Time has come for another update. So I’ve come to the conclusion that this restoration thing is going awesomely slow if you would compare it to this high speed maniacal world where everything needs to be done by yesterday. I always thought that when I would do a restoration, I could do it way more faster than all these suckers who are working on a car for five years or so ;). But, I’m now somewhere halfway the restoration (I think!) and it has cost me already 1,5 years to get this far so I guess am as slow as everyone else :D. With your nose on the facts as mr. van Gaal would say. But, on the bright side, I’m still having fun with this restoration (set aside some medium mental breakdowns when stuff does not want to go the way I want it to go, but these ‘incidents’ do not tend to last very long luckily).

All in all I’m am doing my best and although I’m progressing not very fast, I work at a steady pace, almost everyday doing something. And I finally found someone who can weld and do sheetmetalwork! And this guy also knows a good painter, so good things. I’ve been searching for more than 6 months so I am pretty excited that the most important work finally can start. In something like a month we will bring the car to this guy’s workshop so he can start working on the car (when he is finished with a Jaguar and a Porsche, nice guys always finish last 😉 ).

So I´ve decided the color of the car will be red. It´s maybe not the best color for such a classic car, as grey, green or white would fit the car better I guess, but red is just such a nice color IMHO. Volvo used two kinds or red color on 1800´s, color code #70 on early P1800´s of 1961 – 1962 and code #46 on 1800’s from 1963 until 1973.  As I would like to keep things fairly original, I should use #46 as this is the red which was used on a 1967 1800S, but I’m not completely sure which I like more. So I need to think about that.

For example, a car painted in #70 (above) and #46 (below):

As you can see it is a bit difficult to show the correct color on a picture on a computer. I think the early #70 is a bit more ‘firetruck red’ than the #46, but I’m not sure. Best would be if I could see the color in real life. But even then I guess you would not be certain if it would be the correct color Volvo used as most cars have had a respray in their years. Lots of info about the Volvo colors can be read at: http://www.volvotips.com/index.php/general/volvo-color-codes/. A great website with lots of Volvo info, check it out!

Last moth I’ve did some work on the interior and as I decided the color of the car will be red, I am going with the red-black exterior-interior combination, like this:

http://volvo1800pictures.com/main/main_gallery_1800S_67_php.php

So, red exterior, black seats and panels and red carpet. The coulor combination I like the most! Searching for a nice 2nd hand, not rotten away black 1800s interior would not going to be an easy find. Impossible I found out later on. I also checked out of curiosity what it would cost if you would buy it all new, this would be around €2500. Not an option for my financial situation, to put it mildly ;). So, after some searching on the net I found some people who painted their seats with leatherpaint with pretty good results and a good price – quality. So I painted the interior black for approximately €40:

I guess he likes brown

First some repairs and clean everything thoroughly. My seats are in good condition so no heavy tears or worn out cushions, perfect to be painted.

Then the paint. It dries pretty quickly.

The seat support and brackets are powedercoated and all nuts, bolts and seat rails are nickle-plated so all shiny new now. I’m assembling the seats as we speak. Well, not now as I am typing these words, but previously ehh, well, you know what I mean.

I had to tap the threads of the 5/16 nuts in the seat bottom base, which were accidentally powdercoated, and gluing the covers on the bum frame.

Next job will be to paint the interior panels, but first I have to replace the wooden panels with some waterproof ones and then I can paint the panels.

Also the dashboard is finished. I was a bit in doubt if I would repad the whole thing, but this was not necessary. There where only 2 small cracks which I repaired (stop-drilled, filled up and painted) so I decided not to repad it. A repaired and painted fresh almost new dash (the holes will be covered by the radio):

And cleaned up the rear axle and applied the first three layers of paint (1st & 2nd RX5, 3rd 50% RX5 – 50% RX10, next layer 5% RX5 – 95% RX10):

And cleaning out the interior radiator, lots of sludge came out! The thing looks overall very good, possibly I’ll send it to a radiator shop for a check up.

And after some polishing (still have to finish it)

And all the bolts, nuts and brackets are nickle plated, looks very good! The only setback is that all this stuff is in 1 box now, and I have to find out where all these bolts and nuts came from LOL ;). So lots of work to do! Luckily I made loads of pictures.

My girlfriend and cat helping me out 😉