We photographed this pair of Volvo PV544s in a massive junkyard that specializes in vintage American cars built by companies that no longer exist like Studebaker, Hudson and Packard. Two of just a handful of European cars in the yard, these Volvos have been sitting in this exact spot for several years.

One of the things that first hit us when we found these twins is that they are remarkably rust-free. Decades of sitting in the blistering heat, the rain, the cold and heavy snow storms has certainly taken a toll on the bodies, but neither PV544 shows the kind of cancerous rust that characterizes a car that has spent thirty winters on salty roads. This leads us to believe that the cars were not very old when they were junked but we unfortunately have no way to verify that as the license plates and the registration stickers have been removed.

Both cars are still relatively complete inside and out and we’d be happy with either one as a parts car if we were restoring a PV544.

In the photo above, the car on the right is fitted with a speedometer that goes to 120 mph and the one on the left features a 100-mph unit. We initially speculated the car on the right was a Sport model fitted with the B18 engine but we checked and it did not have the emblem on the trunk. Talking with Volvo-philes, we came to the conclusion the model on the left was built early in the production run.