For the price of another set of rear discs, you could have..

[Guest]

B[r]ought one of these.

 

 

As this is now the worst kept secret in the world, I might as well let it out of the bag.

 

I'm an Amazon owner first and foremost, but have wanted a 480 for a long time. I tried to buy a £130 Turbo from Retro Rides but was beaten by minutes by a member of the 480 Club Europe. I was somewhat gutted.

 

Anyway, with a small pot of surplus cash floating about, I spotted a [non-Turbo] ES on eBay down in Tonbridge. It seemed perfect for what I wanted and about the right price. £49, two train rides and a tube connection later, I ended up in Paddock Wood to drive it back to Manchester.

 

Upon seeing the car there were a few small problems which brought the price down by £100. The seller had recently had the cam belt changed, installed a CD head unit and left me half a tank of fuel, along with some new wiper blades and two new front tyres. It had been his daily driver while his Land Rover was being recommissioned.

 

Some more pictures to whet your appetites.

 

 

 

 

 

Aside from a couple of blown bulbs, everything electric on the car works perfectly. There's some previous receipts for reconditioning the pop ups and CEM module. I've just purchased a luggage cover, and aside from hunting down some better front and rear light clusters and a clutch cable (advert posted) the plan is to enjoy it and use it as a fun alternative to my Amazon which is currently SORN. Not that it's been forgotten.

 

We're thinking of using it as a pool car at NSJC Towers if any of our daily drivers fail to proceed. And no, it won't be replacing the C4 as my daily driver. It's too difficult to explain why.

 

I was thinking of writing a feature on this for the web reincarnation of Original Tin. What do you think?

[scaryoldcortina]

Nice, my sister had one of those about 10 years ago - was an early 480ES on an E plate. Lovely car to drive, extremely random electrics. Nothing could be relied on to work ALL the time, even the speedo took a huff and went off occasionally.

 

ps, if the £49 isn't a typo it's a huge bargain, especially with £100 off, lol.

[Guest]

At the moment I'm hunting for a clutch cable. GSF and Euro Car Parts can't help. Or eBay. Or Brookhouse.

 

So far I have Rybrook Volvo in Warrington who want £55 off me. That ain't happening. Anyone hear me?

[Guest]

Nice, my sister had one of those about 10 years ago - was an early 480ES on an E plate. Lovely car to drive, extremely random electrics. Nothing could be relied on to work ALL the time, even the speedo took a huff and went off occasionally.

 

ps, if the £49 isn't a typo it's a huge bargain, especially with £100 off, lol.

 

Erm, sorry that wasn't made clear.

The train down to Paddock Wood cost me £49. The car itself, after some vigorous discounting, stood me at £280. Still quite cheap, I think.

 

The electrics are notoriously shite on these. They'd been in production four years by the time the flatlands spat mine out. You'd think that would give them time to resolve all the issues, but despite this there's still rather too much correspondence in the service history relating to Info Centre \ CEM \ pop up repairs. Reassuring to know that everything's been attended to, but how long will it last for without attention?

[autofive]

my brother picked one of those up for free - from glasgow freecycle - taxed it and ran it plymouth to glasgow and back a few times then weighed it in

 

he liked it

[Guest]

my brother picked one of those up for free - from glasgow freecycle - taxed it and ran it plymouth to glasgow and back a few times then weighed it in

 

he liked it

 

Skills.

 

Doesn't bode well for a potential resale though.

[Lord Sterling]

Great looking car Wat, I've always admired these cars and always wanted to try one.

[barrett]

I was thinking of writing a feature on this for the web reincarnation of Original Tin.

 

Wasn't aware that was happening! Good news!

 

I like these Volvers, under £300 seems like a good price although I have no idea what they are 'worth'. that's a good price for any old road-worthy motor, factoring in the (possible) 'cool' factor and I reckon you've got a proper bargain.

[Volksy]

I like these, this one seems in pretty good nick for an old H plater (my Turbo was the same, and looked far rougher). They generally rot on the arches, you get water in the boot from the rear light clusters, which fade. The electrics on mine were ok, even the info centre worked... The black coating on the instruments often lifts around the odometer, jamming the speedo needle, which was handy in Cheshire with all the speed cameras..

 

They have quite a few trick features for the period though, including follow you home lights, and if you lift the outer door handle when it's dark, a little light should come on in the lock barrel to show you where it is.

 

I really liked mine, bought for similar money, but in far worse condition. Lasted me a couple of years then donated its guts to a 440.

[eddyramrod]

They have quite a few trick features for the period though, including follow you home lights, and if you lift the outer door handle when it's dark, a little light should come on in the lock barrel to show you where it is.

 

I had a 1979 Cadillac that did that...

 

Good buy there, by the way. I think even I would have bought that, and I'm Mr Deep-Pockets!

[M'coli]

Nice buy, these are such a stylish wee brief. Quite fancy one myself!

[dieselnutjob]

Renault turbo diesel conversion................

[Guest]

Renault Clio Williams conversion................

 

EFA.

[Station]

Are these really solid and built well? What is the ride like? They look great, I can't see them going any cheaper than that!

[Guest]

Are these really solid and built well? What is the ride like? They look great, I can't see them going any cheaper than that!

