The cars may be the stars of my stories but so often the back story takes center stage. Such is the case with Joe Shaw, and his 1962 Volvo P544 coupe. The story about the Shaw family and their car falls into the "you can't make this up" category.

During 1962 Joe Shaw was a young soldier in the U.S. Army stationed in Italy. At the time Shaw and his wife, Sue, owned a 1953 Mercury, "one of those cars that gets bumped around; it belonged to a person who was assigned back to the states," he said. "There's always a lot of cars like that posted on the bulletin boards."

The Shaws were thinking about buying a new car, maybe a Rambler or a Volkswagen, but some of Joe's Army friends talked up Volvo. "I had two friends who had Volvos and they convinced me to buy one," he said.

Buying a Volvo that year was significant because the manufacturer made a few interesting changes for 1962. It introduced a 1.8-liter engine with either one or two carburetors, and it changed the car's electronic system from six volts to 12 volts.

In some respects, the Volvo was similar to the Volkswagen Beetle. It has generally the same kind of shape but the Volvo is larger and the engine is more powerful. For the Shaws the Volvo was going to be their only car and little did they know at the time, but they were going to keep the car for decades into the future.

But that's not the half of it. Remember, Joe Shaw was in the Army, stationed in Italy and when you're in the military you go where you're told to go.

In this case Joe Shaw was reassigned from Italy to the Pentagon, in Arlington County, VA., where he remained for one year. And yes, the Volvo made the trip to the United States with the Shaws and their three children. From the Pentagon Shaw was reassigned to Monterey, CA., a nice jaunt for a family of five. By now you might be thinking, how did a family of five fit into a small two-door car? Wait, there's more.

While the Shaws were in California, for one year, another child was born, so now the family of five was a family of six.

So how did they all fit into the Volvo?

"I took the back seat out and replaced it with a piece of plywood, and then we put a crib mattress over it. The mattress fit perfectly so the four kids had plenty of room," he said. Today that family of six surely would require a large SUV to meet its needs.

But, as luck would have it Shaw was reassigned again, this time to France, and, you guessed it, the entire family went and since the Volvo was part of the family, it went too.

"We were in France for one year and then I was sent to Italy," Shaw said. No problem this time; the Shaws, a family of six, easily drove from France to Italy to Joe's new station.

Shaw spent two more years in Italy then cycled out of the Army and returned to civilian life in the U.S. The Volvo returned with them and continued to deliver faithful service to the family.

Oh, by the way, if you're wondering what Joe Shaw was doing in all of those places during two tours of duty, the answer is his mission at the time was classified and non-classified communications controller involving high frequency radio-teletype circuits, microwave communications and landline teletype circuits. But now he can say he worked on the 'hot line' between the United States and Moscow while he was at the Pentagon.

You know how in movies the president has a red telephone on his desk and presumably is ready at an instant's notice to pick it up and talk to the president of Russia, well the answer is such a phone doesn't exist. But there is a communications system and Sergeant First Class Joseph Shaw's job was maintaining and troubleshooting the system to make sure it always worked. Shaw said he wants to make it clear he was not involved in the actual sending and receiving of communications, only making sure the system was trouble free.

While the "hot line" continued to work even after Shaw left it behind, his Volvo did too. He drove it on American roads for almost 10 more years before it was retired on his property.

"I could have left the car behind when we returned but I don't think it ever crossed my mind," he said. "I liked it that much."

When Shaw left the Army his wife got a job which meant the family needed two cars. "I bought another car to be a family car, but the Volvo remained my personal transportation," Shaw said.

And it remained such until 1977 when he decided enough was enough and the Volvo was parked behind the house. A lot of time passed and the Volvo deteriorated until a few years ago when Shaw decided it was time to bring the car back to its full potential.

Although he had never restored a car, Shaw believed no task was too daunting for him to begin. So with the help of YouTube videos, books and advice, he deconstructed the old Volvo.

"I hadn't done any bodywork before this, but I decided I could do it," Shaw said. The work progressed and Shaw found himself restoring the entire car. He even installed a new, correct interior and did much of the prep work prior to painting. The paint, however, authentic Volvo California White, was applied professionally and looks spectacular on the car. The interior, in white and blue, is correct for the car.

What's a complete restoration without going through the transmission and engine, both of which Shaw tackled with success. The engine work netted about 25 additional horsepower.

Now that he has restoration experience Shaw said he's going to put his skills to the test by restoring a 1968 Volvo 1800 S, a car he bought in New Jersey.

Shaw has been collecting parts for the restoration and he expects the work will take two two years, the same amount of time he spent bringing the P544 back to like new condition.

1962 Volvo P544

Owner:

Joe Shaw, East Syracuse, NY

Base cost new:

$1,895

Owned:

Bought it new

Engine:

B18, 1.8-liter, 4-cylinder, 90 hp

Transmission:

Four-speed standard

Body type:

Two door coupe

Know a car you'd like featured? Contact Kenn Peters: kpeters@twcny.rr.com. Previously from Kenn:

George Wilson's car collection consists of a 1964 Ford Falcon four-door sedan, a 1964 Ford Ranchero, and a 1990 Buick Reatta two-seat coupe.

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