Dad's "£22,000" Volvo 850 AWD - Owned 23 years but now re-homed in Scotchland

[mk2_craig]

UPDATE JAN 2021 - S O L D and successfully exported

So back in 1997 my father was running an architectural practice .  He had bought out an existing partnership business at the start of the 1990s after his mother died and there was an inheritance that allowed him to quit his civil service job.  After a few fallow years there was suddenly a whole heap of work and dad did well for a while.  Eventually the accountants suggested that it would be wise for some of the profits to be reinvested in "assets" in order to get the tax bill down a bit.  Dad had been running mum's '92 AX GT as a sort of company car for site visits after her Punto ELX arrived in 1995:

While his own car was a Montego 2.0 LX of 1991 vintage, seen here waiting for the St Malo to Jersey ferry:

Anyway, the "earning too much money" problem was swiftly solved by chopping in the AX for a three year old Golf VR6 (which I regrettably never got the chance to drive) and, very soon after, dad handed over Montego plus about 18 grand in exchange for this late '96 Volvo 850 - the rare AWD model.  Yogging out a total sum getting on for £40k on shiny metal was massively extravagant in 1997 for a family used to relatively modest, run-of-the-mill cars but I wasnt complaining as I was on the point of starting university in Edinburgh and I got to drive it there full of student junk (mum drove it back empty).  Compared to the Montego it was like a spaceship and so smooth at the speeds of triple figures mph that I occasionally achieved on some private motorway north to Scotland.  Here it is circa 2002 in Livingston, next to my aunt's R-plate Charade that was eventually and somewhat unnecessarily scrappaged in 2010 against a new Hyundai i10:

And some other pics of it in mid-life doing general car stuff in various places.

Dad still owns it.  In fact dad's had it so long, it can be seen in the same place on aerial photos of their house twenty years apart (next to the since-departed Punto in the first one):

Dad bought the Volvo at about 5000 miles and it's now displaying 80-something thousand, though it's done that Volvo thing of the odometer failing years ago and I havent got round to asking the diagnostic system what the real mileage is, so who knows what the true reading should be.  It's hardly had any use in recent times, but dad's chucked it in for the occasional service and it's had various essential bits done when required, lately belts and brakes.

He's now thinking about moving it on and would like to identify a good home for it.  This is almost certainly not going to be here in Jersey.  I haven't seen another one for sale lately and I'm having trouble valuing it - in one sense it's an end of life car with some issues to work through, in another sense the 850 is now an appreciating classic with some daft asking prices on Ebay and such like.  Can I ask the AS Hive Mind what dad might expect to get for it and indeed, whether there's any serious interest in keeping it in the fold?  

Some more photos taken yesterday:

 

Points to note - giffer scratches here and there, the odd bit of damaged trim inside and out, ABS light on, handbrake has always been weak despite my attempts to adjust it at various points.  Reverse lamps sometimes function and sometimes not (the switch has already been replaced once), boot mounted CD changer has become inoperable.  Moderate lacquer peel starting to take effect on the roof, no doubt through having been parked in the same spot most days for over two decades.  Headlamp wash wipe disconnected ages ago and roller load cover has disintegrated (but is present), haven't checked the AC though everything else works including the power sunroof.

Good bits - mechanically great.  Superb 2.5 20 valve 5 cylinder engine, stock standard with about 193bhp from memory.  Starts runs drives stops just fine and still pulls really well.  4WD system all good.  5-speed manual gearbox as I think all the 850 AWDs were.  Changed the tailgate struts recently so no more bruised forehead!  Tyres ok and spare is matching full size alloy.  Original radio-cassette still in situ and working.  Paint generally not too bad, other than the roof and would hopefully respond well to a really decent polish.  Nice dark blue metallic.  Car is also great for general tat hauling, though it's never had a towbar fitted.

Opinions welcome - also listening to offers if someone's mad keen to own an 850 AWD.  Do bear in mind it'll need an MOT for the first time before a UK registration can be issued, though the car's not been run into the ground so hopefully there's no major obstacles to that happening.  Cheers!

 

[alcyonecorporation]

Will ask about values with my 850 guru m9. 

Does your family still own the green Panda Alessi? 

[motorpunk]

These are fabbo. What they're worth, though, is anyone's guess. Could be £500, could be £5000. 

 

[HMC]

# generic answers it’s worth what someone is prepared to pay. I await being corrected but I’d guess 500-1000 lower end here higher end elsewhere. If you out to maximise try car and classic at 1750 and sit back and see what comes in, you can always progressively drop it until someone bites.

