Keith Martin has been involved with the collector car hobby for more than 40 years, and is the founder and publisher of this magazine. Keith has also written for the New York Times, Automobile, AutoWeek, Road & Track and other publications, has been an emcee for numerous concours, and had his own show, “What’s My Car Worth,” shown on Velocity. He has received many honors, including the Lee Iacocca Award, the Edward Herrmann Award, was inducted into the Concorso Italiano Hall of Fame, and more. He has served on the board of directors of The LeMay Museum and Oregon Ballet Theater, and was formerly the chair of the board of the Meguiar’s Award. Learn more about Keith here.
The last step in refurbishing our 1973 Volvo 1800ES was to be a simple one: a minor tune at Harold’s Auto Service, in order to remedy a slight misfire. The news that came back wasn’t so simple—two cam lobes were nearly gone. Hoping for the best, I had Wayne Atkinson pull the head for an inspection. I burned some incense at the old car temple we have set up in the office and prayed that the car would be back on the road with a simple valve job and cam and lifter replacement. It wasn’t going to happen that way.
The front cam bearing was badly galled, and the cylinder bores had degraded due to shredded bits of cam metal filtering down through them.
My problem is not uncommon. When zinc was removed from motor oil in the early ’80s due to an EPA mandate, there simply wasn’t enough lubrication for old engines. That problem has now been remedied by modern “high mileage” oils and additives, but the 1800ES had covered 125,000 miles, and the engine had never been apart. After Wayne pulled the block, we bundled it up and set it over to the nearby Napa shop, where Gary had just finished another Volvo engine. (He said, “I remember you—you were blowing up Alfa engines I had to fix 25 years ago.” Some things never change.)
I’ll have the engine balanced “while I’m in there,” along with updating as many new parts as necessary. If I’m lucky, it will be less than $4,000 total, in and out. I also sent the carcass to Europa Auto Body to have the engine bay steam-cleaned and detailed.
If it’s any consolation to me or my pocketbook, it’s taken 39 years and bad oil to get the Volvo engine to this state. At this rate, it should be at least 2051 before it needs to be done again! To extend the lifespan of your car’s engine, be sure to have it serviced regularly by an auto repair mechanic.
In hindsight, there was no way we could have discovered this problem without having a leakdown test done. The compression was terrific, at 160 pounds across all four. The engine sounded good, pulled well enough and had terrific oil pressure. And I’m sure the seller wasn’t aware of it – he owned the car for 35 years and had all his maintenance records in a big file.
Sometimes you do the best you can, and then just roll the dice. Will I be buried in the car when it is finished? I wouldn’t be surprised if we hit the $20,000 mark before I’m done with it, about $5,000 above where the current market is. If I didn’t have to do the engine, I’d be fine.
I figure 45 days from now, Snow White’s Coffin will be back on the road. Watch this space for a report.
