I have, and currently use as a daily driver a 1964 Volvo PV544 Sedan.

The basic car design is from about 1953, when Volvo began exporting these cars to the U.S. In 1958 Volvo stopped production of the model 444 sedan and started shipping the model PV544. These two cars look very much the same (especially when they pass you on the road) but you can easily tell the PV444 because it has a two-piece windshield of flat glass whereas the PV544 has a one-piece windshield of curved glass.

There are a lot of Vintage Volvo sites on the Internet, so there's no reason to repeat all that information here.

Volvo decided that racing would enhance their cars' image and help sell of them. Instead of going into track racing like Sebring or Willow Springs, they built Rally cars and raced them. The tough little cars were amazingly adept,. and the marque was named as 'World Champion' several times in the early 1960's. Although the cars had little horsepower by today's standards, the light weight, economy, and nimble handling was just the thing European drivers were looking for. In fact, the letters 'PV' stand for the term 'Personwagen', which is 'Peoples' Car'. Oddly enough, that's exactly what the Germans term 'Volkswagen' stands for.

If you have a Volvo or are just interested in them, try the website 'brickboard.com'

My personal Volvo page (featuring my 1964 Volvo PV544) can be found at www.geocities.com/steve_sms/volvo

I can't claim to be the highest authority on these cars, but I have raced them in the 1970's and I've also fixed or replaced just about every part on my own car.

NOTE: I recently inherited my father's 1965 Volvo P1800s, which he bought new.

If you have questions, please feel free to post them. I check in here every few days.

Steve in California
(Near Death Valley)
1964 Volvo PV544
1965 Volvo P1800s
1967 Fiat Abarth 100-OT
etc. etc. etc.