Mike Waddell bought it at the Barrett-Jackson car auction in 2001 in Scottsdale Arizona.  Mr. Mike Dudek who owns and operates irollmotors.com and specializes in these older Volvos had made contact with Mr. Waddell when he read about it in Rolling magazine. 

When Mike W. decided to sell the car he contacted Mike D. to list the car with Mike’s service.  I had already bought a 1972 1800 ES and a 1983 240 Turbo from him and had mentioned if he ran across one that was like the car in the Saint, white coupe with red interior that I was interested in it.  When he called to tell me that VIN # 1 was for sale I realized I had a once in a lifetime opportunity. 
Mike D. and I met in Texas to examine the car and I found to my delight that the car is in really excellent shape.  There is no rust at all especially underneath which can really be a problem on these.  The paint is very nice and the correct original color. The interior is clean with new carpeting and the Front seats were changed to be the 1800S style.  The engine and drive train are in excellent shape, I think they were redone during the 1989-92 work.  Mike Waddell and I agreed on a deal and I took delivery last September.  The car is a pleasure to drive.  I am amazed at the performance and handling Volvo had available in 1961 right out of the box. 

Anyhow I guess you could call me a Volvo collector now.  My daily driver is a 99 V70 AWD, I have the two 1800’s and the 1983 240 Turbo.  I have been a member of VCOA since 95 when I bought my first Volvo which was a beat to hell 82 240 DL.  I originally bought it because I needed another car I could haul my dog around with.  My daily driver had leather seats and he was ruining them.  I ended up selling my SUV and driving the 240 all the time I loved it so much.  The car had 150,000 miles when I bought it and almost 300,000 when I sold it to a friend of mine.  Sorry to run on here but that is the story of P1800 VIN#1 and I came to own it.

Jon Peake 16/6/05