Mackeever Coates

A lifelong Volvo passenger-turned-driver at 16 with her 740 GL wagon, Mackeever is currently the very proud owner of her four Volvos. From Charlotte, NC, she is an automotive and motorsport photographer, and travels whenever possible. She and her fiancé have camped all over the United States, and even Canada, in the same 740 she got at 16.

Naomi Howe

VCOA First Lady from the distant past, with the distinction of having been married to two of VCOA's seven founding members. Mother of Gen X/Millennial Volvo dudes Jesse and Dana Howe (aka "Daddy Turbobricks.")

Hussein Holland
Hussein has owned and worked on Volvos since 1981, about a year after moving to New York from the UK. Over the decades, he has owned 140's, 164's, 240's, 740's, 940's, 960's, P80's, and a 2012 C30T5—modifying each to a greater or lesser extent. From the mid-80s to early 90s, he worked in both wholesale and retail Volvo parts sales. In recent years, he's undertaken two ambitious projects: converting his C30 to AWD using a '05 S40 as a donor, and transforming his 1991 745 into a fully functioning pickup truck, complete with a mid-gate. He recently relocated to Ithaca, NY, in part to be closer to fellow Volvo enthusiasts.

Ron Kwas

Ron has been a Volvo owner for over 50 years.  He first fell in love with the marque when his dad purchased a used 1966 122 in 1970.  He was impressed with the engineering, materials, design, and how simple, and actually pleasurable the vehicle was to maintain and repair.  

Ron bought his own first Volvo, a 1967 122 wagon in 1974, the year he and Wendy started dating and in time, convinced her she also needed one!  It was a 1967 1800S.  Their friends, Dave and Gretchen Adams, owning 210, 122 and 140 models, lived nearby, and the two men would help each other with automotive projects.

The extensive experience and knowledge of the vintage Volvos Ron gained over time, motivated him to engineer solutions for his own cars, addressing mostly electrical, but not only, weaknesses which develop after many years and miles, to keep these Sweden Steel beauties on the road.  Since the inception of the Internet, he is able to share this knowledge with other vintage Volvo owners in technical articles and offers the kits he has developed, through his Swedish Embassy Volvo Website.  That name came from (also a Volvo driving) friend, who on visiting their apartment and seeing at all the cars in the parking lot...said "it looks like the Swedish Embassy", and the name stuck!  Ron is currently working on a tester/dyne/demonstrater for the Bosch D-Jetronic Fuel Injection System as used starting in model year 1969.    

Over the years he and his wife, Wendy, have owned many models of Volvos, and they just took delivery of a new V60 with which they will be attending the VCOA meet.  They are lifelong residents of West Hartford, Connecticut.  Ron has an engineering degree from the University of Hartford and spent his career working in aerospace, commercial and industrial engineering.  He is now retired.  Ron is bilingual, having been born in the US but spending his formative years in Germany.

His hobbies include vintage Volvos obviously, also electronics, amateur radio, fixing whatever needs it, hiking, traveling and spending time with his family since recently becoming a grandfather.