A different restoration
Translation of the article "En annorlunda renovering" in the PV-Entusiasten # 4
2000.
By Tomas Gustafsson
My father had a small auto repair shop when I was a child. Among my
first memories of cars is his shining maroon red 1953 PV 444 . This
was also the first car I ever drove.
The car was bought new from a car dealer in Ljungby in the spring of
1960. During the jolly sixties everything should be new and a few years
later it was time to change car. A used 1960 PV 544 was for sale at
the local Volvo dealer. The salesman, who of course wanted to sell,
offered 50 Swedish kronor for the trade-in car. My father, who had
been a car repairman, did not think the offer was too generous. In
addition there were no major defects on the car. A cracked
windscreen on the passenger side was clearly visible though. This
was the result of my first attempts to drive a car.
At that time it was not so common to remove the ignition key from the
car to prevent theft. So it was left en the car in a beautiful summers
day in 1965 when I had gone with my father to the workshop. I did not
want to be any worse that the other guys. The car was parked a few
meters from a house wall. From the passenger side I started the car. It
ran into the wall and I hit my head into the windscreen.
The salesman wanted to pay 50 Swedish kronor for the car, but on the
other hand he could give a discount of the same amount should he not
have to take care of the old car. Since there was a storage shed
available my father accepted the rebate.
The car was sitting in the garage for many years. In the beginning of
the 80:s the engine and gearbox was taken out of the car and at the
same time the front fenders were removed. The engine was sent away
for renovation.
When the engine came back after crankshaft grinding and rebore the
cost for the restoration was SEK 3750. However this only included
one piston and soon came another bill of SEK 750. The restored
engine was put in a warm garage and preserved.
A couple of years ago the property where the workshop had been was
sold and it became necessary to remove the car. The sight of a car
that had not been washed or waxed for 20 years was maybe not too
encouraging. It looked miserable.
However the car was taken to my parent's villa garage and the whole
body was (surface) grinded till the sheet metal was clean.
Encouragingly there were no major rust damages. The car had had a
repeated anti rust treatment while in use.
After the lacquer had been ground off, the car was sent away for
painting and during the spring it came home shining with new paint.
This is definitely a different restoration strategy. There has been no
hurry. The project has lowest priority. Only components that have been
sent for restoration have been removed. This means that all
components were restored when the painting was started. The only
part that remains is to find new cloth for the interior.
The assembling has begun and will be completed shortly. The fifty
kronor car has been given a new life and it is just as well as when it left
the factory almost half a century ago.
Translation by Dan Jansson. Thanks to Mark Hershoren for assistance
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