Aloha from a New 1800S Owner

[Kauai1800]

Aloha All,

I am a brand spankin' new member here, so please excuse any newbieness I might display!

I am super-stoked to be getting a 1964 1800S (No. 9217; color code 46) in a week or so. Like many of you, this has been a dream car of mine for many years and to find one here in Hawaii, with a claimed 36K miles on it is making me one happy camper. The car is in great shape...no rust, nice interior, perfect chrome...Check the attached pictures and you will see the previous owner had vanity plates saying it was a 1965, and in fact thats what the Hawaii registration shows, but it is no doubt a 1964 with the grill, dash e-overdrive and VIN 9217. I think the mileage may actually be correct because the engine bay is very clean, no rust under the rear trunk lid, etc. The car has been repainted the original red and has the original red/chrome hubcaps (which I will be asking about soon since one needs replacing).

Here's where living on an island is a pain...see the car is over in Honolulu on the Island of Oahu - all paid for and everything; but I live on Kauai, so my baby has to come by barge next week.

So please point me to threads of wisdom (I will start poking around to see what I can find..) and pass along whatever other tidbits a new 1800 owner might need to hear.

many thanks,
John in Kauai

[222s]

That looks great!! The whitewalls & early wheels & hubcaps look especially good.

Regarding the discrepancy between it's build ('64) and it's vanity plate ('65), is it also titled as a '65? If so, I think that would be due to the time taken between building, & then shipping over to Hawaii & then registering. For the same reason, with Spridgets it is very common for USA cars to be titled as the year after the actual build.

[mike gilbert]

222s could be right but I think the car may have been elsewhere first because 9217 would have been built in late 1963 or very early '64.
August '63 production (for the 64 model year) began with 8001 and they built just under 400 cars a month, so on that reckoning 9217 would be built December '63 or thereabouts. That leaves a whole year before it was registered. Could have been sitting on the mainland somewhere for a while I suppose.
Looks lovely but it needs an egg box grill to go with the cowhorns - must be loads of those lying about in Hawaii

[Kauai1800]

Thanks 222 and Mike!

Regarding the eggcrate grille....I was wondering about that. I see some '64s with this kind of grille ("double slats") and others with the classic eggcrate grille. I'd love to get the eggcrate kind. Anybody making these new or is there a place to get a nice used one? Why do I see both types in looking at photos of 64 cars?

And indeed it is titled as a 1965...

I am going to try and learn more about this car's history. Word is that it sat in a Volvo dealership for many years, but I'm not sure if that was here in Hawaii or not. I've looked at several online 1800 registries and I can find No. 9219, 9220, and 9221...all red code 46 (did they make the cars by color?). Of course I'll register this one. Not many 1800s here in Hawaii - I've never seen one here in Kauai at all.

Here it is not really practical to have a "fancy car" for a number of reasons:

- way too much salt in the air....everything rusts FAST! This car will have to sit in a dehumidified garage or it'll begin to rust immediately. Even chrome lugs bolts will rust here in less than 12 months. I will welcome all rust prevention tips!

- on Kauai it is not appropriate to have a really expensive car...it's just not part of our culture to be materialistic or flashy (in Honolulu it is OK, but Kauai is very different). A 1800 is great for this because it is beautiful without being a Ferrari or BMW or something like that. Roll up to a restaurant in an AMG Mercedes around here and you will get bad service, stink eye, and you car "keyed" upon return.

- no parts (except off the internet); and no mechanics who specialize in this type of car (so I'll take care of much of the day-to-day work)

On the other hand, we really only have one road here, so if there's trouble, I'm never far from home or from someone I know driving by.

I did spend some quality time reading the threads on this forum...super helpful stuff! I just launched my brand (I design and produce Swiss watches) at Selfridges this summer, so I was in London this summer and will be returning 2-3 times a year - I'll try and come up to Ace Cafe or something. Or Goodwood Speed Fest next year - that's been on my list for a while now.

Again many thanks from a very remote newbie!

Cheers,
John

[BillKat]

Hello and welcome John, that looks a real beaut there...

[arcturus]

May we be so bold as to ask just how much you paid for it. Don't answer if you would rather not. I'm just green with envy

[Kauai1800]

Oh no worries....I didn't know the etiquette around here, so I didn't say.

I paid $10,000 USD (£5000) for it plus another $160 to ship it to Kauai. It is all inspected through Nov 07, and has Hawaii inspection, so it should pass again with little scrutiny. I think it was a fair deal, especially since around here we generally pay both a premium for any nice used car, and an extra premium for a vintage car. Also shipping a car from the US Mainland costs $1000 and shipping a car from anywhere except the West Coast will add another $1000 or so for trucking it to LA and on the boat.

So in my rather twisted mind, I was able to tell myself that this was a $8000 car.

I wanted something that was basically original and was ready to drive. This car was "meant" for me...I have wanted one of these for over 20 years and I had started looking in earnest for an 1800 only 2 days before this one came on the market - and only one island away. An 1800 might come up for sale in Hawaii once every...I don't know...every 3-4 years or so? Maybe less.

Count on seeing me around here with questions. You guys seem like a nice crew. Many thanks!

John

[RedWest]

Sounds like it was meant for you.


I didn't realise cars would rust in Hawaii the weather there is almost always what we in the UK would class as ideal.

Next time I'm in Hawaii I'm going to rent a car as the Honolulu city buses "The Bus" are always freezing with the AC turned up far too high and their drivers are very rude to tourists whom they hate.

[Hezi]

Hi

Thats one stunning motor

Steve

[mike gilbert]

It should have the egg crate grill. The double bar grill was a late '66 onwards fitting. You should be abel to pick one up on a trip to the UK but most are damaged by the bumpers having hit them at some time in the past.