First let me say I have no personal grudges against Hondas or Fords both are fine vehicles but there are so many Preludes and Mustangs out there that I felt the need to stand out a bit, instead of just owning another car I wanted something unique.

Queue Volvo.

This for all of you who think is a radically customized 46-48 Ford, well it isn�t it is a 1964 Volvo PV-544 D Sport. I figured that for a project car this had it all, potential, parts availability, and classic cool. Volvo started construction and design on its predecessor the PV-444 back in �43, and began production in �47. The cars were finally shipped to North America in �56. Volvo then redesigned and updated the 444 to come up with its replacement in August of �58.
The 544 had bigger brakes, safety glass, larger taillights and a more powerful engine.

This is what�s left of the 1.8 liter the car came with, its seized beyond all hope. In its prime it had 8.5:1 compression ratio and made a whopping 90 horsepower and 105 ft-lbs of torque, but in it�s place I�m putting a 2 liter out of a �74 �brick� station wagon along with the overdrive system. The new motor should have about 110 horse, later when money becomes available I�m planning to get rid of the dual S.U. carbs for a single Edelbrock and then a put on a header, I already have a slightly tuned head for it.
Right now the exhaust on the car is a cobbled together cherry bomb and industrial dryer vent pipe (don�t look at me, it was like that when I got it) that exits out under the passenger door. I want to put a Borla system or something like that on it, which should give it a healthy sound and not hinder performance. But what it has right now will due for the immediate future.

The interior is all there but that�s about all I can say for it, the seats don�t match and both have seen better days, the head liner has got rat holes in it and has fallen off almost all of it�s supports. The only prime pieces in the car are the back seat and rear arm rests, real helpful for backseat drivers, but not so much for me. I have the floor mats and other interior bits, just not in the car at the moment.

One thing I found interesting on this car was even back then Volvo meant safety, shatter proof glass, a safety steering wheel and other little things all designed to keep you alive in the event of an accident, the most interesting of these are the seat belts. Huge heavy chunks of steel that lock onto an eyehook on the transmission tunnel, primitive but very effective. Try finding stock lap and shoulder belts on an American car from that period; it wasn�t till �66 they started putting in lap belts only.