I specialized in repairing Volvos and drove them for over 25 years. I changed profession in 1993. Tried several different things and finally became a fabricator/machinist for the last 16 years before retiring this year.
I call BS on 3,000,000 miles. That would be 50,000 hours of driving IF he averaged 60 MPH. That would be awfully hard to do with a garage queen as his car looks to be.
Volvos are Swedish heritage. His car is a 60 something P1800 model. They made the P1800 from 61 to 69 and renamed them 1800E from 70 to 72. The E designation depicted electronic fuel injection. They made a wagon version called an 1800ES in 72-73. I had a 1970 1800E I did a bare metal restoration on, drove it 100K, then sold it. It had a little rust popping out when I sold it so I guess the painter didn't prep as well as he could have. I also had a 73 ES that was a rust bucket I never tried to restore.
I don't think Volvo ever galvanized their cars. They were not terribly rust prone but I saw some in pretty bad condition if they had been up north in the salt. I refused to repair a 240 model that came in the shop for a fan belt. It was about to break in half. I felt it give when I got in to pull it into the shop. The uni-body was rusted through right in the rear wheel arches. Customer was not happy with me but I told him to have it flat bed towed to the junk yard or I would call FHP on him.
Volvo pioneered safety. They had uni-body construction with crush zones to absorb impact from and early age. They were easily totaled but occupants usually walked away. They also went to fuel injection and 4 wheel disc brakes in 1970. The braking system was unique in that it had a triangulated proportioning valves that mechanically sensed loss of traction and could channel brake pressure to the wheel with traction.
With proper care you could get a lot of life out of them. They tended to eat your lunch on maintenance. Every 60,000 miles it would be ball joints, rear axle bushings, ujoints, etc. Normal maintenance back then was 3,000 mile oil changes and complete tune ups every 15,000 miles. Tune ups would require distributor cap, plug wire resistors, valve adjustment, spark plugs, and setting the CO. I often had to replace injector seals during tune ups because they would shrink and create intake leaks. My last two both had 350K on the clock when I sold them. Neither of those had any significant rust. We were all in the 3,000 mile oil change mindset back then and the engines looked like new under the valve covers.
