By May of 2007, I had been working full time at Tillamook School District for about five months as a Desktop Support Specialist. A real job. Roughly $30,000 a year. I was taking a class or two online through PCC and finally felt like I had some momentum.
The Jetta I owned, however, had worn out its welcome, and I wanted something different.
In nine months, I had put over 20,000 miles on it. The clutch had started to screech. The driver’s seat rocked slightly under acceleration and braking. I had dumped a couple thousand dollars into repairs. It was clear that a high-mileage Mk4 Volkswagen and Coast Range commuting were not a long-term pairing.
I don’t remember exactly when the convertible idea showed up. I don’t think I had even ridden in one before. But suddenly, a car without a roof felt like something a guy with a “real job” should have. Never mind that “real job” meant public school salary and online college.
If I was going convertible, it wasn’t going to be a V6 Mustang or a Sebring. I wanted something premium.
I almost bought a 1999 Saab 9-3 convertible, but I couldn’t get the Jetta sold quickly enough and the deal slipped away. A few weeks later, my dad and I stopped at a small independent lot that had two cars that caught my attention: a late-’90s BMW 325i convertible and a Volvo C70 convertible.
The BMW was tempting. My grandparents had owned a 1997 BMW 740i in Aspen Silver Metallic that I loved driving. When the 750iL in that same color appeared in Tomorrow Never Dies, BMW mailed owners a copy of the movie. I still remember the letter suggesting they close their eyes when the car reached the top of the parking garage.
But the 3-Series had issues. The driver’s seat wouldn’t move forward. There was a noticeable gap between the back edge of the top and the deck lid. When you lowered the top, the cables were stretched enough that you had to reach back and give it a little assist so it would tuck in properly. None of it was catastrophic, but it didn’t feel sorted.
It wasn’t the right BMW.
The Volvo felt different. The doors shut with a heavy, reassuring thud. The cabin was quiet. It pulled smoothly. The seats were exactly what you expect from Volvo — supportive and comfortable without being flashy. Compared to the BMW, it felt more put together.
There was also the practical side. I was now working full time at the district. I had earned the job, but my dad was still superintendent. Even though I was paying for the car myself, driving a BMW convertible around town didn’t feel like the best look. A Volvo still said premium, but it didn’t shout it.
The C70 had about 100,000 miles on it and was priced somewhere around $8,000. I sold the Jetta for $6,000, which helped. My grandma covered the difference with a loan.
She had a very generous policy with me: she would loan money at no interest as long as I made every payment on time. She also made it very clear that this was not a policy extended to all ten of her grandchildren and that I was not to advertise it. She always said she didn’t have a favorite grandchild.
But out of those ten, who was the one with the framed photo in her bedroom and the all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C. in eighth grade?
I never missed a payment.
The first drive home was exhilarating.
If it wasn’t raining, the top was down. That became the rule, and I followed it. Owning a convertible on the Oregon coast means you can’t be soft about temperature. Fifty-two degrees and dry counted. Heated seats on, windows up just enough to manage the wind, and I was perfectly comfortable.
My dad called me on my Motorola Razr — the one with iTunes built in, which I thought was peak technology — and snapped a few photos of me rolling down the road. Top down. One hand on the wheel. Trying to look like this was completely normal behavior for a twenty-year-old making thirty grand a year.
The Volvo had plenty of power, but it delivered it differently than the Jetta. The lower-pressure turbo took a second to wake up, and the car itself was heavy. The Jetta had felt quicker off the line. The C70 was smoother, but you had to plan your moves a little more.
I learned that crossing a highway one afternoon. I misjudged a gap in traffic and rolled into the throttle expecting an immediate response. For a split second nothing dramatic happened. I remember thinking very clearly, “Go car. GO.” Then the turbo spooled and we were through. After that, I chose my gaps more carefully.
The Volvo was generally reliable, but it had its quirks.
