Tough and reliable. Indestructible power train, especially the transmission.

I've owned several Volvo four cylinder cars. One of the best overall designs ever.

I restored a 1970 1800E...except for the propensity to rust, they are wonderful cars...interestingly, I found a gentleman in ND who had a parts car and we got along famously via the YAHOO 1800 Group.

I changed mine from Babyshit-yellow to British Racing Green however, and it generates many questions when I pull into a gas station or parking lot.

my family's got four volvos and i think we're up to a total of 1.5 million miles combined, dad's about to break 500k. don't know that any of us will break a million, tho.

Never seen one before.

xchrom

Im sure that a Volvo can go on forever - as long as you repair it when needed and treat it with ordinary respect...

And that specimen looks slick and nice too, allmoust like it have some genes from other cars to it.)..

Diclotican

As far as I'm concerned, Volvo stopped making great cars 20 years ago. I had a 1993 Volvo that was a lemon--transmission went, AC went, major engine repairs, a funky smell inside the car they never did find the cause of. The welds on the door hinges weren't strong enough to hold up the doors, so the doors started sagging and making horrible noises whenever they were opened or closed--major expensive bodywork to fix that. I always told people it was so bad the doors fell off.

Looked just like this:

spinbaby

Well, the Volvo 340/460 was a big Volvo Lemon, I have no clue why they made such a car, (it also had a french Renaut engine on top of it all)...When it was brand new, a great car, but as some years passed, full of troubles - and more in the workshop than on the road... Pity, it could have been a good car... The Volvo 740 also had it flaws - even though it was for the most part a decent car, even came with a Turbo version (who really was fast!) Im not sure, if it is the / 460 or the 740 you have pictured there as it could be both If you had shown me the rear it could be more easy to reqonize it...

But if you really wanted a in destructive car, you would go for VOLVO 240/244.. Build as a Armored people carrier - and with an attitude of a rhinoceroses, not even rust can kill it... If you just care for it, you would have a car who go one forever... And it looks like the swedes made it to go on almost everything you could put into the tank on it... Even though the smoke back could kill everything .. And it is maybe also the best car Volvo ever was able to build - rather comfortable - but also hardworking.. Even though the milage is less than stellar - sheldom under 1 liter for eatch metric mile you got out of it.. Maybe 0.80 if you was lucky But it still have a found memory back in the days

I myself have wondered about a volvo next time I buy a car - I think either of the Volvo V40, or the Volvo V70.. I'm not sure to be honest....

Diclotican

Soon after we bought the car, Volvo "upgraded" their dealerships and in the process eliminated ours, leaving us over 40 miles from the nearest dealer. The whole Volvo experience left us bitter--we'll never buy another. Nowadays I'm very happy driving a Prius that's gone 100,000 miles without out anything going wrong (knock on wood).

why we need to keep pumping out thousands of brand new cars every single day of the year. Seems to me just driving what we have and retrofitting them for better efficiency would also work nicely.

My only ride is a 1971 Honda CB350 motorcycle, starts every time and gets over 50 MPG. Plus, it's fun!!

...they are made to break. Nothing lasts very long anymore.

Most cars fall apart within several years, or major problems go wrong. We just accept it. We live in a disposable
society. We accept that our coffee makers will last a year, and that our clothes will look terrible after a
few washings.

Same thing has happened with most cars. They fall apart and that's the new normal. But don't worry--you can finance a car for seven years now--which will keep you in wheels and provide a real windfall for the finance companies. I think it was Dave Ramsey who broke it down and showed that if you make a car payment for most of your life--you end up spending over a million dollars on car payments. The fix is in to drain all of us and keep us enslaved to the banks.

Why make a car that will last a good 15-20 years? That's not really good for business, now is it?

My parents had two Volvos in the 60s, and they were the best, most mechanically sound cars I'd ever seen. I think my Dad bought the Volvo station wagon we had in 1964 for $600, used, and he never had a problem with it. He sold it to one of his students in 1980 for about the same price of $600, without ever having anything more than a tune-up done to it.

He was a terrible spendthrift -something I am not - but he did have style.

Oh, he didn't take care of his things well either. That volvo sportscar was beloved but it was a money pit. so hard to find parts. I wonder how this guy does it.

a car on the road longer, he probably lives in Cuba.

Almost 2 million pounds of CO2, too.

and so simple to work on.

I'm going to advertise as 'buy one, get one free'. The older one needs a fan.