A couple walked into my electronics shop today and I could tell from their accents that they were not American. After talking to them for a while, I found out they were from Holland and that they were with a group of sixty classic Volvos driving from the south of Panama to the north of Alaska. They had stopped for the night in St. George, Utah before continuing their 5,051 mile long (8129 kilometers) trip.
The couple were part of a tour called the Pan Americana, which is probably the most fascinating auto tour I’ve ever heard of. They even bring their own mechanic and huge truck full of parts to support them on their journey. And what are Piet and Agnes Bulthuid driving?
A 1968 Volvo Duett 210–what else?
Despite the updated seats, it’s a fascinating piece of rolling history.
Piet told me that his Volvo had an 1800cc straight four that made all of 68 horsepower.
Note the stickers from all the other transcontinental tours they’ve been on!
Later when I got off work, I sauntered over to the hotel where they were staying. It was truly a Vol-vol-voom moment.
Look at these specimens. No trailer queens here. Another gentleman I spoke with, Paul, told me that most of these cars are daily drivers in Holland. Paul’s car was this beautiful 1961 Volvo PV544, also with the B18 engine.
Sorry I couldn’t get more views. Other Volvos kept grabbing my attention. Like this Amazon:
Organizing all the logistical support for an event like this doesn’t just happen; you have to take into account the various running changes to the models and common points of failure when stocking parts, and that’s the fun part of planning.
For Volvo-lovers, this parking lot is quite a sight. I couldn’t take my eyes off of all the classic goodness on display. Nor was it easy to decide which car was my favorite.
There was just too much beauty and heritage on display to make it an easy choice. Note the Ford Transit parts truck in the background.
It was inspiring to see such devotion to one’s favored brand; how often do you run across a tour like this?
Needless to say, I was very impressed and wish the Pan Americana participants good weather and safety on their journeys.
Fantastic. And good choice of cars! If I were to go around the world, a Duett would be my choice. That or a 245. Indestructable roaches…
And nice to see they weren’t trailer queens. Those cars are put to good use, no question about it. They have to work for a living…
Were there any 740/940 there? Seems a Volvo 740 wagon would be a good car for long distance drives.
It is nice to see so many old cars being daily driven. I kind of hate the mentality that an older car needs to be driven on a trailer everywhere because it is not capable of being driven on its own. It is almost criminal to make the only driving a classic car does from the garage to the trailer and back again.
Fantastic! What a terrific way to see the world! This sort of tour screams at me and all these fine folks doing this is outstanding.
I don’t care what make of car is used, a tour like this is something that sounds like one of the best automotive related adventures imaginable.
Best wishes to Piet, Agnes, and everyone else on this incredible journey.
Ditto, I know where I would rather be today. That’s a great way to do it too.
Wow that is a lot of Volvos and European license plates, but I thought only the UK had yellow rear plates. I wish them loads of luck in their travels and hope they have lots of fun.
From Wikipedia: “The Netherlands and Portugal both use three groups of two characters (letters or numbers) in several sequences: AB-12-CD, 12-34-AB, 12-AB-34, AB-12-CD, etc. However, Portuguese plates have a white background, while those of Netherlands (after 1978-01-01) have a yellow one, though both countries also use white letters on blue plates for classic cars. “
Dutch are yellow front and back, French and British are white in the front and yellow in the back. I beliveve Luxemburg has yellow front and back as well.
Older Dutch plates are white on very dark blue; I noticed quite a few of these in those photos. Iirc they changed in the 1970’s to the current colors.
Just saw these folks on the 40 in Grande Cache, Alberta. Some very nice old 122s and 544s. A couple years ago, they went from Tiera del Fuego to Cartagena. A few years before that they did Holland to China. These are long trips with a 4-speed and little sound insulation!
Thanks for the update, Joel. This was written about a week and a half ago. Was wondering where they were.
