Watkin Glen-Volvos, etc

I posted this at Classic Motorsports magazine forum, but I figured I'd add it here too (I know there's a fair amount of love for old Volvos over here )

We had a great time at Watkins Glen last weekend with the Vintage Racer Group [VRG]

Peter Egan (from that other car magazine) showed up from Wisconsin with his Crossle Formula Ford and Jere Stahl (the guy who owns Stahl Headers) brought his Volvo P1800.

In fact the Volvo Sports Association brought a ton of old Volvos (it's the 50th anniversary of the P1800). I was lucky enough to have some great races with some of those Volvos, particularly one of the 122Ss. You can see some good examples of that in the beginning of ~This Video~

You can see all the photos and videos from the event ~here~

Some photos......

I love a track prepped 122.

Great stuff, thanks for sharing. Your weekends are more fun than mine.

Don Dingman of Underhill, Vermont: Ambro powered by 327 Corvette engine. He just completed that car. Says it was pretty intimidating. Lost a fan belt at some point, car overheated and put down coolant sending him off track at turn one. Needs a little fibreglass work but car is good.

I like the gray P1800. One like that for street use wouldn't make me unhappy !

I passed a P1800 almost 2 weeks ago that must have been on it's way there. I thought for a minute it may have been the yellow one in your picture, but the one I passed had bumpers (or at least a rear bumper). i had forgotten how small of a car they are.

In a sort of related note, I haven't seen or talked to my godson in a couple of years, and this past weekend when we got together over a visit to see his Grandmother (my Mom) he mentioned he had his "new" car outside. After a string of econosedans, and Japanese SUVs, that I thought would see him graduate into a large domestic pickup (he is the demographic that the BIG 3 are shooting for), he surprised me with a 2008 C30. He really loves it, too. I'm not sure he's enough into the whole sporty car thing to want a sub to GRM, but I'm seriously thinking of sending him the address to the website...in the very least.

I knew Stahl makes headers for the 1800... but I didn't know he raced one. Sweet.

I'm 99% sure that gray 1800 #717 is John Parker's car of Vintage Performance fame (a Volvo 1800 race and street tuner).

Thanks for the post. I think we all love old Volvos here!

vwcorvette wrote: Don Dingman of Underhill, Vermont: Ambro powered by 327 Corvette engine. He just completed that car. Says it was pretty intimidating. Lost a fan belt at some point, car overheated and put down coolant sending him off track at turn one. Needs a little fibreglass work but car is good.

Yep. I talked to Don for quite a while. He's a nice guy. He also has a Formula Jr. (which I think he prefers at this point). Also talked to Tivvy Shenton about the car (he's the previous owner). Apparently there's only three real Ambros (I've seen one of them....it's TR4 powered). This one was taken off a mold from one of the originals. There is a company that is still making the bodies for these.

alex wrote: Your weekends are more fun than mine.

LOL. For now.
Both my daughters are pregnant (one with twins). And both of them and their husbands have pretty busy work schedules. Grandpa's weekends in 2012 may be consumed by babysitting.

Yep. I talked to Don for quite a while. He's a nice guy. He also has a Formula Jr. (which I think he prefers at this point). Also talked to Tivvy Shenton about the car (he's the previous owner). Apparently there's only three real Ambros (I've seen one of them....it's TR4 powered). This one was taken off a mold from one of the originals. There is a company that is still making the bodies for these.

Apparently the new company is trying to get Don to be a dealer for the newly made bodies. That Formula Junior was his Dad's (second owner). Don's put a lot of work into that car. You should see the SBC powered Healey he owns. Sounds better than my Vette!