Classic Volvo's

[WPR678B]

I know there are people on here that own other classics besides their Minors and i was just wondering if there were any fellow classic Volvo owners on here?
I have wanted a Volvo 145 estate for a while now and have finally bit the bullet and bought one and have joined the Volvo forum but was just interested if anyone else on here had one?

[Plin]

Whilst not in the same classic status as yours we have a 1969 Minor LCV and a 1990 Volvo 740 estate stablemate. Have owned both a several years and Volvo is a great workhorse and sheer luxury to drive compared to the LCV but not as much fun as the van of course! Have fun with your fleet! Plin

[WPR678B]

Excellent! I currently run a 1995 5 series BMW estate alongside my Pick up, but wanted a classic with more room that could eventually replace the BMW when it gets retired.
The Volvo is not roadworthy at the moment though
Been sat in a farmyard for the past 2 years and is in need of a little welding and tlc to say the least! [frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

[paulk]

Excellent.

I had a 240 for a while and it was lovely to drive.
Which engine is it?

[bmcecosse]

And free road tax I assume! Stick an LPG kit on it - and cheap motoring will be yours.

[WPR678B]

Paul, its the B20 (2 litre single carb) and it runs like a dream! (well it did when we eventually got it going! Loads of water in the fuel and only 2 HT leads that were doing anything as the other 2 had corroded away!!)
It only has 64K on it so its nearly run in!!

Roy, Yes, free road tax and LPG is an option i am thinking about as a 2 litre will be expensive to run compared to the Minor!!

[bmcecosse]

Lovely! Nice car.

[WPR678B]

Thanks Roy. Its not that lovely at the moment but has great potential!!
I hate to say it though, it has discs all round! (runs and hides!! )

[plastic_orange]

My father ran a J reg 145 for years - to around 350,000 miles. It was rather rusty by this time though, although pretty reliable. He then had 2 x 245's then a 244, and whilst reliable weren't as well made as the 145.

Pete

[paulk]

Only car I ever owned that at 26 years old you could undo the bolts on the suspension without a blow torch. Underneath looked practicully new.

I suppose Mpg is all relative. In its day it was kind of reasonable for such a big (by 1960's ) standards car.

I bet it now looks tiny alongside modern Mercs and even Mondeo's. Its alot lighter too

[mmjosh]

my mate has a 1967 volvo amazon 122s with twin carbs

[WPR678B]

My father ran a J reg 145 for years - to around 350,000 miles. It was rather rusty by this time though, although pretty reliable. He then had 2 x 245's then a 244, and whilst reliable weren't as well made as the 145.

Pete

My father ran an F reg 145 for many years and covered many 1000's of miles, hence the purchase and trip down memory lane!
Rust killed that one as well and the K reg 145 he got to replace it had the early fuel injection on that gave him nothing but trouble so he didn't have that long!!
After that he stuck with Minors and has only just gone away from them as a daily driver

Paul, i have yet to work on it properly, so am unsure what its like under there, but it looks clean enough, so fingers crossed!

[ASL642]

Nice car Carlo. My daily workhorse = Volvo S70. Used to drive a Volvo 245 DL auto at work. Brilliant car, don't think you can beat them, spacious and v. reliable.

[WPR678B]

Thanks! Started to dig around it a bit today as i knew there were rust issue's under the arches, but one side was as expected and the other was much better!
Managed to find a small hole (1cm) in the passengers rear floor after giving it a thorough scrape and a couple of pin holes, but otherwise still looking good!
Parts are looking to be a bit of an issue though for this model. Have joined the Volvo owners club and am waiting for the info to come through and hopefully some specialist suppliers will be listed! Found a few on-line, but no online lists for this model!!

[Mike Shipman]

Hi Carlo - great looking car!
I was sorely tempted by a Volvo Amazon estate at Beaulieu Motors a few years ago but it was pristine and £11K !
A friend of mine has just got a 245 (!?) estate and loves it.
Still hoping to get along to a SADMOG meet sometime!
Cheers, Mike.

[WPR678B]

An Amazon estate was the other option, but i much prefer the 145 for various sentimental reasons!
I was quite young when the Amazon estate we had was replaced with the 145 so have more memories of this model, hence my choice!
Just got to get it up together now, but other things to do before i get too stuck into the Volvo!!
I had forgotten just how big the load area is on them!! [frame][/frame]

[nigelr2000]

Yup had an L reg one in the early eighties and went to various hippy festivals and slept comfortably in the back of it, rust killed my one too. Slow lumbering but felt really good to drive, mine also had a screwdriver to start it as the ingnition key had gone missing, lots of people asked why I carried a screwdriver everywhere ??

It also had a dodgy balljoint bit on the accelerator so if you gave it a bootfull the coupling fell off neccesatating pulling over to re assemble it so not much good at screaming away from the lights !!

Had an awfull lot of fun in it tho.

[Blaketon]

My father had a 245 DL new in 1975. It was a very good car; not madly exiting but good. If I'm honest, the paintwork wasn't quite as good as that on my mother's VW Beetle but the Beetle was quite exceptional in that respect. The Volvo was very very good.

I did toy with the idea of an Amazon Estate when I bought the Traveller (A late friend of mine used to rally and hillclimb a saloon; it was admittedly modified but it went very well) but I wasn't entirely sure as to whether spares would have been in the Minor league (Any Volvo owners car to comment), where you can still get the bitty things like badges. There was also the fact that the Traveller takes up less room in the garage, which it shares with and MGB GT V8 and an MG Midget.

So yes I have other classics and no I have no "Moderns".

[WPR678B]

Thanks for all of your replies!
I am in the process of finding out about parts for them, and i must admit, its not as easy as finding Minor stuff, thats for sure
Make me realise how good the Minor parts supply actually is!

[patricklambert]

this threads a banger racers dream i do love a big volvo! wouldnt mind one of those 262?coupes