What a great trip. I’d have no worries about an old Volvo getting you there and back…but it’s handy to have parts and a mechanic along just in case. It’s also great to see that they’re all daily drivers…they were built to drive and a fine old car should never sit on a trailer. I’ll take either the Duett or that red ’61 544.
Say an European tourist would to bring his own car for short term use in the US, would the car need to temporary plate or it will just go around in its own plate?
Just its own plate I assume since that is I have always seen.
Agreed.
I used to work for a guy who lived part of the year in Minnesota and the rest in Germany. He would bring his BMW convertible over and drive it on it’s German plates all summer with no hassles. He said, he was told by MN-DOT(Dept. of Motor Vehicles) that you can DRIVE your foriegn car here no problem, you just can’t REGISTER it here unless it passes all the DOT requirements (lights, safety glass, emissions, etc) Of course it may be different in other states…
I just saw this car two days ago in my home of Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. Not bad time. My record trip outside (anywhere south of 60) is 19 hours to Edmonton Alberta. Driving my first car, a 74′ Impala 2 door hard top. That was in 1998, before the Alaska hi way became so tame. Fast and comfy but hard on gas.
I only hope the current king of my fleet, a 2002 V70, is as capable as this Volvo when it is 46 years old! I find it very easy to work on and it drives and looks basically like new.
Interestingly, when I spotted it the 68′ was outside of Canadian Tire. Hopefully just for camping supply’s not parts!
Good luck guys!
I wouldn’t buy parts for my wife’s Ford at Canadian Tire, let alone for an old Volvo….
Maybe they stopped for Tupperware. That’s the best kind of thing to buy at Crappy Tire.
The Alaska was on my bucket list….well maybe some day. These guys got the right idea. I’m sure their having a blast.
Off topic a bit….I recently saw a late model Audi with Colorado plates, on the hoist at a Canadian/Crappy Tire, in Bowmanville Ont. I was going to try a find the guy, and tell to him to run out of there as fast as possible.
Looks like a fun event. I’d take part in one if I had a Volvo to drive. I’d take the Volvo Duett.
That must have been some adventure! I wonder if there were any 740s on the trip, I don’t see any in the pictures.
Looks like a fun adventure. Always like to see old cars in good shape still being used as intended. Good luck and enjoy!
I agree. You don’t see that many Volvos of this vintage still being driven on a daily basis. I believe they should be driven as often as it’s possible to do. 🙂
I doubt if I would buy it because there is only room for just some much steak on the plate and I’m not doing a good job with what I already have. Knowing that I still lust for an old volvo wagon and the duett is the top of the list.
haven’t i seen that blue and green interior on some other car recently?
Fabulous! What a great adventure. I once drove my Model A in a day trip with maybe 20 others and it was great fun. I can only imagine what a trip like this would be like.
The Duette for me.
Very nice Richard, lots of great pictures too.
A bit of googling learned that Piet Bulthuis is the chairman of the Dutch club for the Volvo 444/445/544/P210 models.
Website: http://katterugclub.nl/
And here’s a link to a (Dutch) newspaper article. Piet and his wife have seen all continents with their Volvo, except Australia. But they’re working on that one…
http://www.volvoclassics-panamericana.nl/cms/FCKeditor/cstmFiles/wwwvolvoclassics-panamericananl/krantestuk%20Bulthuis.pdf
It’s too bad it’s not in English. I like to read the article as well as look at the pics. 🙂
What a great tour! Probably possible given that they’re Volvos. Can you imagine a classic tour for some other less hardy vehicles? You wouldn’t need a box truck for support, you’d need a car carrier with a winch and a lot of space!
We could always sponsor a Eugene to Springfield run for Yugos (for the out of area, that’s 3.6 miles). Imagine the support teams necessary for that epic trip.
SWEET ! .
Wouldst that I could go too….
-Nate
Visited with you in the store recently and looking at your posts Richard. Very interesting and informative. Keep it up.