Safety Orange: ’73 Volvo 1800ES

We are big fans of these longroof 1800s. It’s an acquired taste at least for us. You couldn’t get us interested in one of these 20 years ago. But the styling has matured like a fine wine. Volvo designers seem to think so too as they try to incorporate many of the styling cues from the 1800 into their future plans. Thankfully this one is not an automatic but a nice 4-speed with overdrive. This one is at one of our favorite sellers and it could be the nicest late-model 1800 we’ve ever featured. The orange paint, now quite sporty, was originally meant to enhance the safety of the 1800. Actually all of the Volvos from this era were painted in safety colors. The seller tells us most of that safety orange was pretty effective because it is mostly original. The folks at California Classix must follow Hagerty’s Valuation Guide. They have this one priced almost exactly at a Condition 2 example. From the looks of things it’s that or perhaps a minus. We won’t know until someone has a look and reports back. But if you ever wanted one, this might be it. Click here for the website.