Weird Car’s weird cars! 'VOLVO LIFE IS HARD WORK’

[Christine]

Fantastic

[wesacosa]

Superb

Swapped for Herbie or you keeping both?

[Weird Car]

43 minutes ago, wesacosa said:

Superb

Swapped for Herbie or you keeping both?

Yep, straight swap for Herbie 

[Weird Car]

Little update, not a whole lot to report with the Electra other than it likes to piss me off, whenever I feel like I’ve made any level of progress about 30 other jobs make a debut “don’t buy from a dealer without viewing the car folks” 

Anyway, whist digging through the glovebox I happened upon this

 

Obviously name and address redacted but after a little FB search I found the previous owner who was thrilled to tell me a little about the car

 

absolutely blown away by the fact it’s been chopped, I had no idea, the roof doesn’t seem much lower in all honesty, it was also apparently found at the back of a local junkyard and pulled out to be restored.

He sent me this picture of its life in Florida also 

strikes me as odd that it’s had the roof painted in the last 2 years it’s spent in the UK though I must admit I do prefer the dark grey.

so yeah whist I’m not currently cruising down the seafront doing my best imitation of  Toad from American Graffiti, progress is happening and history is being discovered 

[calebaaront]

4 minutes ago, Weird Car said:

Little update, not a whole lot to report with the Electra other than it likes to piss me off, whenever I feel like I’ve made any level of progress about 30 other jobs make a debut “don’t buy from a dealer without viewing the car folks” 

Anyway, whist digging through the glovebox I happened upon this

 

Obviously name and address redacted but after a little FB search I found the previous owner who was thrilled to tell me a little about the car

 

absolutely blown away by the fact it’s been chopped, I had no idea, the roof doesn’t seem much lower in all honesty, it was also apparently found at the back of a local junkyard and pulled out to be restored.

He sent me this picture of its life in Florida also 

strikes me odd that it’s had the roof painted in the last 2 years it’s spent in the UK though I much admit I do prefer the dark grey.

so yeah whist I’m not currently cruising down the seafront doing my best imitation of  Toad from American Graffiti, progress is happening and history is being discovered 

What was his reaction when you told him it was in the Sunny State of Hampshire UK? 

[Weird Car]

Just now, calebaaront said:

What was his reaction when you told him it was in the Sunny State of Hampshire UK? 

He said he wished it wasn’t so far away so he could help work on it again 

[Weird Car]

Oh also forgot to properly announce it but yeah I now own the ex  @bramz7 Hyundai i40

and it’s been proving itself amazingly over the last month ish

covering close to 1500 miles in that time plodding up and down the south coast, the wheel wobble is a strange one, sometimes it’s barely noticeable and other times it’s damn right annoying, sometimes it almost feels like something is loose in the front subframe but other times it just feels like the wheels just want balancing, it’ll be getting investigated as soon as I’m able to use the Buick though.

but yeah overall for £595 I’m honestly thrilled with it! Even if I get it checked out and it turns out to be serious it’s already gotten me to work and back enough times that I’ve earned what I paid for it in wages so it’s basically been a free car 🤷🏻‍♀️😆 

 

I’ll also add, as someone who tends to daily classics, 40+ year old barely holding together chod, it’s been really weird and nice to have a car that just blends in with traffic, no strange glances from terrified onlookers, no sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that any minute something catastrophic is going to go wrong, just a comfortable no nonsense, modern daily, I quite enjoy that sometimes in all honesty. 

[Tommyboy12]

There's a reason one of my cars is built this millennium. Sometimes it's just nice to get to where you're needing to go 😅

[Andyrew]

Agreed,  you don't always have to like a car for what it is, just what it does for you.

Whether that is making you smile or just getting you where you want to go in the simplest way possibly. As long as you like something about it.

[Weird Car]

Ultimately I found the i40 a little dull compared to that there Buick 

 

So here's the new daily 

 

 

The ex @Marshall2810s dad 145 

But now sporting a new/refurbished gearbox as the last one unfortunately died not long after my friend bought the car, electric power steering added and a load of welding

 

I swapped my i40 and 3k for it and honestly feel like I've robbed him but he seemed very happy with the i40 and the money

 

[Marshall2810]

7 minutes ago, Weird Car said:

Ultimately I found the i40 a little dull compared to that there Buick 

 

So here's the new daily 

 

 

The ex @Marshall2810s dad 145 

But now sporting a new/refurbished gearbox as the last one unfortunately died not long after my friend bought the car, electric power steering added and a load of welding

 

I swapped my i40 and 3k for it and honestly feel like I've robbed him but he seemed very happy with the i40 and the money

 

Looks stunning, enjoy it and well done! 

Also very pleased to see the massive roof rack still in situ 😂

[wesacosa]

That's some two car garage...

How's the Buick coming along?

[Weird Car]

6 minutes ago, wesacosa said:

That's some two car garage...

It's definitely a pretty unique pair

 

6 minutes ago, wesacosa said:

How's the Buick coming along?