 

To answer your questions:

 

1. Not by Volvo standards, no. The build quality is...reasonable. That said, nothing's broken or fallen off, and the marginal construction means that it doesn't weigh an awful lot. With 102 bhp and so-short-you've-taken-my-kneecaps-off gearing, it's actually quite sprightly. Mine doesn't appear to leak either, which is a bonus.

 

2. Can't really comment on the ride yet, because I know the rear shocks are a bit shagged. It isn't under damped like the Amazon is, and it runs on 65 profile boots, so there's a bit of insulating squish from the tyres. It rears up under power and squats under braking, but it corners remarkably well once you're past the initial float. It certainly rolls less than my C4, although I imagine its mechanical grip is a fair bit lower. On my favoured back road it didn't do anything untoward, and my entry and exit speeds were similar to the Citroen. I reckon out of really tight bends you'd smoke the tyres in first and second because the motor buzzes its arse off.

 

The engine itself is a bit weird really, although I'm not that surprised given that it's a Renault lump. It's OHC, and fuel injected, but doesn't have a crossflow head. Odd. Allegedly the E2C is a distant relative of the F7R that went in the Clio Willams and Spider, so, perhaps E_R can pull a book out of his arse and confirm this. If this is the case then an engine swap might not be that hard and a 480 can win back some reverse engineering on behalf of its butchered Turbo brethren who often get ripped to pieces to soup up 5 GTTs.

[scruff]

Nice motor Wat! I would say £280 is a great deal.

[Guest Leonard Hatred]

Looks really tidy for a cheap 480, nice work hans_wat. Late '80s/early '90s shite coupe of choice, I've always fancied trying one.

[pompei]

Lovely! I've looked at a couple recently and both were as rusty as a tug boat. Yours looks well preserved.

[brammy777]

Great buy there wat, looks in good shape as well. They seem to be really quite uncommon cars now as well, the early ones in particular are pretty scarce. I remember back when they were more abundant Id always presume the owner was some eccentric/outward thinking individual, just because they looked really different.

[meggersdog]

Looks nice in that colour.I had an ES about 15 years ago,great car that was.The only problem I had in a year of ownership was a snapped drive-shaft.Totally without warning whilst turning sharp left the spline snapped inside the C.V. joint.The car was only about six years old at the time so all the electrics worked.I'd definately have another 480 ES.

[Gompo]

I really like these too.

 

The colour of the one you picked up must be the most popular colour they did them in? It's a cool colour, doesnt strike me as one that'd be particularly popular, but I cant think of many other colours they did them in. Red? A not overly light but not dark blue? Black?

 

Well done getting it anyway, they never seemed that many of them about, but you still see quite a few around even now.

[Negative Creep]

Love the pictures as well, especially the first one

[Guest]

Love the pictures as well, especially the first one

 

Salford has some epic photo locations. And a healthy supply of crack should I get bored of E_Pedant's unabated drivel.

Most of them were taken in my Uni car park, which used to be the Radox bath salt factory. The second photo was taken on Spaw Street which is just off the Trinity Way.

 

The colour is a weird one. It's a grey with a purple tint which comes across more in photographs. They did a birdshit white and a bizarre two tone turquoise \ silver combo on the later ESs, as well as BRG and burgundy on the Celebrations.

 

Also, I can't believe they made them until 1995. By then the one seven and the turbo had been discontinued and you could only have the 2 litre, which had near enough the same power as the Turbo but a bit less torque.

 

Fugging mentalists.

[Guest]

OMG LES FAULTS POUR LES 480 MERDE

 

1. Comedy creaking of rear suspension (suspect pish shocks or bushes)

2. Slightly sweaty rear arches

3. Fog lights (er, the very bottom ones) on strike

4. Rear signal fog in Coventry

5. Front brake pads low, like a tempting cleavage

6. NS pop up needs some 'greeeeeze' (SCTSH_ANDY word)

7. Clutch cable abrupt like a cat plummeting downward (squish)

8. Steering wheel slightly on the cock (but not eccentrically).

9. Exhaust downpipe \ manifold gasket - o - matic blowing like a farting cloud.

10. OS door bin cracked like Windows XP two months before launch.

 

Other than that - fairly peachy. Except I can't afford to retax the fucker till next month.

[warren t claim]

I'm ashamed to admit that I quite like the 480. As well as the Turbo ans ES model wasn't there a DHSS specced version or am I going senile?

[Guest]

I'm ashamed to admit that I quite like the 480. As well as the Turbo ans ES model wasn't there a DHSS specced version or am I going senile?

 

There was a super pov S, and a GT, which was a 2 litre. I think.

[warren t claim]

Is the 480 Dutch or Swedish? I can't be arsed looking it up.

[Guest]

Is the 480 Dutch or Swedish? I can't be arsed looking it up.

 

Dutch, Hutch.

[warren t claim]

Are they OHC? I can remember someone not a million miles away from a keyboard in Sale saying they hated OHC Volvos.

[Guest]

Are they OHC? I can remember someone not a million miles away from a keyboard in Sale saying they hated OHC Volvos

 

I also think E_R's a comedy genius. It doesn't have to make sense.