Collection mission complete - *SVM INTENSIFIES*

[cobblers]

16 minutes ago, Jim Bell said:

Have you got Spaceballs?

No, it's just the way my underpants have been ironed

[Fumbler]

Mega.

[captain_70s]

Full update to follow, but I made it home, after several hours of being stuck in traffic on the M6/61, at around 17:00.

Overall impression of the car is good, it runs, drives and rides beautifully and features structural bits made of metal rather than dreams.

It looks like arse, due to a dire blow over in white from the original metallic grey because of it's prior use as a site safety/first aid car. Also a few odd electrical gremlins ranging from amusingly quirky to fairly irritating. 

[bicycle repairman]

got its older bruv  lol

[hairnet]

2 hours ago, bicycle repairman said:

got its older bruv  lol

hnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg *falls off chair

[sdkrc]

Any plans to upgrade/modify/tinker beyond the electrical gremlins?

[captain_70s]

8 hours ago, sdkrc said:

Any plans to upgrade/modify/tinker beyond the electrical gremlins?

I kinda love this as tasteless as it is.

Collectioning was fairly painless, aside from the 5am start. @davidfowler2000 gave me a lift all the way down to Stoke On Trent as he was enroute to the FoD meetup. I gave the car a quick prod, took for a quick spin. It was as described, seller had several other aged Volvos kicking about. Money was exchanged, insurance and tax done via phone and I hit the road.

As a bonus Saturday was Girlfriend_70's birthday, so I'd assured her that I'd be at her place for dinner for the mid afternoon. Naturally somebody crashed on the M6 in the bank holiday rush for the Lakes and fucked the traffic, I took a detour along the M61 to try and avoid it and somebody smashed their car there too.  This resulted me in being 2 hours behind schedule by the time I got past Preston. Now, the car had been sat for 16 years and had only done 50ish miles since being returned to the road so I'd been going fairly gently but I was quite desperate to make back time. A permeant position in lane 3 among the powerfully built company directors in German tin was adopted and I headed north at speeds that shan't be disclosed for legal reasons.

I arrived at Glasgow for 17:30 after about 6.5 hours on the road.

Right, the caur.

So, like my old one it's an 1989 F reg 740 estate in white. Unlike my old one it's a 2.3 with the ZF gearbox. It's also a GLE rather than a GL (check the alloy wheels and stainless hubcaps). I bought it on eBay for £700 unseen, because I vowed to never do that again.

124,000 on the clock, engine is sweet as a nut and freshly serviced, gearbox is smooth, it rides well, steers well and stops well. Tyres are a mix of part worns which are a million times better than the billion year old rubber on my old one.

The interior and headlining has been replaced with one from a spares car of unknown age, it's all pretty decent.

The body looks awful, it's been blown over in white from metallic grey, at least twice. It is, however, dent and rust free. Underneath it needs a bit of work to the driver's side front floor but the chassis, sills and inner arches are all grand

Electrics are comedy spec. Everything important works but using headlights or indicators activates the rear wiper and intermittent wipe is extra intermittent. The under car fuel pump also whines and I don't have the radio code although it does power on the aerial goes up.

For £700 it's a bit of a steal, that's parts car money. 11 months MOT so no urgent rush to fuck about with it. I'll give it a proper going over over the next week, I've been busy since getting it back.

 

Here are the details and overall grimness.

It's very shite. It's story will continue on my fleet thread.

[RobT]

Blimey, that is a bargain for a tested 740 these days.  Buying unseen is the best way to do it too.

[Amishtat]

Can't argue with that for the price. Nice one

[big_al_granvia]

bonus bravery points for doing a roadtrip on the burd's birthday, she could have come with you and you could have had a romantic meal at carnforth services, sure she would have loved that...... volvo looks braw, fresh ticket means plenty of solid steel, paint is err iffy but you oont buy a volvo for looks. top chod and a good daily

[danthecapriman]

Correct spec, correct engine, correct transmission. Done well!👍

Would the white power wash off leaving the original paint? Or has that been destroyed before the white went on?

[juular]

Sucking fuperb.

B230E? I think these have two pumps, when one dies the other starts making itself known.

Great buy. I especially like the paint detail on the wings!

 

[Tadhg Tiogar]

12 hours ago, sdkrc said:

....

Malaysia. You can tell by the broken monsoon drain cover....

[vulgalour]

It's alright is that (the white one) and I don't hate it as much as I feel I really ought to (the orange one).

[captain_70s]

I suspect the grey paint will be fubar, there are several coats of white in several shades. The first was probably half decent, the car is registered as white with the body type as "ambulance"...

There are two fuel pumps, but the PO drained and flushed the tank and tested the in tank pump and it seemed to work. This doesn't mean it hasn't previously died and overworked the other one mind.