Pictures of the 1979-80 Restoration
The History of My 1800, #13797
I found this Volvo 1800S in Chicago Heights, IL on Halloween weekend, 2001. It was purchased by the previous owner, John Kotes, as a restoration project in 1979. Prior to this car, he had rebuilt several Volvo 140s, but this was his first 1800. He started by rebuilding the engine, then removed the interior, stripped the body and repaired the rust. After reinstalling the engine, he repainted the car. He never finished reinstalling the trim or interior, never drove the car apart from the lot at the paint shop, and stored the car away for 20 years. After he passed away, I bought the car from his son. It was missing the passenger seat, and some miscelleneous bits, but had several extra sets of bumpers and such.
The original chassis number is 13797, which means it was the 13797th 1800 produced (they started making them in 1962). According to the other letter codes, the original color was light blue, but by 1979, it was already an orangish red, and was then repainted cherry red. You can see the older blue paint in the photos where the car is stripped down before the bodywork. In the last photo, you can see the previous owner, John.