Volvo Club of America National Meet 2024

 The ultimate Volvo geek fest was hosted this year by the Volvo Club of Maine at the Poland Springs Resort on the weekend of September 21 . Lots of folks made it from far and wide across the country . Here are some of my photos .

The PV lineup was the smallest class group

Allan Wheeler's red one next to mine and the white one from Vermont

A beautiful green one that is locally based

With a really nice interior

Dave Moore's PV444 that he bought when he was sixteen years old and restored immaculately

With the smaller B16 engine

Perfect interior for a twenty year old restoration

Amazing job for a sixteen year old kid

Five PVs and two P210 Duetts made up our class

The 122 line up

Mini Lite wheels make it pop despite the blemishes

Carl Helmetag's 122 that he rallied from Lima Peru to Tierra Del Fuego Argentina last year as well as the Rally The Globe - Alaska to Cabo San Lucas Baja California in 2023 .

So many beautiful restorations.

A sweet 122 four door

This 122 that came all the way from California.

 A lifted 240 wagon with the locker on the Dana 30 dif out of NY state

MacKeever Coates and Brian came from Charleston South Carolina in their lifted 740 wagon. 

Terry Sturtevant was there with his spectacular 162 creation . Volvo never made a two door variant of the six cylinder 164. Terry accomplished this by mating the roof , B pillar and front of rear quarters from a 142 to the 164. And he did a really nice job of it.

 For comparison here is the original 164 I believe this was Seth Wetherington's

The 140 lineup

Paula Hogan's blue 71

Dave Burnham's hot-rod 142 took second place in the 140 class

With its highly modified race engine and very clean engine bay. Dave supplied the engine in dad's PV

James Riordan's 142

This well preserved 1973 unmodified 144 took first place in class

It was near impossible to meet all the participants as there were one hundred twenty eight cars and around two hundred participants .

Our chapter president, Joe Kendal's 142 won third place

Thomas Broome modified the fender on his wagon when the wheel parted company while under way

With the Volvo Penta marine engine with the sixteen valve head and side draft Webbers

Another one of Tom's 240s

Maine VCOA member Collin Robinson's 1980s vintage 245  wagon. . .

With a factory diesel engine it is a bit unusual

And a rather rare 265 wagon that was only produced for a couple years. . 

With the factory PRV (Peugeot, Renault, Volvo) 140 hp V6 engine.

A pristine late model 240 wagon

With a very "blinged-up" engine bay

Andrew and Chrystal from MotoResto brought this 240 wagon project with a Chevy LS3 engine that they are putting together for a client.

A quite unusual mint 242 GL two door was there

The red 240 wagon

Three of only 344 yellow 850 T-5Rs , and two of only 49 wagons ever imported . Those are 245 hp turbos . The nearest wagon and the sedan belong to Mike Mack our club VP. There were a lot more newer late model front wheel drive Volvos, but I will  admit that they are all a blur to me .

 The P1800 class was probably the largest there with around twenty five examples.

P1800 as far as the eye could see

A very clean example used locally as a daily driver

Most of the class were truly in pristine condition

this one out of upstate NY

Simply too many to upload them all

Also present among the sponsor's section was Alan Prosser of Alan Auto on St John St in Portland with this exquisite P1900 number sixty eight, of sixty eight ever built.

Alan does some amazing restorations.

The P1900 IS the rarest off all Volvos

Alan also had his Volvo Laplander there

And his P210 Duett with the B21 engine . 

Alan saved my hide last Thursday afternoon when I was buffing my PV in a desperate attempt to get some color out of the faded paint and I discovered rust under the stainless trim strips . Many of the spring clips holding the trim on were in a sorry state , and he was able to provide a handful of them allowing me to repair the rust and reinstall the trim strips .

Dominic Borrelli , made it with his turbo 700 series that he was still trying to put back together on Saturday morning .

Sunday was capped off by a group caravan down to Portland Headlight where Dominic and I had the chance to play local host and talk for a spell with Bob Buick and Linda Gibson from Connecticut among several others . 

A Volvo 162 ? ? A two door 160 series Volvo ?

 Labor Day Hodgemans Custard Cruise in New Gloucester, Maine.

Got there around ten AM and parked next to Al Wheeler's red PV544 .

Then an hour later a 162 rolls in . . . . WTF a 162 ? ? But but but Volvo never made such a creature .

Well Terry Sturtevant from Mt Vernon Maine just got done building one and here is proof .

And look at that is has the early 140 tail lights and the six cylinder B30 engine .

 

 It's a '73 164 with a 142 roof , doors , b-pillars and front halves of rear quarters , early style bumpers , grille , door handles and taillights .

Yea its a Volvo geek-out thing .

And it just made my day .

Can't deport them ? . . . . then we gas them .

 

More evil critter carnage .

 

After I wrapped the bases of the fence posts in aluminum they simply went for the caps .

And as if that was not enough the bastards went for the PVC brick mold on the garage doors too .

So I borrowed mom's trap as my home made one was too small for much more than a chipmunks , but it seems gray number one managed to get himself caught .

Though its a better fit for reds . Number one is on his way .

As was red number two an hour later .

And chipmunk number nine .

Then I saw this around the back of the garage . Seems a woodchuck decided to make his new home under the slab .

So I cleared my junk out of the way , dug a trench and set my big trap so he had no choice but to go through it . But three days later still no joy . And then yesterday I found another spot further up where he had dug another hole under the slab .

So no more Mr nice guy. A couple glowing charcoal embers, an oily rag and my heat gun in a piece of duct to gas the bastard out .

All it got me was a melted heat gun . I pretty sure he was not home in either hole .

My big cage now available to continue with the deportations , gray number two goes for a ride today .

 I am fairly sure I know why Mr Woodchuck was digging under my garage . Seems the gay boys across the street decided to get rid off their old tool shed and he was looking for a new abode .

Even the 300K $ Lamborghini guys . . .

 . . . wanna hang with the old duffer with the cool Volvo .

Evil Critter Mayhem

  Seems the last two years we've had a bumper crop of tree rats .

That's this year's crop . There's at least five , possible six young ones in the nest in the maple tree in the front yard , in addition to the six from last year .

In addition to chewing on the lead flashing on the roof they seem to have developed a taste for PVC plastics . That's the conduit for the 220 volt line that goes underground to the garage under the deck . 

My solution was to wrap it in Bituthane / Ice and Water Shield in order to cover the holes they made and it seems the tree rats  don't care for the flavor or texture of rubber adhesive. 

Good enough . . .  for now .

Then this morning we spotted one chewing on the PVC sleeves over the wooden posts of the fence around an old house slab that is our back patio . 

So dissuasive measure is applied

On all posts .

Never had them before but red squirrels also seem to have made an appearance this year . The slinky trick was no obstacle for this little creep as he simply crawled up the pipe inside the slinky and made himself right at home on the bird feeder .

So I doubled up on the slinky and added a big dome in this case a repurposed aluminum disc sled from the 1970s . That seems to have done the trick . . .  for now . 

If this continues much longer more drastic measures may be in order .

So many tears today

 My ten dollar Pearl

11 / 6 / 2004  - 7 / 5 / 2024

We only had you for the last nine of those and they were not nearly long enough .