I had my first drive this Saturday just gone

She's definitely a beast, from a stand still anything more than a quarter throttle will spin the back wheels 

ignore the dirty windscreen and squeaky steering rack but overall it's coming along great, 'that bang was the exhaust hitting the ramp going into the car park by the way' lol 

 

 

[wesacosa]

7 minutes ago, Weird Car said:

It's definitely a pretty unique pair

 

I had my first drive this Saturday just gone

She's definitely a beast, from a stand still anything more than a quarter throttle will spin the back wheels 

ignore the dirty windscreen and squeaky steering rack but overall it's coming along great, 'that bang was the exhaust hitting the ramp going into the car park by the way' lol 

 

 

awesome, love it

[yes oui si]

1 hour ago, Weird Car said:

Ultimately I found the i40 a little dull compared to that there Buick 

 

So here's the new daily 

 

 

The ex @Marshall2810s dad 145 

But now sporting a new/refurbished gearbox as the last one unfortunately died not long after my friend bought the car, electric power steering added and a load of welding

 

I swapped my i40 and 3k for it and honestly feel like I've robbed him but he seemed very happy with the i40 and the money

 

HNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGG 

[yes oui si]

Sorry, got brought back to this thread by a notification.

I repeat: HNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGG 

[Tommyboy12]

That's a luuuuverlly Volvo. Very jealous

[captain_70s]

I'd sack the 740 off for a half decent 145...

Was tempted by this one but the 3-speed auto put me off. Is this still an auto or is it a manual swap?

[rusty_vw_man]

Everyone could have a car I am jealous of, I can accept that, but TWO - FFS that’s just greedy! 

What a great pair.

Off to look at massive yank mobiles for sale now…..

[Weird Car]

3 minutes ago, captain_70s said:

I'd sack the 740 off for a half decent 145...

Was tempted by this one but the 3-speed auto put me off. Is this still an auto or is it a manual swap?

Ironically I'd much prefer a 740 mostly for the nostalgia aspect as my neighbour had 2 when I was growing up but right now the 145 actually suits me better as it's everything exempt so will only cost me insurance and petrol

 

It's still an auto unfortunately

[Weird Car]

4 minutes ago, rusty_vw_man said:

Everyone could have a car I am jealous of, I can accept that, but TWO - FFS that’s just greedy! 

Sorry 🥲😆

[eddyramrod]

23 minutes ago, Weird Car said:

auto fortunately

EFA; the above is always correct!

And, excellent pairing!  I've had Detroit-and-Volvo before, more than once, and it couldn't be much better.

[Weird Car]

2 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

28 minutes ago, Weird Car said:

auto fortunately

EFA; the above is always correct!

I would normally agree but because I drive an auto all day for work I actually quite like driving home in a manual just to switch things up a bit

[captain_70s]

I like an auto, but a manual with overdrive is the best way to get a 140 that isn't doing 3,500rpm at 60mph...

I suspect you could fit a later AW70 auto from a 240 for decent motorway gearing although it'd probably be slow off the line.

[yes oui si]

13 hours ago, Weird Car said:

Ironically I'd much prefer a 740 mostly for the nostalgia aspect as my neighbour had 2 when I was growing up but right now the 145 actually suits me better as it's everything exempt so will only cost me insurance and petrol

 

It's still an auto unfortunately

Keep it auto, that way I can still hope to snaffle it one day 😁

[danthecapriman]

Love that pairing @Weird Car 👍

Volvo’s make superb daily drivers. An auto would be my choice hands down over a manual (fucking horrible things manuals!😄).

Back when I lived down your way there was a very very similar one of those 145’s on a drive down Victory Avenue near Horndean, usually there was a Volvo Amazon with it. Both were in use but I’d guess owned by someone retired as they didn’t seem to go out a great deal. I wonder if yours is that same car?

[Weird Car]

19 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

wonder if yours is that same car?

Mines had a quite a life in the last few years, was in London for a bit then way up north then Southampton and now Portsmouth so quite unlikely but I do know a guy in locksheath with 9 145 wagons including 2 express high tops, so chances are he might know  

 

Also just round the corner from me is this amazon that's been there years and has attracted enough attention that it now has a not for sale sign in the window 

[danthecapriman]

16 minutes ago, Weird Car said:

Mines had a quite a life in the last few years, was in London for a bit then way up north then Southampton and now Portsmouth so quite unlikely but I do know a guy in locksheath with 9 145 wagons including 2 express high tops, so chances are he might know  

 

Also just round the corner from me is this amazon that's been there years and has attracted enough attention that it now has a not for sale sign in the window 

I’ve just found that one I was on about, still there and definitely not your one. 
From Google earth but cropped out the house number.

[eddyramrod]

21 minutes ago, Weird Car said:

a guy in locksheath with 9 145 wagons

That's where my stepson lives!  (No, it isn't him...)

[wuvvum]

That Volvo is looking fantastic.  I know the BW35 is a horrible gearbox but with that, the e-PAS and the mahoosive steering wheel I imagine it's completely effortless to drive.