Leons Volvo – 1949 445 – VOLVEETA

After being converted to electric many years ago (before I got it) and then back again to gas there are a ton of little holes in the firewall. I’m going to weld them up and sand them down today.

NEW FLOORS! Back at it –

Disc brake conversion is now moving ahead. I just got discs with hubs from ebay. Back when I first started this rebuild I had found adaptors, calipers and discs somewhere – I think it was ebay but don’t rmember from whom and it’s been so long it was off my history. So I need hubs. I found the ones I just bought that were one piece – discs and hubs.

Mounted the rear end and springs, putting the front end together with help from a future car lover.

Bob Tescione was in the MG Car Club and had a Volvo Duet Wagon I saw the first time after joining the club and liked the style and flow of it. I asked but he wouldn’t sell it so I kept my eye out for one for sale at a reasonable price. There aren’t that many around and fewer for sale.

I was browsing the net one night and found an ad for this one. I contacted the owner – he didn’t know it was on the net – it was still early and people were just starting to use the net more. He had placed an ad in his local paper. The net was new enough – a time when newspapers were trying to figure out how they deal with this new information source – the newspaper he used posted all their ad’s on the net.

His name was Keoke Skinner. He owned a Juice Bar in Douglas, AZ, he lived in Agua Prieta, Mexico and used the Volvo to ride back and forth. Said he and a friend converted it to electric because he would often have to wait at the border while going to the bar.

I asked if he had pictures but he said no, and didn’t have a camera. I sent him a Kodak disposable and he took pictures and returned the camera. I had them developed and called him and purchased the Volvo. I then made arrangements to have it shipped to me. Cost $900 to ship by McNutt Auto Transport –  which I tought was very reasonable.

He had said his kids called the car VOLVEETA – I thought that was cool so I’ve got the New York plates – VOLVEETA.

When I had it painted the first time I took a bunch of colors and printed them out. I brought the samples to a MG Car Club meeting and had everyone vote on what color I should paint it. Most of the men just ignored it but the women at the meeting through it was a good idea.

As you can see the blue color got the most votes.  I figured OK, looks good. One of the things I noticed driving my MGB (https://leonsmgb.com) around was that young boys especially noticed it and would wave. Finally dawned on me that it looked like a familiar MatchBox car. While driving Volveeta I noticed that woman would often stop and look and wave. Hmm I thought.

So I’m going on a ride to pick Barbara up in New Hampshire shortly after getting Volveeta on the road and after getting Barbara I tell her that I noticed women often stop and look and wave. Of course she tells me I’m wacked. Until after a few hours of driving she says – You’re right, women are looking at us and even waving! We thought it very odd.

So after picking her up we went to my daughters in MA. We pull in her driveway and she comes out and says “Wow – you painted it Tiffany Blue!” – mystery solved.