Tillamook’s rough roads did their part. The dash developed a squeak that sounded like the interior was quietly arguing with itself. I later learned this was common on C70 convertibles. On smooth pavement it was fine. On patched-up roads and Highway 6, it was noticeable.
The lower-profile tires and larger rims looked great but weren’t pothole compatible. I bent a couple of rims. In one case, my dad convinced the city’s insurance company to cover the repair after a particularly aggressive pothole did its thing.
The convertible top had a personality of its own. About a year or two into ownership, it refused to go down and rewarded me with a steady “bong, bong, bong” the entire drive. For about a month in the middle of summer, I drove around with the top stubbornly up while it chimed at me.
Eventually, I looked up how to lower it manually, which involved Allen wrenches and releasing tension in a few places. About halfway through the process, I decided to try the power switch again.
It worked.
The top went down. Then back up. Then down again. Like nothing had ever been wrong. It functioned normally for a few months before going back to its old ways.
When I finally took it to the Volvo dealer, they informed me that everything was “out of whack.” That was probably fair.
….
A couple of months after I bought the Volvo, my dad got married and moved out. I took over the rental house. That changed the math quickly.
Suddenly my $30,000 salary didn’t feel so generous. Rent, utilities, insurance — it all added up. And as a salaried employee, I couldn’t just pick up extra hours.
I wasn’t exactly helping myself. My 12-inch PowerBook G4 had been replaced by the first white Intel MacBook. I briefly bought a Dell desktop to learn Windows Vista — it was so bad I returned it — and replaced it with an iMac. I also bought the first iPhone the day after it came out.
I was strapped.
In the summer of 2008, Schild Computer Services was born. I charged $35 an hour, and my policy was simple: if I couldn’t fix it, you didn’t pay. I always fixed it.
Later that year, my step great grandpa passed away. My great grandma had preceded him in death, and the house went to my grandma and her two siblings. They were looking for someone to rent it and offered it to me for $200 less per month than what I was paying.
Sold.
So I moved again.
The Volvo, with the top down, turned out to be a surprisingly efficient moving vehicle. Boxes stacked carefully in the back seat. A few awkward items wedged in diagonally. Multiple trips. No furniture — just the usual rotation of clothes, computer gear, and whatever else a twenty-year-old tech guy accumulates.
There’s something mildly ridiculous about relocating your life in a two-door convertible on the Oregon coast. But it worked.
Other than the top issue and a couple of water leaks, the Volvo had been reliable. But by the time it reached about 130,000 miles, I knew the timing belt service was overdue, and I hadn’t coughed up the money to do it. Schild Computer Services jobs and a tiny convertible trunk were no longer compatible. I was ready to move on.
I wanted something more American.
Something more… patriotic.
Related CC reading:
Curbside Classic: 2001 Volvo C70 Convertible – The Sexy Swede
Nice car but you may have missed a bet on that SAAB, many commentators believe the 9-3 to have been the best Euro convertible of the time, folks I know who own them universally love them. We’ve had 3 x 9-3s in the family, all great but all with the usual SAAB quirks, one does have to understand that just comes with the territory however and appreciate the strong points.
I loved that Saab. If I had been more patient, I would have found another one. It was a good looking and feeling car in my opinion. I still look at them on marketplace from time to time.
A good story, nice to have done this well at 20 years old .
Rag tops are a youth thing IMO, I had a few but never want one again .
Some rag tops can be driven in the rain as long as you’re on the open highway and don’t stop =8-) .
-Nate
I’ve owned two other convertibles since then. Both will be featured in this series. One I picked up last year and just took out of storage last week for the season. I took it on a nice hour long drive yesterday. At 39, I’m not exactly young anymore, but I still love a good convertible!
Your story hits home with me. After being “downsized” by the manufacturing company where I worked for 35 years, I went back to school to get my paralegal certification, looking for a fresh start in something totally different. It took a while to find a law firm willing to take a chance on an old guy changing careers, but I finally did. I felt I deserved a new-to-me, fun car for my new job…so I purchased a ‘99 Volvo C70 convertible, in teal over tan. It was a gorgeous car and fun to drive, but, unfortunately, it was unreliable, too. I kept it for 5 years and traded it in on my next convertible, an ‘08 Chrysler Sebring Limited with the retractable hardtop.
