Volvo 1800ES (pilot)
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F. Paalvast, I was the first Volvo 1800ES owner to have electric power steering fitted at EZ. My car was the pilot project for the set that would later be offered on a larger scale. My Volvo was not road legal at the time, and it took a while to get it back on the streets. I didn't drive much in it as a result, but even then I could sense what effect the power steering had on the car. Parking it was dead easy, and even at speed the conversion worked very well. |
Improvements fitted later on, such as the potentiometer to set the amount of steering assistance manually, proved very handy. The ultimate test however was yet to come! I had entered my car in a "small" trip to China, a nice chance to test both driver and machine. I was curious how the power steering would hold its own, as well as the car itself, being 35 years old, just recently being built up after being completely restored, and fitted with all kinds of extras, not only the power steering, but also a reserve fuel tank, a sliding roof, protection for the oil pan against the desert and Siberia's bad roads, and the newly fitted parts including the springs, dampers and every other normal replacement item associated with any car and its engine!
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On the 5th of July, we left the township of Bant (North East Polder, near Emmeloord) with approximately 80 other "crazy drivers", and finished July 30th in Tianjin, the harbour metropolis near Beijing, to have our cars shipped back to Europe, while we took a flight back home. I could write a book on this journey. To cut short, it really was testing, with long days and lots of driving, interesting and astonishing at the same time. My car and its occupants made it with a battered exhaust pipe being the only mishap worth mentioning. A true Volvo to say the least, a well succeeded restoration, and a remarkable holiday trip to round it all up! The power steering has proved itself a valuable assistant on the bad roads in Siberia and the Gobi desert with its many bumps and potholes, but also on the entire stretch of no less than 7,132 miles! |
