Sir,
Wow, what a terrific story! I have heard about this particular Express, certainly in print, but was this that car that was rumored to be languishing behind a NJ gas station for many years? I don't think that there are more than 3 or 4 of the Express models in North America. Do you know of any others? I happen to have one: It is a 1971 145S Express Panel, in Volvo Service Vehicle Blue. The Volvo Club of British Columbia had the car for many years, and I purchased the car in the summer of 2012. Here is the link to the VCBC write-up.
http://www.volvoclubofbc.com/articles/VCBC 145 Express ad 06262012.pdf
Please note that the car is NO LONGER for sale.
What year is your car? It has the 73-74 grill, but the 67-71 door handles and dash, and the 72- remote shifter. Also missing is the steel bulkhead and wire mesh cargo screen! Did your car come with a bulkhead/screen in the parts stash? Is their a folding rear bench seat? These cars came in either panel of glazed form.. the fully glazed cars had with or without a folding backseat, as per the standard 145. Particularly intriguing to me are the interior cargo panels.. do you have a sense if those came from the factory or if they were custom-made for this car? There is very little literature published on the Express.. at least that I can find.
FYI Goldline Brakes in Seattle, WA does a first class job for caliper refurbishment. John has been in the business for many years, and really knows his stuff. The pistons and seals in Volvo 1800/140/240 calipers were widely used and readily available. Plan on about $100 per caliper for a comprehensive ground-up rebuild, plus about $40 more for a high-temp coating if desired. He's done three sets of calipers for me so far with excellent results.. ie, extremely even stopping power. New hoses are a must.. and on and on..... Supposedly John can rebuild brake boosters as well.
VP Auto Parts (Fristad, Sweden, Charleston SC) is a great source of repro sheet metal as well as a heck of a lot of other stuff or the 140 series. They even had a repro tailgate weatherstip seal for the Express. or ordered one and they had it in stock.
Did your car come with a rear-window defroster? If not, I think I still have a clear glass rear window with no defroster lines.. these are rather hard to find because I think defrosters were standard from 1969-on. Of course it would be easy to simply put a defroster-equipped rear glass in place and call it a day.
Feel free to send me a PM with questions about my Express.. My car was used heavily but remains and very original (except for Bilstiens, a pertronix ignition and wider 164e wheels) I'm happy to supply photos, etc for restoration guidelines should you need them. The Express is standard 145 throughout the floor pan, the exception being the cargo bulkhead attachment points. I haven't had the headliner down, so I cannot speak to the interior roof structure. The car had been put back into duty as a parts hauler-general purpose utility vehicle. It has been particularly handy for the restoration of my 87 245glt and 72 1800es. I've even had some compliments in parking lots and gas stations, though most people don't have a clue as to what it is when it passes them, except for that it is very tall and boxy..... haha.
Do keep us all informed as you make progress.
Cheers, BCMac