Volvo Owners Club Forum - 73 Express on EBAY

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- - 73 Express on EBAY (https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=311039)

Quote:

Originally Posted by classicswede (Post 2675450)

I've too many cars and thinning down having recently let a fair few go.

140's and 240's are of the same family but 140 prices tend to be lower than 240's!

No offence but your express is a bit of a basket case and I know from having done rust repairs on lots of 140's and 240's that as you dig into it gets worse. It is still savable but too much work for most.

Priced at £500 I would be fighting with myself not to buy it, couple of years ago I would have taken it and sat on it. At that price it would end up with some brain dead idiot smash it up around a banger track. What you paid for it excluding what it cost to collect goes to show the kind of value it has. Whatever it cost to move you tend to just have to take on the chin. It is a car that needs £10-20,000 spending on it to make it a £10,000 car at best. These are not cars you can restore and flip to get your money back let alone make a profit but who cares. When I do a car I do it because I want to with no regard to what it might sell for.

If you want to sell it I would suggest are more sensible price with a little wiggle room

I feel it’s a car for a guy that can do the work themselves rather than paying restoration rate plus vat per hour. If that’s the case it could be done bit by bit and someone will end up with a nice unusual car at the end. The fact it may cost more than you could immediately sell it for is true of many project cars.

It's certainly not a 'winter project' as you initially suggested. The rarity of replacement/repair panels makes restoration of 140s that have deteriorated this far difficult and expensive for whoever does it. Being a left hooker doesn't help either. I agree it is an interesting vehicle worth restoring but a high initial purchase price will put most people off attempting it, as others have said.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Underdrive (Post 2675541)

I imagine there’s little to no chance of finding a RHD express..correct me if I’m wrong. I’ve said to others that offers will be considered of course. Not sure there’s much to compare too as you can’t make a comparison with a regular 145 or other model...it was suggested by some it could be a donor for a custom build like the recently found but home made 165 express that’s now in Holland. It has many possibilities I guess.

I have seen one in south africa for sale 2 years that looked in decent shape. I don't remember the asking price. But you are right RHD ones are few and far between.

I was discussing with my dad last week about what the best way would be with it. The roof could be used on a good 145 or 240 to convert to be an express but either way a lot of work. I think the best bet is to restore or repair as a custom. To keep within the £10-15k budget you would have to do the bulk of the work yourself. Paying profesionals to do it would need 3-5 times the budget.

I sure do hope someone does save it. If I did not have more than enough projects and the price was not at pipe dream level I would have considered it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by classicswede (Post 2675716)

It is important to realise that almost 50% of the cost is in transport to bring it to the UK. It’s not a common car especially here. I totally understand if you are of the opinion it’s not worth the asking price but when there are only 2 or 3 of them here surely it’s good that someone has the opportunity to own it without doing a 4000 mile round trip to get it themselves.
Lots of work to do yes but isn’t it great that you could be seeing a bit more variety of cars at shows in coming years...

Maybe it's just not worth making the 4000 mile trip to collect a car unless it's condition/value is high enough to justify it. You will only know whether this one was worth it when you do a deal with the next owner.

So... nobody has ever bought a project car which cost more than it ought to have (as far as others are concerned)?

I get that a trader looking to buy a project car is going to weigh the economics; a private buyer doesn’t have to make a profit. I spent as much restoring my Split Screen Crew Cab as it would have cost me to restore a Samba; I spent far more on the 145S that I had years ago than I got when I sold it; the Standard 10 I’m restoring will struggle to sell for more than the paint is likely to cost!

The Express is an interesting project, I remember Tony Barrett had one. Someone will buy it eventually, but it’s a very narrow market.