the woods, but around here, it's pretty rare to spot one you didn't know about.

My girlfriend tends to roll her eyes when I get talking about my car, so she was bewildered as I raced back into the restaurant and asked our waitress whether she knew the owner of the car. She checked around, and it turned out that the bartender on duty knew the driver. A couple minutes later, I was interrupting the poor guy's dinner and introducing myself as a fellow 1800 enthusiast.

Turns out the guy was more than willing to talk about the car, which he's owned since mid-June. He bought the car for his dad for Father's Day, but apparently, dad refuses to accept it. As it happens, the current driver is not particularly wowwed by the air-conditioned, automatic-transmission coupe, which he says seems to be housing a few gremlins that make starting and operating it iffy at best.

I guess I've been spoiled by the reliability of my particular 1800E. Granted, his racing-green '72 was in much better cosmetic shape than my rusting-red '71, but I love the ride I get.

And now I really can't wait to get the dang thing's body into shape.

It's not.

After an enjoyable day of tooling around on the 1800, installing my new Crane XR700 Fireball electronic ignition, I decided I would finally get around to posting a useful article here, describing what I went through and how others might get rid of their own car's points and condensors. After all, the ignition works great, and I'm really pleased with the results.

Heck, the tachometer (which I'd been warned would never be reliable again) even works like a dream — better than it did before the upgrade.

But that article will have to wait now. For today, I present a single picture, which I like to call, "What the hell just happened?"

Witness:

So I got a little wiser this weekend. And to anyone else contemplating a quick 20 minutes in the garage changing the oil: Unless you want to spend the next five hours cleaning oil out of every nook and cranny of your workspace, always check to make sure the old seal came off with the old oil filter before installing a new one.

Now I just feel dumb.

But stay tuned for the electronic ignition installation article. That actually turned out well.