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The three-day 2010 Spring Thaw Adventure tour along the scenic route from Hope to Squamish, via Osoyoos, Sun Peaks and the Duffy Lake road, attracted around 65 classic cars from all over B.C., Alberta, Oregon, Washington and one from as far afield as Lake Worth, Florida.

Last weekend’s run, staged by classicaradventures.com,featured some wonderful automotive gems — Aston-Martin, Alfa Romeo, BMW, Datsun, Fiat, Intermeccanica, Jensen-Healey, Lancia, Lotus, MG, Mini, Mercedes, Opel, Pontiac, Porsche, Rover, Saab, Triumph, Volvo and Volkswagen.

One of the Volvos caught my eye, it belongs to John Chattin-McNichols, of Seattle, he spotted the 1967 Volvo 144S on Craigs List for an asking price of $500. He asked all the usual questions of the seller, using his knowledge of the particular model’s, shall we say, peculiarities. Queries relating to such matters as rust and that vinyl dashboard top, which has a tendency to crack? The owner responded in the negative to each question and stated: “It’s in mint condition”.

Chattin-McNichols was now becoming a little agitated, thinking he was getting the usual exaggerated sales talk. Knowing that most Volvo rear seats of that age are often in poor condition he asked the final question. “Hang on, I will look,” said the seller. A few moments later the out of breath owner, returned to the phone: “Perfect . . . I don’t think they have even been sat on”.

The only downside was a fuel tank full of pinholes; a simple fix.

Photo: Tony Latham

The 144 series was the first of the boxy body style Volvos to us the tridigit nomenclature that designated a series 1-four-cylinder-four-door, the “S” model was fitted with the more powerful B18B engine used in the 1800S sports car.

Small numbers of this model made their way to North America. This example was a factory delivery car, meaning that the original owner took delivery of it at the factory in Sweden, drove it around Europe and then had it delivered to the USA. It still had the decal indicating this on the side glass

The 144S had spent the last 18 years in storage, its original female owner had given it to her son and he had little interest in using it, so he did not.

Photo: Tony Latham

A 1966 Volvo 1800S owned by Irvin Gordon of East Patchogue, New York, USA holds the Guinness world record for the highest mileage in a Volvo, using the same engine as Chattin-McNichols 144S. Gordon has driven it for more than 40 years. It has covered 2.7 million miles and the owner is now targeting the three million mile mark.

Nigel Matthews is the sales and marketing executive for Hagerty Canada– hagerty.canmatthews@hagerty.com