Collecting Diecast Model Cars NOREV Volvo 1800 ES Review

 February 25, 2023

#464

Gentle reader,

First of all, thank you so much for taking the time to read this article. When I decided to give blogging a try, I had no idea that anyone would actually read it. Let alone that so many of you would. And that some of you have become real friends with me!

My first encounter with a Volvo was a new friend (one of many who were) into foreign cars in the mid-1970's. He drove what is called an Amazon in some countries, I can't recall if it was a wagon or not. But, the front passenger seatbelt did not latch. Since we had been trained to ALWAYS wear a seatbelt, I was hesitant to go with him. Well, we did get in a minor accident, hitting the massive (5 MPH) rear bumper of a Ford Torino. That car suffered no damage, the grille of Chris' car was caved in, but he was able to straighten it out.

When, MANY years later, I learned about turbocharged Volvos, (even wagons with manual transmissions!) I was intrigued, but still did not buy one. Finally, in 2014, my wife said to me, "I would feel much more comfortable knowing that you are driving something from THIS century." At the time, I was driving this:

It is a 1990 Ford Capri XR2, which was made in Australia, designed in Italy, powered by Mazda and sold only in Oz and the US. In the US, it was sold as the Mercury XR2. That XR2 indicates that it is the turbocharged model.

I used the opportunity to test drive all kinds of cars, the first Volvo I tried was a V70 (wagon, "V" is for Versatile) with the T5 (five cylinder high-pressure turbocharged engine) with a five speed manual transmission. It was nice, but after driving the tiny Capri for six years, it seemed huge. That and the seller would not come down on the price. Eventually, the V50 T5 M66, seen above, popped up on Cars.com. One test drive and I was hooked. The T5 combined with the manual six-speed transmission makes for a torque monster. And, believe it or not, that unassuming looking wagon's tested top speed is 149 MPH!

If you read my previous article, The Robb Collections: Collecting Diecast Car Models Volvo V60 v V50 Size Comparison you saw that I have a number of nice 1:43rd scale Volvos, most wagons, plus a 1:24th scale C30. But, no 1:18th scale models.

That is, until yesterday, when the gorgeous NOREV Volvo 1800 ES model arrived. I found a US seller wanting only $89.99 for it. Quite a bargain, especially since (at that moment) he was the only US seller offering them on eBay.

Many have said, including myself, that the Volvo 1800 ES is one of THE most beautiful cars ever made. I would LOVE to own a real one.

Aside from it's utter beauty (look at all those tiny chrome pieces!), the details are superb. The only opening part is the glass hatchback. And that is OK because opening pieces, while cool, add complexity and they also make panel gaps wider.

Speaking of complexity, NOREV installed tiny gas struts for the rear hatch/glass! Also called gas springs or gas lift support struts, I am not certain when they were invented, but certainly European cars would have had them before US ones did. Sadly, they are two pieces and, at least with this model, they will not stay together. The silver shafts stay hanging straight down while the black bodies are firmly attached to the "glass".  Also, the glass will not close completely, they had small clear plastic stickers to hold it closed from the factory. But, they had come loose in transit and are not sticky enough.

Despite that little flaw, this model is extremely well designed and built. I have examined it closely and am well pleased. An engine would be nice to see, but that is not to be at this price point.

So, I looked for images on the Internet of an 1800 ES engine bay, chose a red one and here you go. As you can see, they stuffed a lot of things under the hood. 

I also saw photos of several 1800 models which have had engines swapped into them, later model Volvo Turbo engines as well as some (sacrilege!) Japanese engines.

Photographing shiny objects, and especially diecast cars, can be difficult. To achieve complete focus front-to-rear, requires using a small aperture. And getting images without obvious overhead lights requires using indirect diffused flash. Using a small aperture and flash sometimes makes for dark images. So, some of these are not my best work.

Just look at those sleek sexy lines! Volvo's designer really nailed the transformation from coupe to shooting brake perfectly. The model's tires fill the wheel wells perfectly too.

I especially like that they put on accent stripes on the lower body and added rubber Volvo mud flaps and New Hampshire (USA) license plates.

The chassis is nicely detailed as well. Adding exhaust, fuel and brake lines and more details. Well done, NOREV!

