Sure enough – there are Volvo PV´s in the USA!  
Translation of the story "Visst finns det PV i USA" in PV-Entusiasten # 4 1999, page 8.

In the spring of 1988 I visited the USA. After that trip I reported in the PV-Entusiasten that I´d seen cars that looked a bit like a Volvo PV but that was all. Not a PV in sight and I did not even meet anyone who had seen such an old Volvo.
By Dan Jansson
This fall, it was time for a new visit with my relatives in Michigan. This time I knew better regarding old Volvo automobiles in the U.S. During the last couple of years I have been corresponding by e-mail with Mark Hershoren, a real enthusiast for old Volvo cars.
Mark and his wife Deb live outside Traverse City, which is about one hour’s drive from where my relatives live. A visit with Mark was therefore included in my travel plans.

We went north on US 31, passing Traverse City and after a while we begun looking for Coleman Road.
The directions were correct.
Here it is.
No doubt we had come to the right place. Outside a big garage there were all kinds of Volvo cars (together with one or two SAABs)

Born in a Volvo environment
Mark Hershoren was literally born to become a Volvo enthusiast, despite the fact that he spent his childhood on the out-skirts of the "Motor City": Detroit, where completely different cars were being produced.
When he was a little boy his father bought a 1958 Volvo PV 444 and his first car was a 1961 P1800.
Since then Mark has been a real fanatic of Volvo cars and has owned almost all models that have been produced from 1956, when the importation of Volvos to the US started, up through the 240 series. He has probably owned more than 50 Volvos. At our visit there were some 18 Volvos of different models and in varying conditions in and outside the big garage by the house on the countryside outside Traverse City where Mark and his wife Deb, who is also a Volvo enthusiast, live. They are right now remodeling their house so the activities in the garage have been rather limited during the last three years.
During the sunset we went around the yard looking at the cars. Some were far beyond the hope of restoration and served mostly as spares supply. Some others might hit the road again – hard to say when though.

Adventurous PV transportation
In the garage was a California White 1957 PV 44408. This car Mark brought back from Saint Ignace, north of Straits of Mackinac that divides the State of Michgan into two peninsulas.

"A fellow named Scott Schlehuber called me at the Volvo parts counter I
was then working at and inquired to the availability of certain parts, says Mark. He had recently found the car in a field and bought it thinking he might make a "street-rod" out of it About a week later he called back and said he had decided that the project was much bigger than he wanted to tackle and suggested I should buy the car. I declined, figuring he would want more money than I had available.
He countered that a very small "token sum" ($50.00) would be enough. I
rented a towing dolly (have you seen them? Sort of a short trailer that
carries the front wheels of the car you want to tow) and headed north and crossed the Mackinac Bridge to reach the town of Saint Ignace.

Pushing the car out of the garage, it became obvious that the rear coil springs had collapsed. After lashing the front wheels of the 444 to the dolly, it was also obvious that the gas tank would likely come into contact with the pavement.
We unloaded it and turned around, loading the rear wheels on to the
dolly. I tied off the steering wheel to the door to keep the front wheels
straight and we departed for home.

I only had about 4 miles to get used to the feel of the load and determine that everything was correct before crossing the bridge. The 1970 145S did not seem to be offended by the job it had been given. The Toll-booth appeared in the distance and it occured to me that they may not let me take the load across if it did not look safe to them. The toll was based on the number of axles on my vehicle and the lady in the booth counted four and requested the fee, wishing me a safe crossing.

It was a very tense but also very uneventful passage over the Mighty Mac and in about 7 minutes we were on solid ground again.

Coming into the town of Petoskey I was aware that I was being followed by a Police car. This did not contribute to my comfort but while we were clearly being followed, we weren't being ordered to stop. Five minutes later as we left the city limits, the Cop passed us and waved as he moved on.
Nothing else of note on the remainder of the trip. The engine was found to be a good runner and was sold to someone on Elk Lake who needed a replacement to power a small Danish Day cruise boat."
Now the car is in Marks garage waiting for better times to come.

