My Uncle Dave, the accidental tourist, recently returned from yet another trip. While searching for his car in the Cedar Rapids airport, he came across this very clean 1996 or 1997 850 Turbo. Despite his jet lag, he managed to take a couple pictures. He has been having good luck finding red Volvos lately.
Its amazing how quickly 850’s and v70s have disappeared. These used to be everywhere, even two or three years ago. Now, at least in England, you’re more likely to see a 2/7/900 series than an 850. I guess that’s what happens when Volvo decided to go wrong-wheel-drive.
In the UK, the 850 was the start of a relationship with the highway patrol across the country. The combination of turbocharged horsepower with a boot big enough for cones, dogs, and other related gubbins, proved their worth to the force. Over time, I became as good at recognising these in my mirror as I used to be at spotting the squinty face of a crown vic when I lived in the states.
In the mutual grumpiness between smug Ovlovians, whose driving style tends towards the sanctimonious, and the Audi/BMW brigade who drive like… well, BMW drivers, the 850 was the final check and mate. Previously, the only way a Volvo could infuriate a BMW driver was by driving slowly in the fast lane, which we did and still do with a level of smugness that our steeds instill. When said BMW driver gets angry and passes us on the outside above the speed limit, the motorway patrol 850 then swoops in for the kill- at which point the 240 in the fast lane passes by at a safe speed and winks at the copper knowingly.
There are still plenty of 850s and S/V70 cars around Seattle. I’m surprised as the common knowledge on the Volvo boards was that the inline-5 was nowhere near as durable as the four cylinder “red block” B230 engines in the 700/900 cars. Ditto for the automatic gearbox, the 700/900 had the bombproof AW71 4-speed automatic whereas the 850 was supposed to have a much more fragile transmission due to the front drive packaging.
So you Olov owners do that deliberately I have given a Ovlov a helping hand before putting my bullbar agaist their rear bumper and accelerating it amazing how well an Ovlov will go with a rear mounted hemi 6
My sister had one of those back in the mid-90’s. Liked the car, although Beth’s comment was, “If it wasn’t for the turbo, this car would be insufferably boring. With the turbo, it still borders on insufferably boring.”
The ultimate test of an automobile is: How many are still on the road ten years later? Twenty years later? Thirty years later? For instance, you see lots of old Chevy and Ford trucks; not so many International and Dodge trucks. Of course, this is tempered by the fact that if more cars are produced, more have a chance of surviving… which also shows that after MILLIONS of Yugos were made, very few survive; and the Volvo 240, though produced in fewer numbers than the VW Beetle, is more readily found in many cities… Same for the once ubiquitous Citroen 2CV, now rarely seen, but produced in the millions, whilst its counterpart, the original Mini, can still be spotted around the UK and Australia.
Well, it’s going to be a decade or two before I whip out my camera to shoot one of these. This is a pretty new car in my neck of the woods, and they’re all-too common.
Its funny, after the first red one you posted I’ve been seeing more and more of them. Maybe I just wasn’t paying enough attention..