Supported by an extensive parts network in the United States and Sweden, the cars are more likely to see regular use than just being presented at car shows. They are relatively fuel-efficient, comfortable at highway speeds, relatively safe (Volvo pioneered the three-point seat belt) and not difficult or expensive to maintain.

Image The Volvo P1900 convertible.

Detroit design also influenced the 444, which was the first Volvo sized and built with an eye to the export market. Both the 444, which came to the United States for the 1956 model year, and the much-improved 544, which came along in 1959, bore a strong resemblance to the 1941 Ford. And Americans actually started buying them.

Volvo chronology is a little unusual. The updated but still antique-looking 544 was introduced after the 122S, which was much more modern; the Volvo Amazon, which became the 122S in this country, had already begun production in 1956. And the 122S continued for several years after its replacement, the 140 series, was in showrooms.

It was the handsome, if somewhat stylistically dated 122S, that really established Volvo’s name in this country. The four-cylinder 122S, sold in two- and four-door versions as well as a useful station wagon, soon earned a reputation for reliability. The atypical 1800 sports car, with racy styling and tailfins, was introduced in 1961. It was pricey for its time — about $4,000 in 1967.

Volvos were popularly believed to be for pipe-smoking liberal college professors. In a 1985 Doonesbury cartoon, Duke asks Honey how she knows that a potential organ donor for him is a liberal. “They pulled him from a Volvo,” Honey says.

Bruce Potter, president of Volvo Sports America, a club originally set up to cater to 1800 owners, said he did not buy the liberal tag. “Volvos then were for people who didn’t want to make car payments for the rest of their lives. Volvo said it best in one of the old ads — the cars offered the best bang for the buck. They publicized the fact that the average Volvo lived 17 years in Sweden.”