Purchasing a 144
 

Hello everyone! I am looking to buy a Volvo after my current 740 has died. I've discovered the 144 and practically fallen in love.

Now, before I make any rash decisions, are there any things I should be aware of? I'm a 21 year old student so I don't have the largest of pockets, but I really love these old Volvo's and would spend accordingly. What sort of price would I be looking at for a clean one?

You guys saved me with my 740 almost two years ago, so thank you all for any help you can offer me here!

Dan

Rust is expensive to fix and they do rust and haven’t had much value over the years so folks typically have been reluctant to waste money on them. Parts are expensive and or rare for the 140s. A immaculate 140 for me is a £12k plus car a good reasonable one £6k plus.

A 21 year old student. I have some residual memories of that, one being that 'skint' was the common condition. The other that graduate work did not leave much time for non academic stuff such as car repair.

I expect that if you do a poll of forum members, you will find that the vast majority of vintage owners have a daily driver which is there for when they need to get there. Vintage car fettling is best reserved for individuals who are not skint, need a hobby to fill some spare time and have other means of dependable transportation. As Burdekin has pointed out, 140s like all cars of that vintage rust (generally a lot of it) and sheet metal repair and paint work is very expensive if you can't do it yourself. For reference, I did a complete rotisserie resto on my 1971 142 E and I stopped keeping track of the costs when they hit about £20k.

If you need reliable transportation, a used Toyota Yaris or something similar is your ticket. After you have graduated and have pots of money and spare time you can go out and shop around for a rusty 140 to indulge yourself.

Having owned and run several 144s and 145s in period 'Doocey' (my first ever Volvo was a 145E bought on a whim in 1984 :regular_smile:), I have to agree with both 'Burdekin' and '142 Guy'. The youngest 1 - series car will now be fast approaching it's 50th birthday and as said, is not now a car for the feint hearted.

It is great that a young person like you has a yen for old Volvos and I feel that we should be encouraging your enthusiasm and not pouring cold water on it. I think that the best way I can do that is by redirecting you towards another 7 - series car, which you clearly know well and have experience of.

Alternatively, you might also consider a mid to late 2-series car. Much of the 1-series was carried over to the 2-series cars and in many respects they have a not dissimilar 'feel' to them. You can still find reasonable examples around at sensible money if you are patient and fettle them economically if you have the necessary skills and equipment.

Have a look at Alan's (Othen) excellent thread on the 'Royal Barge', a 244 that he purchased two years ago for, I think, £2.5K, and did exactly that, as an example of what I mean and can be achieved. Alan now has a superb example of the marque that he can happily use every day and could also easily sell for twice what he paid for it if he ever wanted to.

Regards, John.

I echo John's comments above.

The first Volvo I had was a 145S, bought as an 18th birthday present back in 1973. It was a 1967 model with the early chrome grille and opening rear side windows, finished in Royal blue with a blue interior. I loved it so much it started a life long love of Volvos and continuous Volvo ownership ever since.

A 7 series or a P80 platform model is I believe the sweet spot for an interesting daily with some character and simplicity of maintenance.

Probably of no interest but a reasonably good 240 has appeared on eBay in Hackney , so not too far away.🤔

Doocey will be tired of us old chaps telling him the same thing by now John, but I strongly agree with everyone here: a 144 would not be cheap (to buy or run) and 50 year old motor cars are not for the feint hearted!

Since my second Volvo ownership (the RB - the first was in 1986) I've noticed 240 prices increase considerably, there wouldn't be much that was safe and reliable enough to use regularly available under £4,000-£5,000 any more, and I don't think it would be possible to get a similar 140 under about £6,000. I don't know if those prices would suit the OP's pocket, but I wouldn't really advise on going downmarket from there unless he is a masochist.

You are right: a nice 700 car would be better, cheaper and safer. Better still a nice Toyota Yaris until the OP qualifies, is well established in a career and earning enough money to pay someone to fix all the rust on a 144 :-)

Alan

Thank you all so much! I think I'll have to search for a later 2/7 series and save the 144 for dreaming about!

That is probably sensible for now.

That 240 saloon in Hackney that Andrew mentioned above might be worth a look at for you, I think it must be this one (although it is in Enfield):

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/154838253...YAAOSwi6ZiBCmI

The seller says he wants to sell it because it isn't ULEZ compliant - that will happen with many older cars that aren't quite historic vehicles yet.

I should think it is a 1989 motor car and has (if I remember correctly) about 160,000 miles. It is a pity the owner has covered up the registration number so we can't check the MoT history, but it might well be worth looking at. I should think if you got that at £2,000 that would be quite a good buy, and even at £3,000 it would be okay.

Good fortune, do let us know when you buy another Volvo.

:-)

Alan

PS. I could only see one 144 for sale on eBay:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/133996516...53.m1438.l2649

... it looks like a perfectly good motor car, but it is £5,650, and it is in Alloa, so it would be expensive to view and recover. I think that would be a typical price for a reasonably good runner - so 144s are no longer cheap.

That is the exact car I was looking at... Alloa isnt actually too bad for me to view, I'm based in Newcastle at the moment and Edinburgh is 45 minutes on the train. Its dangerously tempting haha!