(Connor Kleck’s COAL Series picks up again from where it left off here) It was 2013, I was graduating high school and headed to college, and I was on the hunt for my first older Volvo. I had my ’08 XC90, but there’s something about an old Volvo. I loved the way that they looked- boxy, but cool right?
During this time I had also started a local Volvo chapter through Volvo Club of America. I managed to rally 20 loyal Volvo owners in my area and name us as an official chapter of VCOA. We called ourselves The Ozark Rollers and are still active today. Through this club I was able to meet many interesting people, one of which owned a Volvo junk yard near me. I visited his place a few times and noticed this blue 740 GLE (appearing to be complete) toward the end of a row. After talking to him, I discovered that the rear main seal leaked so badly that the driver just sold it to him for scrap. My lucky day.
I was able to talk him into selling me the car for $500 and he was nice enough to help me get the car road worthy. Having no mechanical experience in my young life, I mainly watched and learned as he worked his Volvo magic. The rear main seal was first, then tires, brakes were fine, and a quick recharge of the AC. The gas of course had gone bad, so after draining it and putting fresh gas in, it fired right up. To my surprise the Volvo acted like the few years it sat were nothing at all. This thing didn’t miss a beat.
As you can see, the car was a baby blue (simply called “light blue” by Volvo). Originally the interior was a blue velour that had just faded to a strange shade of olive green. The seats were still in good shape thankfully, but all Volvos of this era that had velour faded in some shape or form. The headliner was sagging in the rear, which I fixed with some pins. Power windows, crank sunroof, AC, and all gauges just worked like it was new. I recall it had about 250,000 miles on it but it could have passed for less.
I drove the car an hour home without incident. I used it to drive around town just for fun. I loved it. The car had been in an accident earlier in its life and repaired, as you can see by the different color rear quarter panel. The paint wasn’t really faded anywhere else, but it did have some hail damage on it. In the trunk of the car was a massive binder full of service records. The car had been serviced by my friend who helped me bring it back to life, so he knew the car very well.
The summer of 2013 was a particular scorcher. And that’s saying something for Arkansas. I had taken the car to run an errand and as I was about home the car died. I coasted over to a side street and panicked a little bit. I sat there waiting for a few minutes and, low and behold, after a few tries it fired right back up and I drove ole blue home. I now look back and think that it might have vapor locked on me. Regardless, it never happened again and that was the only thing that ever remotely went wrong with it.
Speaking of mechanical, the car was equipped with an in-line 4 cylinder engine and a 4 speed auto transmission. There was the option to get a turbo 4 cylinder or even a 6 cylinder diesel or turbo diesel back then. Even though this was the simple 4 cylinder, it seemed to do the job just fine. The transmission shifted like a big Cadillac and it really floated down the road as well.
The 700 series was introduced in 1982 to replace the 264. The 760 was the first of the 700 series and was very luxurious and also highly successful. Volvo, seeing that the 760 was a hit, decided to come out with an entry level 700 series and introduced the 740. This car was meant for the people who wanted just a bit more than a 240 but could not quite afford the 760. You could get leather in the 740, but most of the time I see them in velour. Back then there was not a whole lot that you could add onto the car as they came pretty standard. I do know that a sunroof was an option, as well as alloy wheels. Good ole blue had both of these options.
In the end, I did not keep the car for very long. The Volvo nut in me told me it was time to move on and explore other cars out there. Through the Volvo club I had met a guy that was selling another older Volvo (read about this gem in next week’s post). This may or may not have had something to do with the selling of the 740. I posted it up for sale and unfortunately at this time the older Volvos just weren’t as popular as they are these days. What I mean by that is, older Volvos have somewhat gained interest with the younger “hipster” crowd over the years. I didn’t have it listed for much since it needed some love cosmetically. Within a few weeks I had a buyer who was local. He also knew the history about the car because he knew the previous owner. I think we agreed on $650 for the car, and he drove it away along with his other 740. A few years later, I got a call from the next owner asking me a few questions that I was happy to answer. Turns out, the person I sold the car to sold it to a friend, and they used it for many years as a first car for their kids.
The 740 in short was a fine car. Today they have a big following by owners, and they often drive them forever. In all honesty I don’t think I would buy another 740 though. The drive was kind of boring and lacked spunk. Don’t get me wrong, the car was reliable and solid, just lacked excitement. I was glad to see it go to a good home and even more pleased to see it was still serving a good purpose many years later.
Nice post – I love old Volvos too. I think you were fortunate in having the velour interior vice the leather. As you probably know, Volvo used very thin leather up until around 2011 – looked great, but would easily crack and split if not cared for.
“In all honesty I don’t think I would buy another 740 though. The drive was kind of boring and lacked spunk. Don’t get me wrong, the car was reliable and solid, just lacked excitement.”
That is why I could never live with such a car too. It needs to have something special. That can be the way it looks, or strange details, or whatever. It needs to bring a smile to you whenever you drive it.
