It is time to get serious about selling this car. When the weather cooperates and I have some free garage space & a block of time, I'll clean up the car and snap a few pictures. I've got a couple of things I need to take care of on the car before I show it to anyone, minor cosmetic stuff but nevertheless... So consider this the start of the for-sale thread of my 780.

I bought this car from John Grimsmo who got it from a father-son combo in Portland. When I bought it the car had a little over 185,000 miles and needed a lot of cosmetic work. I cleaned it up and refreshed a few parts and got it on the road. I have only driven it in the summer, and indeed I don't think ANYONE's driven it in a proper winter because it's completely rust-free. Every nut or bolt I've turned on this car has come apart without hassle, even the exhaust system came apart without more than a little penetrating oil, and I mean a little.

I've done some work to it - went through the motor, built an exhaust, and even built some headers. Some non-stock springs & shocks are in it (cut stock springs in front with Bilstein TC struts, progressive Toyota Previa rear springs in the back with modified Bilstein HD shocks) and it rides & handles fairly well. Goes way better than stock too, but is anything but fast. I painted the roof & trunklid in my garage but I haven't wet-sanded or polished it yet, so the badges are still in the trunk.

The car comes with everything that's bolted to it right now. The headers are not included, though you can have them for a few extra dollars. I've got another pair of Eagle Premier heads and a set of Volvo B280F cams and rockers, and a set of Eagle Premier pistons/rods/cylinders and crankshaft. I’ve got a B27 flywheel/bellhousing/clutch assembly, it would need to be modded to work with the B280 unless you went with an aftermarket EMS (a mounting pad for the crank trigger needs to be welded to the bellhousing, and the flywheel needs to be notched for the crank trigger). I’ve got a 3.31:1 rear end with a locker that would be desirable with an M46 swap. I’ve got a pile of extra little parts for this car that I will toss in for free – a dash cluster, some interior bits from a blue 740, etc. I’ve got a set of used winter tires on Hydra wheels that are available as well.

The windshield has a star that I got on the car’s maiden cruise. I had it filled at King’s Glass and though it didn’t disappear like I’d hoped, it hasn’t spread in 3 or 4 years. The power seats are sketchy – some of the controls work one way but not the other, some not at all. The heated seats do not work, but the heated mirrors do. The dash is cracked and the leather’s seen better days, the driver’s door panel was in a sorry state when I got the car and I patched it up but it’s not perfect. The wood needs to be restored. One of the headlights sweats a little and one of the taillights is cracked near the license plate, but both look and work just fine. Not much more to complain about – it’s mostly cosmetic and I’d drive the car across the country tomorrow if I needed to.

The condensed version of the full thread is here: viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1043 I haven’t kept it up to date after getting it running – I got the air conditioning working and it blows cold, I reconfigured the exhaust a little bit and put the Eagle Premier manifolds on to quiet it down a little. Didn’t hurt the power too much, but I did notice a drop in low-midrange torque, exactly what I expected.

I’d like to get $3500 for the car, but I am open to negotiation. Parts are extra, as I mentioned, but I would do a package deal.

You will never see a more honest (bordering on critical) description of a car by a guy trying to sell said car. In spite of all the critical points Matt raised, this is a car most guys (other than Coburn maybe ) would be proud to drive down the road. I only wish my 740 was as well sorted...

This.

As Dale states Matt definitely under promises and over delivers, what he sees as defects most others don't even notice. Anyone interested in this car should definitely take the time to read through the build thread to see the level of detail that went in to this car, and the engine in particular.

Definition of "understatement".

This is a reply I was going to post on Facebook for a friend, but instead I'm directing her here for more information, and am putting all of this here for further full disclosure. I'm also moving the thread to the public area so anyone can see it. Here we go:

The 780 was a special model that North America saw between 1987 and 1991. Based on the then top-of-the-line 760, Volvo shipped around 9500 cars to the Italian coachbuilder Bertone, who were commissioned to create a luxurious personal coupé that was unique but still recognizable as a Volvo. Bertone redesigned every piece of glass, every lamp, every piece of sheetmetal, and every piece of interior, and made one of the prettiest cars to carry a Volvo badge.

I'm guessing that by now you've google imaged this thing to see what it looks like, and have noticed that it's got 2 doors like all personal luxury coupés do. The passenger seat flips forward and there's a button (that works most of the time) to power the seat forward for better access to the rear. The rear is a good place to put things, but not only aren't there doors but there aren't opening windows or is there much headroom back there, but there are cool "opera lights" for each passenger. My daughter is quite happy back there but on a very hot day sometimes the A/C can't keep it cool enough for her and we have to run around with the windows open.

Getting out of design flaws and the hints about what you're in for, this is where I should talk about this car's unique history. It spent most of it's life in Oregon, and when I bought it about 5 years ago it was generally in good shape but had been neglected. Due to a leak in the moon roof, the headliner was mouldy and falling down, and the back seats were a little water damaged. I've repaired and cleaned the headliner and had the leather seatback patched up. I applied some silicone to the roof still and it drips a little but only a few drops after a car wash or a lot of rain - in Portland it might still be an issue but in Calgary it's just a personality trait. The driver's door panel was falling apart and I patched it back up as well but to be 100% a more professional job or a replacement is needed. All the wood needs to be refinished. The gas and temperature gauges sometimes stick at E and C, but flicking the instruments with your finger brings them back to life. The power seats kinda work - some switches do and some don't - but aside from the driver recline (broken drive cable, but adjusts with a screwdriver from the outside too) all of them could be fixed with donor switch parts and some elbow grease. I got the driver seat where I wanted it and never changed it except for some slight fore-aft adjustments, which still does work. I have a stock stereo I'll send with it because it's unique to that car - some of the lights don't work but the radio works fine.

Mechanically, the car is in pretty good shape considering it's years and miles. The brakes are all relatively new, the front shocks (struts) are new, the rears are a little older but are high quality and still work great. The transmission shifts well and the driveshaft has new universal joints and support bearing. The differential got new seals, and nothing drips on the ground from anywhere on the car. I went through the engine one winter and was amazed by the condition it was in - fantastic for a used engine but astounding for it's nearly 200,000 miles. I cleaned it all up and with new gaskets, seals, and some other bits, it runs like a little jewel. I DID use some different pieces and though they all belong on that engine family, they have different mounts for things like air conditioning compressors, oil filler locations, etc. I've solved all of those issues but if you ever need to replace a part it might turn into another problem solving session for you. The A/C hoses sweat a little but the system is properly charged with Dura-Cool, a refrigerent that anyone can buy from an auto parts store and recharge their own air conditioner with.

What more can I say that isn't written somewhere else? Give me a call and come see it.

Understatement of the year...this car for this year was one of the best looking things on the road. It still looks very modern to my eye and the proportions are wonderful. GLWS.

Boink.

Car's in the garage, am going to start tidying it up and snapping pictures soon.

Now with 100% more kijiji:

http://calgary.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehicle ... Z463455566

Awesome Matt! Good luck with the sale.

Thanks, I'll need it.