In researching the Volvo company’s history, I learned that it has had many partners, joint ventures and owners over the years (I counted 15) but that there never was a Mr. Volvo.
Volvo was established in 1915 as a subsidiary of a Swedish company called SKF, a ball bearing manufacturer, and the original plan was to use the Volvo name for a new series of ball bearings for the American market. In Latin, volvo means “I roll.”
The closest thing to having a Mr. Volvo were two SKF executives, Gustav Larson, an engineer, and Assar Gabrielsson, the sales manager, who are credited with the first Volvo car in 1927, the Volvo OV4 (“OV” is an abbreviation for “oppen vagn” — “open car”). The emphasis then and for the future was on safety but also on cars that could handle the challenging Swedish climate and terrain. Volvo invented the three-point seat belt that is used on all vehicles now and the first rear-facing child seat.
Back in 1944, the Volvo PV444 was introduced, but wasn’t manufactured until after World War II in 1947. It was the smallest Volvo model ever produced and was a very successful model using most of the Volvo production.
It was the model that brought Volvo to America in 1955. Leo Hirsh, a hardware wholesaler, began distributing Volvo cars first in California, then Texas the following year. The Volvo company saw what was happening and began to export cars to North America, which has since become their biggest market.
This issue’s featured car is the PV544, the successor to the PV444. The models are almost identical and are two-door “saloon” cars that, to me, look very much like a considerably smaller 1942-48 Ford two-door sedan.
Originally there were two four-cyclinder engines available, a 1,414-cubic-centimenter or a 1,583-cc engine with a horsepower rating of 40 or 85. The engine was teamed with a floor-mounted three-speed manual transmission, and the car sat on an approximately 102-inch wheel base.
In 1958, the updated PV544 added a floor-mounted four-speed manual transmission and an overhead-valve 1,583-cc engine with horsepower increased to 95. Volvo cranked out a grand total of 439,995 PV444 and PV544 cars in 18 years, from 1947 through 1965.
“In 1978, when I was 23 years old (you can do the math), I purchased my first car. It was a 1963 PV544 Volvo,” said Piedmont resident Ted Leyhe, the current owner of this issue’s featured car. “I always loved the lines on that car. I paid $900.”
But the car didn’t look like it does today.
“The car was three different colors because the fenders and hood were from a junk yard after a repair. The car had Arizona plates on it, and when I was doing some of my own body work, I found a sticker from a used car lot in Long Island.”
Leyhe and a friend did some Bondo (automotive body filler) work and sanded the car to get it ready for repainting at a Miracle Auto Painting location. “Miracle was $100, which was a splurge because (competitor) Earl Scheib’s would give you a paint job for $39.95.”
About 10 years ago Leyhe saw a man with a beautifully restored Volkswagen convertible and asked about the car reconditioning. He learned about Rolando Medina, of Vallejo.
“I took the car to Vallejo,” he said. “Rolando walked around it for about five minutes and then stated, ‘$2,200 and you buy the paint and materials.’ ”
It was there for about six months, but “he completely took the car apart and properly painted it,” Leyhe said. “The mistake I made was that it wasn’t a California car. In other words, there was some rust. If you’re going to go to that much trouble, you don’t want a car that has rust.”
The owner estimates he has probably $6,000 invested in his Volvo, which probably has a current market value between $15,000 and $20,000.
Leyhe is not a car collector but said he loves his Volvo.
“I kind of feel the same way about my car as Roy Rogers feels about Trigger. The car has made it through three girlfriends, a wife and a couple of kids. It’s a real fresh pleasure to take a spin in it.”
Have an interesting vehicle? Email Dave at MOBopoly@yahoo.com. To read more of his columns or see more photos of this and other issues’ vehicles, visit mercurynews.com/author/david-krumboltz.