The 740 turbo makes it more exciting to drive.
You hit my feeling on the 740. It was a good car, but lacked the warm personality of the 240. I knew a guy who owned one, and he loved it. What I remember was the exceedingly cheap and plain feeling of the interior. I suppose it was perfectly in character for a Swedish car, where flash and luxury just isn’t really done.
I seem to remember that my friend’s car had black vinyl interior – was that available?
I know they had black leather for sure. I don’t recall seeing any vinyl, but honestly I don’t always look at 740’s anymore.
Wooo, second 740 GLE COAL here. Mine was white over red velour and is somewhere in the archives. The Bear Bryant color combo.
A solid, sorted out 740 is a great, comfy car. But it never felt as durable as the 200s.
Welcome back, Connor. A coworker of mine had the turbo model, and I remember him telling me that he had to let it idle in his garage for about a minute before he could shut it down or he would damage the turbo. That would annoy me.
That was common practice on old turbo cars. I don’t know if other cars had it, but I heard the BMW 745i e23 had a little fan cooling the turbo after the engine was shut off.
Older turbos (’70’s and some early ’80’s models) had this problem, by the mid ’80’s most manufacturers had installed after-run coolant pumps as turbos became water cooled instead of just oil-fed. It is still a fairly commonly repeated myth today that oil will coke on the bearings of a modern turbo engine if not kept running after stopping. Not the case for close to 40yrs now.
My grandmother had an ‘89 GLE, but it had the later 16V “cammer” engine (unloved among Volvo folks), a driver’s airbag, and heated leather seats. She sold it to my dad (her son-in-law) in 1996 after she bought a 1996 960.
I understand that the old GLE became the GL in 1989 when the 16V GLE arrived.
The 740 was a nice car but, I remember my dad having some issues with the A/C and engine. The 16V is an interference engine, unlike its predecessor. He certainly put a lot of miles on that car, though.
The 16 valve was sold as 740 GLT 16 Valve in Scandinavia. Many, many folks have used them as the basis for heavily modified red blocks in Sweden, so it’s news to me that it’s an unloved engine.
Maybe it has to do with the 16V’s rarity in North America.
The 16v’s had some troubles with oil pumps and balance shaft connections, apparently fixable but a bit disastrous if they caused the belt to break.
They were noticeable (to a car nut) here for the silly badging: 740 GLE 8+8. For most punters out there, stuck behind in traffic, they’d have pondered what big engines Volvos got these days, yet still their owners wouldn’t move them along….
Title made me laugh because of a local banker who got himself elected to Congress touting his old Volvo 740/760 wagon, he called “Old Blue”. Evidently, owning an old Volvo showed he was a regular guy. Of course, the newspapers dug up he actually owned newer and nicer European cars, but he still got elected.
I bought my first old Volvo 16 months ago. I’ve found many Volvo fans are fanatics who love their cars precisely because they are rational, practical designs, although they come across as being boring to some people.
Of course ‘practical’ doesn’t mean cheap or austere. They are comfortable, well equipped and somewhat luxurious where it makes sense. My Volvo (2000 S70) is reassuringly competent and functional but not particularly inspiring…….. unless I have to work in it. Then I love it. It’s the only modern car I’ve seen that’s extensively, deliberately designed for easy repair and service.
A good friend of mine’s mother drove the identical version of this in the mid ’90s. It still had an exotic, European vibe about it when she sold it. The motor mounts were shot, and the engine vibrated violently when you fired it up. We laughed about it when the family offloaded it for a few grand. By the late 90s, its squarishness looked badly out of date, and the car was definitely going to need a midlife intervention from the next owner. It was succeeded by a 5 speed Explorer strippo that was a much cooler car to be driving at the time.
Good to see you back, Connor! I loved the ’90 740 Turbo Wagon we had but remember at the time I had zero interest in the normally aspirated one, probably as I figured I might find it boring. I still look at every 740/760 I see either on the street or the junkyard and still like the design as well as all the glass around the cabin and the large, comfy seats are still some of the best I’ve experienced.
Thanks Jim!
I more recently owned a 740T and it was really fun, and different for sure than this NA one.
I preferred these to the 240’s for looks, big architectural things that looked modern-stately.
But alas, the 760 had the awful alloy PRV V6, slow, rough, thirsty and ultimately not long-lived. When the 740 got here, the sheer inefficiency of the 6 was shown when the four was a bit faster, despite the weight of an iron block.
I agree the car is a bit of a dullard to drive, too light in steering, not a great ride, and pretty unenthusiastic with the auto. Worse, the (nice) front seats are low, the doors skinny, and all the upright brick-shithouse solidity of the 240 is absent. Despite the posh looks, it sure didn’t drive as the luxury car suggested by its price.
The black 740 Turbos were the coolest looking because the blacked out trim on the Turbo made them a total Vader mobile, like a Swedish GNX. Otherwise as with the 240s the wagons were the preferred version.