[paulplom]

I paid £900 for my mint 1994 850 t-5 from @Ghosty of this parish. 

[mk2_craig]

1 hour ago, alcyonecorporation said:

Does your family still own the green Panda Alessi? 

Technically!  It's registered to me at this precise moment in time.  Next week will be different.

[mk2_craig]

34 minutes ago, HMC said:

# generic answers it’s worth what someone is prepared to pay. I await being corrected but I’d guess 500-1000 lower end here higher end elsewhere. If you out to maximise try car and classic at 1750 and sit back and see what comes in, you can always progressively drop it until someone bites.

Yeah naturally.  It's hard to get a feel for the market when there's so many people asking 5k plus for good 850s but then there's tatty 300 quid examples not selling.  This is definitely somewhere in between - but I probably need to discourage Dad from thinking that selling this'll fund a big chunk of a new car.  Me personally I'd be delighted with a bag of sand if it was mine to sell (I think he's had his money's worth)

[HMC]

I do agree it’s at that age where it’s hard to value- one mans e bay cars no reserve auction with mediocre pictures that tops out at £575 is another mans e bay classic cars classified ad with Best offer. £1995 with several paragraphs of writing; preferably with pictures outside a stately home and stripes on the boot carpet where the vac has just been.

[chodweaver]

Trim was always a bit fragile on these, so that's not necessarily a reason for this one to go for peanuts. A well looked after 850/V70 with that engine is a lovely motor. A neglected one, a money pit (ask me how I know). However, for it to fetch more than a grand, I feel it'd have to be close to immaculate CF Ghosty's >> paulplom.

Sent from my BV6000 using Tapatalk

[Ghosty]

2.5 20v nasp is 170bhp. 

[mk2_craig]

32 minutes ago, Ghosty said:

2.5 20v nasp is 170bhp. 

Aye - sorry this one does have a turbo, but presumably lighter pressure than the smaller-engined T5.  It's quick enough, though a little less rapid (and a lot less rancid) than the mobile biohazard T5 that has recently departed from my care*,  and it doesn't feature the boost gauge in the instrument cluster.  I guess the extra weight of the 4x4 gubbins also numbs acceleration to a small degree.

Here's a picture of the former being jump-started by the latter (this incident prompted renewal of the battery shortly afterwards)

 

[alcyonecorporation]

My guru m9 says 'a few hundred quid.'

[hairnet]

getting it off jersey will cause issues even at this time of year

mainly in the wallet

[Ghosty]

2 hours ago, mk2_craig said:

Aye - sorry this one does have a turbo, but presumably lighter pressure than the smaller-engined T5

Ah yes. 190hp then. 

[mk2_craig]

15 hours ago, hairnet said:

getting it off jersey will cause issues even at this time of year

mainly in the wallet

It’ll be fine. Happened once this summer already  

 

[Ohdearme]

18 hours ago, paulplom said:

I paid £900 for my mint 1994 850 t-5 from @Ghosty of this parish. 

I paid £500 for a 2.5T V70 of the same style about a year ago, so this is probably around the 500-800 mark? with added Jersey-ness who knows?

[Aston Martin]

On 9/10/2020 at 5:33 PM, hairnet said:

getting it off jersey will cause issues even at this time of year

mainly in the wallet

 

£35 flight there.

£155 ferry back.

[mk2_craig]

A belated thank you to everyone who took the trouble to offer some advice. Dad sold the car yesterday to one of my colleagues who is taking it with him when he moves to Scotland in a few weeks. I think the deal was done at £750. I’m sorry to see it go, it’s been in the family for more than half of my life!

[mk2_craig]

On 1/3/2021 at 5:05 PM, mk2_craig said:

A belated thank you to everyone who took the trouble to offer some advice. Dad sold the car yesterday to one of my colleagues who is taking it with him when he moves to Scotland in a few weeks. I think the deal was done at £750. I’m sorry to see it go, it’s been in the family for more than half of my life!

It’s on the boat tonight. Helping to maintain the population of these old heaps north of the border. 
 

[mk2_craig]

 

On 1/22/2021 at 3:55 PM, mk2_craig said:

It’s on the boat tonight. Helping to maintain the population of these old heaps north of the border. 
 

...and safely made it to its new home without having to get AA Relay involved, but I knew it would!

[mk2_craig]

Post-script. J76955 has been shown the inside of a test station:

Successful?

Ah. What’s up with it then?

ok, not too bad. Anything else?

Hmm. That’s got to be borderline worth fixing up. No corrosion issues at least!