Old love
Mark has one PV in driveable condition. It is a 1965 PV 544that he laid eyes on for the first time when he was about 13 years old.
He only saw it once in a while and was curious about it since they
had become quite rare. One day while riding his bicycle, the car drove
past and he took off in pursuit. Several blocks later the car arrived
at it's destination and Mark caught up with it. He handed the woman driving a slip of paper with his name and phone number, saying between breaths that he would like to buy the car if she ever decided to sell.

Four or five years later, Mark went on a date with a girl and another couple, to the Henry Ford Museum. The annual show called "Sports Cars in Review" was on. He had long since forgotten the car he had chased when he was younger, but on display at the show was a very nice white 1963 544.

When he got home from the date, his mother handed him a message from a "Mr. and Mrs. Clayborn" who had saved the note with his phone number from five years ago and they had decided to sell the white 1965 544. They had actually told Mark´s mother the asking price, no doubt because they were really eager to sell: $250.00.

The very cheap asking price made Mark fearfull that the car had sustained some serious damage as most desirible cars of the day were going for at least twice that price. He made arrangements to inspect the car and found it just as he remembered. The Clayborns set the low price because they knew Mark was likely to be able to afford the small amount and they felt he would be able to give the car a good home.

Mark drove it daily for about two years and started to see signs of rust problems. A 1967 144S was bought and made the "daily driver" and the 544 was taken off the road and dissassembled to repair the rust.

Mark reassembled the car after the body work was complete, only to the point that the car was driveable. There was still plenty of trim waiting to be reinstalled. Meanwhile, there was the challenge of keeping the other car he was driving for daily use, on the road, plus the expense of paying rent, buying food, entertaining a girlfriend, etc.
The 544 took a backseat to all this and sat quietly in storage for almost 15 years, until 1998 when it re-emerged.

The car was re-engined with a B20 that Mark had built for another car which he´d just retired. The goal was to get the car ready in time for the Vintage Volvo Grand Prix event held at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
Unfortunately, he didn't start working on the project until about one and a half months before the event so it wasn't ready until the night before the morning they were to leave on the journey to this race. The project got a bit tense towards the end, but with the help of Michael Schultz, the car was made ready and gave no trouble there or back. It even spent some time on the track in the company of other old Volvos and some racing cars of various makes.


Nice visit
It was a late night with Mark and Deb. There were a lot things to look at and to talk about. We were invited to a fine tasting home cooked dinner and it was almost midnight before we went south again.
Now I know for sure there are both PV:s and Duetts in the USA.
And real PV enthusiasts.

By Dan Jansson

One of Mark Hershoren´s cars is a really rare one – a Volvo PV 445 estate from 1956. This was the first year when Volvo was exporting a significant number of cars to the USA. Most of the cars that were shipped were PV 444. But there was also a small number of PV 445 crossing the Atlantic. That only few of these remain is not a hard guess.
His car is equipped with a B14A engine, which means that this is an original US market car. There were no cars with this type of engine sold in Sweden. The interior is also different than what was offered on the Swedish market.
The special type designation for US market cars, PV 44508, was not introduced at this time. Marks car is designated PV 44507.

Mark bought the Duett from a fellow named Jesse Fox that had directed him to his first Duett, a 1958. Several years later, he called to see if Mark was still looking for a Duett. Since he had sold the ´58, he was interested in Jesse´s ´56.
The car had some severe rust-through on the left front upper spring perch. Mark repaired it with a PV 444 front crossmember since he couldn't obtain one for a PV 445.

Jesse Fox had been going for a ride in the country when he happened to see the Duett, some people, and a set of Oxygen and Actylene tanks with a cutting torch. He stopped and asked what they where planning to do and they said that they planned to cut the car down and make a dunebuggy out of it. Jesse offered to buy it on the spot and they accepted.
He drove to work daily for several years until the early 1980's when the front spring broke through the crossmember. Since he had other PV's and Duetts, he called to see if Mark might like to buy it.

The car is in rather bad condition, and the restoration job will be pretty extensive. One of the major problems of course will be spares, especially body panels. There is a lot of rust in the body.
Spare panels for the Duett are nowadays both hard and expensive to find even in Sweden and it is surely not easier when you are in the USA. Mark has many contacts inside and outside the US, as he is responsible for the Foreign Affairs Desk of the web zine Volvo Classics Interactive Magazine .
Let us hope he will succeed , because it would be a pity if the rare car would cease to exist.