This sucks, but a man's gotta do...
It breaks my heart, but my beloved 740 must go. We're saving for a trip to Europe, and will try being a one-car family for a while. Sit down, relax, and let me tell you about this car.
I bought her from a fellow in Victoria, who worked for the local Volvo dealership. The car had been a trade-in from a local gent who'd owned it since new. The guy I bought it from did some totally half-arsed work on it (all resolved since) and sold it in turn to me in February of 2009. I drove it home over the Coquihalla at speeds I'd rather not talk about.
Why Victoria? It's the closest thing we have to a California climate. The cars there, if garaged, seem to not rust. The three cars I'd had previously all fell prey to the tinworm. I wanted to avoid that. And this car has done very, very well in that regard - I had it rustproofed and undercoated at Ziebart in the first few months I had her. She now has a five-inch line of rust on the leading edge of the hood over the passenger side headlights. And that is it. The car is rust free everywhere else, which is not something one can say about many 740's in Edmonton. I plan on touching up that spot on the hood.
The out-of-province inspection, done by Sandy Lane, turned up some issues - $3500 worth of issues - every dime of which I addressed. Leaky seals, timing belt, all other belts, a collapsed engine mount, a new alternator, o-rings on the oil feed for the turbo, etc. It ALL was dealt with, much to my initial chagrin.
But when I got out on the highway and jumped on the gas to pass a truck, and that truck disappeared in the mirror like it was never there, well, that's a very special thing, and worth the price of admission...
Service record? Oh, buddy, do I have a service record. Every oil change, every headlight, wiper blades, PCV service, the swanky Bosch Pilot NOS foglight covers I found, the mudflaps I brought in from Texas... The binder contains everything from the bill of sale to the $750 worth of synthetic oil, tranny fluid, and differential lube I put in it two weeks ago. In a triumph of an.l retentiveness, I even have a spreadsheet that shows every tank of gas I've ever put in her, as well as a running average mileage total - 25.2 MPG, but lately closer to 30 mpg. I must be getting old.
A year and a half ago, the turbo started showing signs of unhappiness. Thanks to the Calgary Volvo Club forum, I was put in touch with a good guy who sold me his dad's '89 740. That car gave up the needed turbo (still very tight) and a number of spare parts, including an instrument cluster, a set of blue and yellow Bilstien rear shocks, an alternator, a cool "decor panel" that fills the space between the tail lights, and a set of very good Hankook winter tires (two studded), mounted on Volvo factory alloy wheels. I still have this stash of parts. These go with her as well.
By the way, this car is a friggin' carnival ride in the winter - rear wheel drive and studded tires kick butt, and one feels quite the rally driver, hanging it out around corners. The heater is the most amazing one I've ever owned - start her up at -20C, and within four blocks of the house, you have usable heat. Within ten blocks, you're up to operating temps, and you have enough heat to ditch your coat. The block heater works as well as one expects, and she starts with the expected Swedish reliability.
The stereo that's in her is a Clarion, about six years old. It has an auxiliary input, accessible from the back. It's not the most up-to-date stereo, but it is acceptably loud. Be thankful it's not the WalMart POS she was saddled with when I took possession...
Unresolved issues:
1) light body damage - there's a golf-ball shaped ding in the top of the driver's side fender. I imagine a ding-removal place could massage that out.
2) When first started up, she wants to stall when you bump her into drive. This is managed by tweaking the throttle. Once you're going, she exhibits no predilection to stalling.
3) The headliner is drooping in the back. This doesn't really affect the driver at all, bit is a bit of a PITA to anyone in the back seat who's taller than 5'6". According to the folks at
http://www.turbobricks.com, this is a weekend job with the right materials and patience.
4) The driver's side seat heater is non-functional. Not sure about the passenger side. This is something that happens in these cars over time.
5) A slight demonic possession issue - ever since I've owned it, turning on the headlights on a cold morning causes the dashboard to "black out" - no speedo, tach, or gas gauge, but the temp gauge continues to function. This is remedied by running all the heat (which comes up fast, remember) through the driver's side dash vent. This moves enough heat into the instrument cluster / headlight switch that the problem resolves itself, the dash lights up and the gauges all come to life. I have no idea how this works. Perhaps elven forest magic or some kind of Swedish pagan thing involving blood sacrifice and herring. Personally, I think it's a bum connection in the headlight switch that swells into usefulness when heated. Never took the time to track that down. It's an annoyance, but certainly nothing major.
As far as I know, there are no other issues with this car.
There's a lot about this car that I could tell you. She's been a good old girl to me for the last three years and 41,000 km. But if I'm going to Europe, she has to go to someone else. If you think you might be that person, let me know and we can arrange a meeting and a test drive. I have no secrets here, and I despise jagoffs like the guy who sold me a car full of mysteries, deceit, and miserable little surprises I had to hunt down and resolve. I'm happy to send you to the two mechanics responsible for maintaining the car since I've had her, and they'll be happy to tell you what they know about her history.
BTW, the cool custom grille emblem comes from San Diego Old Town. I wish it was a bit bigger, but it's pretty close, and looks goofy/metal enough to make me laugh every time I look at it.
Thanks for looking,
Dan
Every dog has it's day once in awhile. Glad it worked out for you and that you got a decent price.