Original 1965 Volvo Driving Towards 3rd Millionth Mile; Olympic Sportscaster's Multi-Million Mile 1800 Volvo Coupe Keeps Going & Going

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 26, 2004 -- Volvo's promotional tag line says their cars are "For Life."

  
  They aren't kidding.

Purchased off the showroom floor in 1965 for less than $5,000, this 1800 Volvo has seen U.S. Presidents come and go -- even men driving on the moon ... and after nearly four decades and millions of miles later, this prized sports coupe owned by the Ruffolo family of Southern California with 2.5 million miles (certified by Volvo), runs better today than even before.

   -  The car's engine is original with only a valve replacement made some
      20 years ago to aid in switching from leaded gasoline to unleaded.
      The body frame and transmission are likewise original.

   -  In January 2003, the multi-million mile Volvo went into the shop for
      major restoration ... and 10 months later "is better than it was in
      1965," says Dolf DeBruin, a master mechanic for Swedish Speed, the
      Perris-based Volvo automotive shop which recently completed the
      project.

Now driven by the family's youngest son, Southern California airline executive and three-time Olympic sportscaster Jeff Ruffolo (currently broadcasting the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics for Westwood One Radio), this 1965 1800 Volvo is much more than a family heirloom. It is a time capsule back to a period of Americana when everything was "way cool." It reflects a time when there was no Federal Express and no mobile telephones.

1965 was the age of the super sleuth which included Sean Connery as James Bond (Thunderball) and Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo and David McCallum as Ilya Kuryakin in America's hottest TV Show, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. The 1800 Volvo was also made widely popular in America and the U.K. by Roger Moore in the hit TV show "The Saint."

Inspired by Volvo reputation for safety and dazzled by the car's unique body fins and highway handling, Louis Ruffolo purchased his 1800 Volvo sports coupe for less than $5,000 off the showroom floor in mid-1965. An advertising salesman for an industrial dry cleaning magazine in Chicago, the elder Ruffolo would be gone from the family home in Woodland Hills, California in the San Fernando Valley for weeks on end ... driving hundreds of miles to sell print advertising to small manufacturers in rural towns in Arizona, Louisiana, Texas and Utah.

"My Dad was gone for so long on his sales calls, he came home once and the dog thought he was a stranger and bit him," reminisced the younger Jeff Ruffolo of his father and the prized 1800 Volvo. "But he didn't have a choice. In 1965 there was no global communications that we take for granted today. When you needed to see your customers, you drove. This Volvo was my Dad's second skin and he took it everywhere."

The first millionth mile came somewhere around Nixon's second term as the car was handed down from Father to Son. First Louis Ruffolo gave the car to his oldest son Joseph, who drove it for more than 10 years, to each of the 48 Continental U.S. states and throughout the 1970s before it was then given to the youngest, Jeff.

"This was my make-out car in high school, my second home in college, a reliable old gent in the mid-80s and today is something rare and special like a fine Swiss watch," added Ruffolo. "With the car now looking forward to its third millionth mile, it's becoming more than a family car -- but a treasured link from the past."

"This 1800 Volvo is the only car I own and when it comes time for me to pass on, it will stay in my family and be driven for generations to come," said Ruffolo.

With more than 30 years experience working on Volvo's 1800 model, DeBruin personally supervised every facet of the multi-million mile car's restoration. "It was the most extensive Volvo restoration I have done in my 30+ years working on 1800 Volvos," said DeBruin. He added that, "This restoration included all body chrome, leather seats, headliner, gauges, windshield glass, u-joints, bushings, shocks, bumpers interior molding -- you name it, it's been restored to better than new."

"Even though this car has more miles than the Disneyland Carousel, it will run as long as unleaded gasoline is still made," added DeBruin.

In today's age, people change their cars like they change the color of their hair. Throughout the decades, the Ruffolo family's 1800 Volvo has gone from the original factory white -- to brown -- to grey -- to sparkling blue (during the electric 80s) -- back to white again and today brandishes a deep red base, layered with more than 10 coats of candy apple red. Seen primarily in award-winning funny cars and stockcars at major car shows, the paint color is "beyond striking," said DeBruin.

"I would consider the paint color almost 'chameleon' ... you look at it under the lights and the rich dark hues come out and under full sunlight, it is a definitive wow," added DeBruin.

Ruffolo expects to hit his third millionth mile somewhere around the 2012 Summer Olympic Games ... but watching odometers spin and counting miles is the least of his interest, saying, "human beings do not record every single mile they driven a car. The most important thing to my family is to look at this Volvo as a link to a less complicated and far gentler time in our lives."

"My Dad passed away two years ago and keeping and driving the car is perhaps the best legacies I can give him," said Ruffolo.

That -- and a good coat a polish every week.