That’s my favorite color of the C70! That and the orange color are super sharp.
My wife said it was the prettiest car I ever bought…;-)
I owned one convertible, briefly, but decided that motorcycles were more fun, even if less practical. But between the Saab and the Volvo, I’d take the Volvo every time. The Saab 99/900 was an iconic shape, either as a sporty two door Turbo or a cavernously roomy 5 door hatch. The convertible just looks awkward to me, whereas the Volvo sheds enough of the Volvo sedan styling to look different – and good.
This story hits close as our son had done computer programming and repair since he was in high school. In fact, he was the youngest student at 17 to be hired at the school for IT work.
About two years ago, the convertible bug hit him. No more hand me down Ram truck-he bought an 02 BMW 330ci! He really enjoyed his car and let me drive it several times. However, it was not a car that could just be driven without needing work. One day I took it to the oil change store. I was notified of an oil leak. Then, being a beautiful day, I tried to lower the top. It was in opp. Digging into this, I discovered that the driver’s side rear window was also not working which prevented the top from dropping.
We live in the NE corner of Tennessee and do get snow. We also live on top of a ridge. BMW’s are not great in snow and he sadly wiped out the driver’s side hitting a guard rail.
AI took away a job in the coding market after some 20 years and he needed a hand up. I took his car in trade for our 04 Grand Marquis-a car that we both knew was not as cool but much less to keep up with in terms of maintenance.
Cindy and I had that and an old Astro van and decided to tease them both for an all wheel drive vehicle. I found a clean 17 Explorer and a dealer who was willing to take both cars on trade. While driving the BMW to the dealer, however, it overheated! We had it towed in and the dealer told us that while he’d honor his trade in, the crash damage actually meant that the car was considered totaled . He even called his body man, sent pictures, and the repairs were going to cost $3000 on a car that only booked out for $2800.
Great chronology articles that you writing! I’m ready for what’s next.
My then-law partner bought one off-lease around 2001(?), in the same color combo as Don’s. I wrote it up here several years ago. His was a great car with the high pressure turbo and a manual, but it periodically bit him with expensive repairs.
He fought with bent wheels from potholes the whole time he owned it, and the power top got flaky with age. But I still think it was one of the best looking cars of the last 30 years.
Really beautiful cars to look at. For me too, they are at the top of the list in turquoise metallic with light leather interior.
Unfortunately, they are known for the lack of torsional rigidity of their bodies – and for all the problems associated . And unfortunately, all of this does not get better with the years.
I bought a 98 C70 T5 coupe, red metallic, and a 5-speed just like in The Saint remake movie. The buying process was another story for another time, but I enjoyed the car. However, it also had creaks and groans. Later while I still owned it I got a great lease deal on a base 2010 Mustang GT 4.6 with the 5-speed. It was a leftover and people were waiting for the 5.0 to come out. Kona blue, grey cloth interior – perfect for me.
That Mustang ruined the C70 for me. And this coming from a guy with a 95 855 (that I still have with 265,000 miles). The C70 seemed to be a dog in the city, it was more comfortable on the highway – a grand tourer. The frameless windows are problematic – unique to the C70. I sold it to a friend who since sold it on – It’s too bad – TWR I think did some of the work on the C70.
Now that Volvo is owned by Geely I won’t touch another one. The reliability of new Volvos is terrible.
The 70, whether S, C, or V are classy looking cars. But having lived for 3 years in Oregon, I cannot ever say that I desired a convertible in the slightest. Roofs need to stay tight, forever, in that place. The water is always looking for a way into everything.
I never thought I’d like a convertible until I rented a few and was able to enjoy them on nice roads in good weather. Now I get it…except on the OR coast.