The XC70 Surf Rescue is one of the hottest to come out of watching the bay since... well... Baywatch.

Volvos race, believe it or not, and whether it's a gravity racer or a V8-powered Volvo they're always quixotic and wonderful.

Volvos make for great hot rods. Don't ask us why, they just do.

Most importantly, Volvos make being safe sexy. Someone, please, send us a mint 144 for Christmas.

Don't get us wrong, the two Swedish companies won't officially be working together to build the new Volvo P1800, but their engineering know-how will be in full effect. Vöx has approached Swedish design firm Vizualtech to handle the styling elements of the newly proposed one-off car which, as you can see above, is fairly faithful to the original 1960s design. When viewed next to a classic P1800, you'll first notice that Vizualtech has designed in larger wheel openings to accommodate larger wheels and they've also added 70mm to the front of the car to help fit the proposed powertrain.

Taking cues from his previous 1967 Volvo Amazon station wagon SEMA build, Vöx will supply the new P1800 with a tuned and turbocharged 600-horsepower V8 lifted from a Volvo XC90 SUV mated to a six-speed manual transmission.

We're excited to see this project come to fruition and desperately hope that it isn't just some Swedish meatball pipe dream as so many of these types of projects turn out to be. [autoblog.nl via motorauthority]

Actually, we're going to the Czech Republic, which is where this 1967 Volvo P1800S lives. It's a restomodded machine, the product of "2,374 work hours," and it's pretty impressive. Some might disagree with the choice of wheels, and that Svaroski crystal gearshift knob is the kind of thing Manny, Moe, and/or Jack would have put on their personal rides after hitting the big time, but that stuff can be undone. What can't be undone is the giant bite this car will take out of your bankroll; add in shipping cost from the CR and you're looking at one of the most expensive Volvos out there. Worth $69,900? You decide! Thanks to KaptKaos for the tip.
[eBay Motors]

When a car's styling was created by a couple of guys named Sergio Coggiola and Gunnar Sjögren, you know it's serious. Yes, there's nothing quite like a Saab Sonett III, with its lever-operated pop-up headlights, V4 engine, and fiberglass body, and you'd be rollin' like Odin himself behind the wheel of this '74 Sonett. Well, Odin could probably afford a Sonett that actually ran, but you get the idea. We'll take the most relevant statement about this car right from the seller's own randomly capslocked keyboard: "CAR IS COMPETE, DAS NOT RUN." But hey, at least with a fiberglass body, you don't need to worry about body rot. Floor rot, sure, but whaddya want for $1200? Since any V4 engine scores pretty high on the Engine Rad-O-Meter™, we wouldn't recommend swapping in something else, but there's no rule says a man can't force geological-scale boost pressure into a V4, is there?

You're in the mood for some sporty Swedish steel, all right, but what if you need a car that can haul your black metal band's amps to the gig? The Sonett just doesn't have the load capacity, but this '73 Volvo 1800ES Sport Wagon sure does! Faster than you can rasp out "Þat mundi mitt ráð vera, at vit flýðim undan á skóg," you'll be wailing through the haunted birch forest in your spiffy new wagon. Well, maybe not that fast, because this car needs some work. First of all, it's been sitting since the Berlin Wall was still standing (with a full tank of gas), so you'll need to completely replace do some work on the fuel system. When you're done with that you can replace all the seals in the automatic, then get started on, well, every single component that ever touched fluid or moved electrons. Then some bodywork and... you'll just be getting warmed up! Come on, though, it's a 2-door Swedish station wagon!

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As many old cars as there are on the streets of Alameda, the imports can be hard to find. It was nice to spot this solid P1800 right in my neighborhood.

Volvo has a (well-deserved) rep for building cars that are on the unexciting side. Solid and stolid, they are. But hey, here's a Volvo with fins!

Never mind that the fins came 10 years after the rest of the world had become tired of them. It probably caused the designers actual physical pain to create something so... frivolous.

You want manly? Check out what the Volvo logo used to look like! Back in the day, Volvo was more explicit about their use of the symbol for Mars (and man) in their logo. You'd think they'd have gone with some sort of heavily armored Viking, to suggest Scandihoovian solidity and stoicism.

Anyway, I've always liked these cars, so it's good to see a clean original one still surviving on the street.

The fuel filler door (which is what I assume we're looking at here) is a sporty detail, though the location is sure to result in gas spills on the paint.

The P1800 wasn't very fast, with just 118 Swedish ponies under the hood. But still, it could hold its own against the likes of MGBs and such. Speaking of MGBs, the P1800 came with the same godawful SU carbs as the B engine, which always seemed strange. You have the world to choose from when shopping for your new design's carbs and yet you get the funky SU with its goofy oil-damped piston and chronic sunk floats? What this engine really needs is a turbocharged Megasquirt setup, anyway.

But no matter. This car has some slick- if nerdy- design, and that's enough. – Murilee Martin

Svenska Volvo P1800 Klubben [volvop1800club.se]

Related:
Down On The Street: 1966 Volvo Amazon; Ad Watch: Volvo P1800 Stars in Lollypop Spot [internal]

We sure hadn't pegged the venerable Volvo P1800 has the choice of pompadour-coiffed, misogynistic douchebags more interested in lollypops than the charms of a gorgeous blond straight out of Swedish central casting. But there you go. [Thanks to David for the tip.]

Related:
More Ad Watch [internal]