Star Road

To paraphrase George Carlin, there’s a club for everything. And I mean EVERYTHING–there are clubs for walking. Walking! So of course, it should be no surprise that a brand with such a respectable and storied history as Volvo should have multiple clubs. One of those is the aptly named Volvo Club of America, and on June 21st 2014, they met at Volvo Palo Alto, a relatively new Volvo dealership staffed by Volvo enthusiasts.

Yes, it’s refreshing that the guys at the parts counter actually know what they’re talking about, because that’s what they drive. One of the parts employees drives this Polestar-tuned S40 T5.

I like everything about this car except the transmission choice—unfortunately automatic. The S40 is one of the last cars Volvo offered on these shores with a manual transmission, and it’s always nice to see them, even though it’s admittedly not a great feeling ‘box.

Known elsewhere as the Volvo Amazon, this car unfortunately got numerical names in the USA. I believe this is a single-carb 121.

Early model (’76-77?) 244GL.

Lots of character in those round lights.

S60R on SSR wheels.

This 1800ES was owned by an older lady. There are over 300,000 miles on this car!

Related butts?

I love those teal center caps.

This is a fairly rare K-PAX edition S60 GT6. The BBS wheels, Brembos, etc are all stock–the duckbill trunk is an OEM add-on.

This is a dual-carb’d 122S.

Automatic.

Ahh, the good ol’ days of the manual choke.

Original glass??

Volvo 121, the single-carb’d standard version.

Under the hood of an 850 Turbo wagon.

Another KPAX car, this time a C30.

This extremely clean 122S showed up and captivated everyone…

Trippy design with the intake and exhaust manifolds nestled together.

Apparently yellow 850 T5R’s are extremely rare; according to one source, there were only 33 ever imported into the US!

Another example of how a stock car on stock wheels looks infinitely better with a proper ride height. Not only that, this car is a manual transmission–and female-driven!

The car was actually pretty rough, but I always get a kick out of the Prancing Moose badges.

This is the owner of the blue 1800ES!

The license plates should be a clue to the owner’s status…

File this under “Bored Girlfriends in Cars”…

Not too often do you see a C70 convertible with a manual transmission!

Rockstar status: Show up late, steal the show, leave early.

The last car to show up was, fittingly, this modern icon of Volvo performance, the V70R.

Whoa! Not a stretched tire in sight! Thanks to Volvo Palo Alto for putting this show on, and the Golden Gate chapter of the Volvo Club of America for showing up.