Sometimes, all it takes is a specific kind of car in the “right” type of condition to bring about full flashback. A beater condition seventies Volvo? With mange-like paint condition, and all sorts of paint/body damage that makes you wonder if the car was near the Chernobyl fallout? Talk about a flood of memories!
If you lived in the Bay Area in the ’90s, that is. Though I suspect we weren’t the only place with beater Volvos back then, so go ahead and speak from your experience.
Still, walking and driving around those California streets in those grunge days, junky Volvos were a very common sight. Today’s sample being a prime example of the type I often saw near my Potrero Hill workplace; and for all I know, this one is San Salvador could be one of those. After all, this grungy 144 is a US sourced gray import, as its American sized bumpers show. And well, Volvo was not sold here in the ’70s, so, easy guess.
But in this condition, who brought this over? Someone who loved it? Well, it was probably better looking when it arrived through local customs. What can’t be denied is that someone still loves it. Do old Volvos last forever, or do their owners just drive them forever?
I don’t have an answer to that question, but I did know at least one person who seemed incapable of getting rid of his beater Volvo. And as far as I remember, had the worst interior I ever sat in.
The worst or the most peculiar? I’m still making up my mind about that, but it’s one or the other. Perhaps both? It was a coworker’s mid-’70s 240 burgundy sedan, with better paint presentation than today’s; however, his had the typical no-grille setup with headlights barely hanging in place (such a beater classic trait!). Body had the occasional dent, though I can’t recall there being much rust. Not that I can remember its exterior a whole lot. Instead, it was the interior that took over most of my memory cells…
Now, seating areas were junker standard; missing door panels with exposed innards, with dirty seats and carpet. Where there was carpet, that is. Plus, an additional assortment of tools scattered around. The tools were no surprise, as my coworker pal was quite handy with those. And well, they also probably saw a good deal of use to fix whatever went out of whack with the car’s flimsy, non-original dashboard…
Instead of the OE plastic molded dashboard, all instruments were now placed on a handmade, skitterish wooden built, structure. Thin and exposed 2×2 pine boards, in reasonably decent assembly, holding radio, heater, instrument cluster, and so on. All along with exposed electrical wiring. A setup that, now that I think about it, I’m glad never came across the local fire department inspectors.
Regrettably, I got no photos of the thing (Hey, film was expensive!). And the above image from an unrelated car found on the internet is too clean a professional creation to really give you an idea. Still, I think I can do better…
There! That halfway done pine-tree bench is a lot closer to the Volvo’s instrument panel, as it was. Not that it was necessarily an uncomfortable place to sit in the times we went out together for lunch, but I’m glad he always took me to nearby places on surface streets. I always wondered how impact-ready that contraption was:
- You had to see it to believe it… the way the passenger’s skull was pierced by that piece of wood… horrible!
- They drove into a tree… on the freeway?
- Nope, it came from the dashboard!
- Whaaat?
In any case, it was fun to come across today’s clunker Volvo. After all, as far as I can tell, those ones are becoming a rarity. Instead, this one found by J.C. and posted at the CC Cohort, is the way old ones tend to look nowadays. Likely a testament to the better assembly from the late 1970s and on. Nice to know they go cleaner in the long run for their owners’ sake, even if they’re far less characterful.
Now, about the fate of the beater Volvo. After the dot-com bubble went bust in the early 2000s we were all naturally let go, and the car was placed on sale. I more or less remember my coworker pal asking for some absurd amount of money at first (Trying to recoup the cash he spent on 2×2 pine boards? His hand labor? An expensive engine fix?). It dropped soon after to $500, and then to $250. Not sure if he ever sold it or went to some scrapyard, but it did disappear from our lives fairly quickly.
Not sure if that was the worst interior I ever sat in, but it certainly was a peculiar and memorable one. So, how about you?
I had a 1975 245 Volvo. Loved the car, and had a 4.3L Chev V6 and built THM 700-R4 to swap into it. Life interfered, long story short, all got sold, for a small profit. Since I’m allowed to edit on the rare occasion, this was 1995
I have two. First was a late 60’s Chevy van that neighbor would drive me to school in. Mr Biaira was a plumber and even though it was only a few years old, it was beat to crap, rusty, smelled like a mix of mold and poo. Passenger seat was pretty bad and the dash was loaded with debris. Kinda of odd as his wife’s car, a green 72 Luxury LeMans was spotless. Second were the Chevy and Ford pickups at the landscaping company where I worked as the safety manager.All were extremely bad. Seat bottoms torn up and covered with dirty cardboard, what foam/cloth was left was a greasy black mess. All were factory ordered in cloth.Floor boards filled with rocks, mulch, and garbage. Laborers and field managers worked 12 hours a day weren’t given any time to anything but ride a mower or hold a weed Wacker. I was instantly shot down by the owner for suggesting I start a rotation of reupholstering at least the driver’s seats in thick vinyl.
Even in those terrible conditions, the old yellow Volvo will take you to the end of the earth.
There’s no car more indestructible than that Volvo (yes, the Mercedes 123 is also).
I’ve just returned from a trip to the furthest NW corner of the Lower 48, where I was pleasantly surprised to see a handful of Volvo 245 still doing what they do best. Mental calculations tell me they are 32-51 years old by now.
If you were in Port Townsend, that seems to be the retirement destination for old 240s in the Pacific NW.
Our 1957 Plymouth burned. FD determined it was an electrical fire. The interior was literally burnt toast. A friend rigged it up so that it could be started and driven. We had no choice. We had no money. For two months we drove that stinking heap, but only when we had to.
That DIY dashboard and center console have really got my creative juices flowing and I highly approve of it. Is it safe? No, not by any stretch of the imagination but I do enjoy seeing such things reimagined. The center iPad/ tablet is a fun addition that brings technology up to current offerings even if it’s just for entertainment and not true functionality. Perhaps they will install simple hinged covers on the dash allowing instant access to HVAC and electrical components saving the hours it would normally take to remove a typical dashboard to access them. Brilliant I say. The seats appear to be stock and should remain as such as they are critical for safety. As mentioned previously they either love this Volvo or financial limitations do not allow them to move on but most likely it’s a combination of both. Either way this Volvo is a great example of adapting to ones circumstances and keeping another CC on the road for us to enjoy. Perhaps in a couple years it will get a fresh coat of paint in a cyber mod theme to match the reworked interior and make all of us scratch our heads as to why. And to that I simply say why not?
The back seat of a two year old Morris (Austin to you in the US) Marina taxi in Singapore.
It was so saggy that occupants could hardly see out and the door trims were totally abused. The interior door handles were also broken and the jagged plastic could cut your fingers if you weren’t careful using them.
Nice Chevrolet Airbag
In 1996 I decided to begin dating again and my crappy vehicles weren’t going to cut it so I headed to the L.A.P.D. impound auction at the far end of the block I worked on ~ I bought a 1970 Volvo 144S, looked similar to this but was sort of lavender in color (factory color), it had been impounded from a drunk driver, I paid $125 for it and drove it a few years .
A decent car that was horribly slow up hills but had sufficient road holding the scare the bejeebers out of my passengers going down hill in the canyons / mountains .
In the 1980’s my then father in law living in Guatemala City C.A. scored a 196? Volvo Amazon two door sedan, he loved it to pieces, when he torrential rains filled the foot wells he simply drilled drain holes in the rear foot wells .
-Nate
1973 or ’74, my least favorite 140, plastic grille, new dash and rear lights I didn’t like, but retained the B20 engine. Still, they will last a long time!