looking for 1800es

[1972]

hi
looking for a volvo 1800es in fairley good condition.
How much are they going for? i live in the north east


Many Thanks chris

[capt jack]

Hi and welcome.

Depends what you mean by fairly good.

£6000 should buy you a rust-free car in excellent all round condition. Some cars are advertised at £10,000 plus, but this is getting silly.

£300 will buy you a heap of brown dust!

Be warned that these cars have complex bodyshells that are prohibitively expensive to fix. And they can rust - mostly in places where you can't get to see until you strip out the interior. Interior trim parts are very hard to source.

On the plus side the engines and gearboxes are nigh-on indestructable, although the fuel injection system can be a total nightmare. It's the very early Bosch D-Jet. Most D-Jet parts are pretty much unavailable, and the set-up depends on 40-year-old electronics to make it work smoothly.

A manual gearbox suits the car better than an auto.

Having said I did own an 1800ES, and loved it. I was lucky with mine because the bodywork was excellent, but be warned unless you find one with no significant rust then you're heading for an expensive time.

Having said all that they are fabulous cars - head turners wherever you go - guaranteed!

Cheers

Jack

[1972]

Hi
Thanks for the info there is one on classic car web site i think it is too much they want £8995 and it has 60.000 around there its an auto any clues to find one.


Many Thanks Chris

[capt jack]

Originally Posted by 1972

Hi
Thanks for the info there is one on classic car web site i think it is too much they want £8995 and it has 60.000 around there its an auto any clues to find one.


Many Thanks Chris

It depends. A good ES is the sort of car that's worth whatever you want to pay. I guess one guiding principle is what would the car be worth if you tried to sell it tomorrow?

The Practical Classics guide price can be useful, which is I think £8000 for a Condition 1 1800ES. This means that it is in excellent all round order, with no defects, capable of passing an MoT and daily use. Not quite concours but not far off. Being an auto reduces that figure. I doubt that in reality there will be many ES cars around that truly meet that criteria.

If you're in the market for an ES the chances are that anything you look at will have been repaired at some time. You need to know it's been done properly. Mileage is almost irrelevant. 60k on a 40-ish year old B20E engine is not really too much to worry about, but you'll almost certainly find it will suffer from low use syndrome, and will spring leaks from seals - rear crank being a prime example. Also, you may find that the gearbox cooler will leak - and if water gets into the autobox you're in big trouble. All that said, all the oily bits from an ES are pretty much standard for all 140 and 145 cars of the same period, so even if the D-Jet fuel injection dies you can always convert to twin-carbs.

Many ESs are quite low mileage because actually they are not very practical, and often were not used much by their original owners.

If you're looking for a handsome and unusual classic car, that you'll drive only on special occasions, then the ES is a good choice. The key is getting one with totally sound bodywork. £9,000 is probably a bit much, but perhaps £6000 - £7000 would be reasonable for something really special.

Good luck

Jack