As is always the case when adding something new to a collection, I have to decide what to remove first. This is the 1:18th scale collection before. A mix of favorite race and street cars along with two Pontiac GTOs, the gold 1964, (I test drove a ten-year-old convertible when I was seventeen), and the blue 2004 one (bottom row, right) of which I would love to own a real one. Plus cars representative of ones I have owned and driven. I settled on pulling the white 1996 Camaro Z28 which is actually a 1:20th scale plastic model. I traded the Porsche for the Z28, having always wanted to own a Camaro.

In doing so, I rearranged some. The forth and fifth shelves from the top now contain cars similar to real ones I owned and in chronological order of my ownership: 1967 Chevy Impala SS (mine was a beige convertible), 1974 Triumph Spitfire (mine was red and a 1500, this green one is the earlier model), 1975 Audi 100LS (that is a 100S Coupe, not sold in the US), 2002 Subaru WRX wagon (that is the JDM STi right-hand-drive model), black 1987 Porsche 924S (the red one is a 1985 924) and 2000 Audi TT quattro (the model is pre-rear-spoiler and FWD), but the correct double denim blue.

So, that's it for this time. Once again, thank you for taking the time to read this article. Feel free to leave a comment below or on Facebook.

Scott Robb

February 25, 2023

#464

Collecting Diecast Car Models Volvo V60 v V50 Size Comparison

 February 21, 2023

#463

Gentle reader,

As you can tell by the name of this blog, we collect things. When I began writing this, I had NO idea that anyone would read it. Well, thanks to YOU, a great number of people do! 

It truly humbles me and I cannot thank you enough. This is the 463rd article.A brief background: I am 66 years of age, and as of September of this year (2023) I will have been a car owner for FIFTY years! 

The saying, "You are only as old as you feel." is absolutely true. While parts of me may crack softly when I move them, (I'm talking about you, knees!) I am still fairly active and do workout. But, mentally, I am still very young in many ways. 

One of those ways is my love of CARS. The first few years of my life were in the Midwest United States as our father had a series of Churches there which he was the pastor of. According to my mother, (she's 89 and still doing fine) I could identify any car I saw: year, make and model, by age two. Methinks she exaggerates. But, then again, how many different kinds of cars could there have been in rural Kansas (Dorothy says, hello, by the way) in the late 1950's?

This is a photograph I found on the Internet of a car extremely similar to my very first one. One Sunday in early September, 1973, Dad said to me, "Why don't we go car shopping tomorrow?" "Dad, it's a school day." "I'll write you a note." Who IS this guy? I was thinking. So, we did and I chose a beige 1964 Chevrolet Impala 2-door hardtop, identical to the one above. Except for the engine. Mine had a 283 cubic inch V8 and the emblem (seen on the front fender behind the wheel opening) had a simple V emblem. I paid $300 for it and it was nine years old. I bought my 2005 Volvo V50 T5/M66 also when it was nine years old. But paid a LOT more for it. It was the best car purchase I have ever made.

One of our grandsons is on the Autism spectrum, yet from a very early age, he lined up all his toy cars facing forward. How did he know which was the front? I mentioned that to Mom and she told me that I did the same thing at a very young age. She also told me that I did not talk for a while, and that they were worried about that. Well, Zac, now 15, does talk and also does very well in school. And believe me, I DO talk a lot now! Like Zac, I (and Nancy) still love toy cars. We both have our own collections of cars. Plus the more than 1,000 the grandkids play with.

This is the largest scale cars. All the biggest ones are 1:18th scale with the exception of the white Camaro. It is 1:20th scale and a plastic model I built. It and six of the diecast cars represent real cars I owned. Or as close as I could get to them in diecast. The brown Ford Falcon represents Nancy's first car. It was two years older than she was.

"Wait a minute," you may be thinking, "where's the Volvos?" Actually, my first 1:18th scale model Volvo, a 1800ES in red, is on it's way right now. I have written a series of articles about real verses diecast models of cars I have owned. I have several more to go to complete the series. 

This is the 1:24th scale shelf and TEN of those cars represent ones I once owned. There are Volvos here: See the red C30, forth shelf from the top? Right above it are a 1:43rd scale C30 and 1800ES. Note, also, the second to the bottom shelf is ALL 1:43rd scale Volvo wagons. 

Previously, I had them all arranged as seen above. The silver V50 on the bottom shelf is a new one which I scored for less than ten dollars. I did an article comparing it to the grey V50 above it. My daughter, who is excellent at picking appropriate gifts, bought me the entire CARS cast members one Christmas many years ago. Loved that movie.

