Putting their way into the better part of a half-century, they are the past and everything you could want out of the future—simple, overbuilt, and a pleasure to the eyes.

Down a potholed street in Seattle, WA, Matt Pollitz, owner of X-Ray Auto, makes his living keeping the country's largest vintage Volvo community on the road and out of the junkyard. Pollitz's garage is a living museum to these mid-century Swedish exports. Hoods and trunks, varied as the colors of a New England fall, line the walls like portraits of adopted children. Each contain a story known only to Pollitz.

"Before I had the shop, I was just an amateur Volvo owner like a lot of other people," he said. "I quickly learned the cheapest way to keep one going was to have a parts car available. Eventually, people started asking me to do repairs for them."