In the PV-Entusiasten # 2 2000 Thomas Andreasson wrote an article about myat that time newly finished PV544, rebuilt as a rally car from the 60s.
When the article was written the car had not yet been inspected. This was done in May and I could drive the car to the Summer Meet in Rättvik as planned.
During the summer the car ran about 4000 kilometers without any problems. Beides the trip to Rättvik we went to Gothenburg and VROM. That trip proved the car was able to keep up a good pace on the highway.
Later that autumn the PV was sold for different reasons. It's new home is in a small town in Belgium.
The buyer, Guy Vermant, is not unknown i Volvo circles. Since a couple of years he is a member of our club and has some old Volvo cars besides his daily work as a Volvo dealer. You could fear that a car dealer bought the car to earn some money from it, but this was not the case. Guy was looking for an old Volvo that he could use in historical rallies. He had been thinking of a P1800, but thought the PV would suit better. Said and done!
In October of 2000 the car was transported on a truck to its new home in Belgium.

Preparation
The plans for the car included the Dutch Tulip Rally in May of 2001. During the winter Guy prepared the car.
First the car was registered in Belgium. It was given the license number OGV001, a personal license where O stands for Old-timer and GV are the initials of Guys name.
The original low seats were exchanged for chairs with headrest and the Halda Tripmaster was complemented with a Halda Speed Pilot. The car also had to have a FIVA identity card. It is a rather complicated thing to get, but it is necessary to be allowed to start in historical rallies.
Before the rally started there was also a technical check of the vehicle. Certain requirements have to be fulfilled before being allowed to start.

Start in Noordwijk
On Monday May 14 the rally started at Noordwijk in Holland. The interest in the rally and other similar competitions is great abroad. This is proofed by the fact that some 200 vehicles entered the Tulip Rally this year. The competition has three classes, Vintage, Sport and Touring. Guy and his co driver Johan Nieuwenhuizen entered the touring class, which is the slower of the classes. Some of the participants name it the comfortable class. The rally distance is 3500 kilometers and is run on public roads, but with very little traffic, in Holland, France and Germany. This is not a speed event. The average speed is between 40 and 50 km/h, but Gay affirms that he sometimes had to press the accelerator pedal to keep that speed.

Tough rally
At the start the co driver discovered that the Speed Pilot did not work. They had to rely on the Trip Master that was in the car. The first day was uneventful. During the second day, that was very tuff, there was a problem with the clutch. It was a bit tricky, but the managed to drive on. Even the Trip Master started to malfunction. Suddenly it could only be run backwards. But the crew was adjusted to that and managed to use it.
The rally was tougher than the crew had expected. They drove 12-14 hours per day. 50 % was on dirt roads. Despite the demanding conditions the car ran perfectly during the whole rally and no repair was necessary. Many other drivers were repairing their cars outside hotels in the evenings to be able to drive the next day but the green VP did not need that. Guy says that especially the British cars had problems and that their oil consumption was rather high. the B18 engine only needed half a liter of oil during the whole rally.
One thing Guy was not content with was the fuel tank capacity of only 35 liters. There is a so-called "dummy" in the car, a false 70 liter tank. At one occasion they got lost in the woods with almost empty tank. When they found their way again and came to a filling station they managed to fill 33 liters!
So they were close to fuel exhaustion.
With this in mind, Guy is planning to install a larger fuel tank before next years rally.

Finish on Saturday
On Saturday May 17 they finished as # 44 in the touring class. 57 cars in that class completed the rally. The result is not that important, they were most of all content for having made the whole distance with no damage to the car. It was very dirty but without dents. On Sunday they went home. On Monday the car had its first damage when Guy impacted with the garage door. How unlucky! The damage was quickly repaired and during the summer the car has rested. During autumn Guy plans to participate in some smaller competitions with the car. So it will continue to be used the way it was built for.
That feels good to the builder.