As I discovered with my sneakers collection*, I was displaying them backwards! Well, to me, anyway. What makes them unique is that they are all wagons. From the front, they are just Volvos. 

*IF you too have shoes arranged on a shoe rack, do you have the toes facing you or the heels? I had them all toes forward. Yes, they look cool that way, but it was a struggle sometimes to get them out of the rack.  Then it occurred to me: Put them heels towards me! That way, I can grab a pair with one hand and pull them off the rack. 

Here you can see them better. All were purchased via eBay over a number of years. Also, the six larger cars all represent ones I once owned. I would LOVE a Datsun 510 now! Yes, I even owned a 1941 Plymouth Coupe. Was I surprised to find a plastic model kit of one! I built it to me mechanically the same as the real car below. Plus, what I had hoped it would look like when I was finished.

I was making it into a Chevrolet powered hot rod when I was a late-teenager. Yes, that is yours truly. My brother made that image. The color one above it was shot by my former girlfriend's father on color slide film. Long story.

Here are all the 1:43rd scale cars "scattered about". The C30 was the spiritual successor to the 1800ES of the early 1970's. To me, one of THE most beautiful cars ever made.

Just like the two V50 models I have, here are two real V50s. The grey T5 is mine, the silver one on the left is a 2.4i automatic. But, it does have a prancing moose sticker on the hatchback. I believe it belonged to a substitute teacher. It was parked there three days, by the elementary school, then I never saw it again. It was only the SECOND V50 I have seen. The first was a black one I parked next to at the post office. Owned by a young mother with two kids. She was getting them out of her car when I said, "Nice car. I have one too." Pointing to mine. She just smiled. Not an enthusiast, I guess.

A week or so, ago, I parked next to the V60 you see above, much to my delight. I shot this image and posted it on the various Volvo enthusiast Facebook groups. The parking spaces are angled, so I could not directly line it up next to mine. But, they appeared to be almost identical in size. BTW, it was the FIRST V60 I have seen, of that generation. I've seen taller ones, but not a plain V60 wagon.

I stated on the FB groups that they are almost identical in size which caused much discussion. Finally, one fellow posted this photo of his V60 and V50 side-by-side to help my argument. I thanked him for that. He also agreed that they are nearly identical, and that he prefers the V50 as his too has the six-speed manual. 

So, I decided to get out all the diecast cars and do a comparison of my two V50s and the one V60 I have. Which, upon seeing up close while editing the pictures, I see it is a Volvo Ocean Race V60.

These two photos clearly show the SHAPE difference between them. Volvo may have gotten complaints, or maybe saw the error of their ways, straying from tradition with the S60/V60/XC60 cars. Because the next (and current) Volvo cars have returned to better proportions.

I really do not care for the greatly decreasing size of the windows as the get rearward.

The grille on the silver V50 is a sticker. Tsk, tsk.

Let's talk about SCALE when it comes to diecast toy cars and the more expensive diecast models. 

Below, top shelf, are a: 1970 Mustang fastback, a 1972 Datsun 510 and a 1970 Dodge Hemi Challenger convertible. All are allegedly 1:24th scale. 

Having "owned", i.e., I drove it all weekend when Dad was home from Washington, D.C., a Datsun (now Nissan) 510 is a TINY car. Way smaller than it appears in this grouping.

But, let's look at something you may be familiar with. Cobras and Ferraris. No? How about Volvo C30s and Audi TTs? My V50 wagon is a P1 model (C30/S40/V50/C70) all use the  same chassis with different bodies. But all are almost exactly the same length. 

The red Camaro is a dealer promotional model. I owned a 1997 Z28 (white 1:20th scale model shown above), followed by a 2000 Audi TT quattro. I can guarantee that the latter is WAY smaller than the former!

These shelves all hold models representing REAL cars I once owned. Two examples of a 1964 Impala (beige one, middle shelf/left) is now gone. Second shelf down has a: 1975 Chevy Monza 2+2, a 1996 Dodge Sebring Convertible and a 1980-something Porsche 924 Turbo. The Sebring (it has a cloth folding top!) is WAY smaller than 1:24th. 

Lastly, on the subject of scale, I previously wrote about it here: The Robb Collections: True Scale Size Verses Track Scale 1:64 Diecast Cars

Thank you SO much for taking the time to read my humble blog. Below, as a bonus are the sneakers/shoes facing toes out and heels out. Which do you think would be easier to grab and go?