Volvo's Parts Inventory for Older Cars 

From Bill Webb, editor of VSA Western States

We had heard the rumors about the future availability of Volvo parts for most of the older Volvos at the East Coast convention, August 22 - 24, at Lake Placid, New York. I confirmed this by calling our local Volvo dealer and asking the parts manager to call Volvo headquarters in Rockleigh, New Jersey. There was also an article appearing in the VCBC newsletter from Olaf Malmburg and Erick Sandlund. Publisher Greg Morris was the first to get this in print on the West Coast and a VCOA member posted an article on the internet.

   AB Volvo of Sweden has sold all 444-544-122 and 1800 series parts to an independent company called Genuine Classic. The most recent Volvo part I purchased from a dealer last week, came in the same Volvo plastic bag but had Genuine Classic stamped on the outside. This is an out source company which Volvo seems to only have a small share of. Genuine Classic is a wholesale company who only sells to authorized Volvo dealers. We can expect price increases on some parts, but there may be some news concerning this move. There are more older parts being made by aftermarket companies, so there should be more competition as there are so many older Volvos in Europe. This may help to keep some prices down.

   Parts for older Volvos can still be purchased through Volvo dealers. Some of the info taken off the internet I could not confirm. I intend to stay on top of this and will keep you posted. I do think the part numbers for the older cars will become extremely important in the future and owners will not always be able to rely on dealers to look up the numbers for them. A parts catalog covering your older Volvo will become something you won't be able to do without. As a service to the club and its membership, we have been able to offer a limited number of parts catalogs for the 1800S-E-ES series and are working on 444-544 and 140 series. Also, remember that Westside Volvo in Culver City (Calif.) is one of our strongest supporters with a very knowledgeable staff on the older cars. If you have the number available of the part you want, they can tell you within seconds if the part is available.