1991 940 Turbo Estate Value

[darryboy]

Greetings from South Africa.

I recently bought a 940 Turbo Estate that was imported from the UK during the 1990's. It was manufactured in Belgium.

Looks a bit neglected - but I picked it up for the equivalent of 940 British Pounds. Will probably have to spend about another 1600 pounds on a full service, some repairs and a complete respray.

It is:
Automatic with overdrive.
Cloth/leather seats
Has original Volvo radio and graphic equaliser
Sunroof
Electric windows
Central locking

238000 miles (yes the speedo is in miles per hour)
No service history

Would like to know if it is worth restoring - what would one of these go for in good condition in the UK?


1991 Volvo 940 Turbo Estate Front.jpg

Volvo 940 tailgate name tag.jpg

Volvo 940 Radio and Graphic Equaliser.jpg

1991 Volvo 940 Turbo Estate Side.jpg

Volvo 940 grill.jpg

[loki_the_glt]

It looks reasonably tidy from the photographs.

Give it a Stage Zero tune-up: new plugs and Bougicord leads as they're the best for these engines; oil, oil and air filters; coolant, but green/blue ethylyne glycol anti-freeze. Put some semi-synthetic ATF into the oil to refresh the seals.

Then take it for a drive until the engine has its reached normal operating temperature and see how it feels.

[griston64]

With regards to value I would say with that mileage and being an auto it would be worth somewhere between £750 and £1250 in the UK

[darryboy]

Originally Posted by griston64

With regards to value I would say with that mileage and being an auto it would be worth somewhere between £750 and £1250 in the UK

So would it be worth while to spend the 1600 pounds to restore the car to a decent state?

[360beast]

Originally Posted by darryboy

So would it be worth while to spend the 1600 pounds to restore the car to a decent state?

If you're planning on keeping it the yes, if you want to try and sell it afterwards for a profit then no as you will probably only make your money back.

[Laird Scooby]

I'd be a little more optimistic than Mark and say £1000-1500 but as Luke has pointed out, it's definitely worth spending the money on it if you're going to keep it, if you're doing it to maximise profit then the best bet is just clean it up as well as you can, give it a good service as outlined above (use synthetic ATF rather than semi to add to the engine oil) and also change the timing belt. Don't forget to retension the timing belt after 600 miles though.

After that you might make a bit but if you really want to make some money, do the full work including the respray as you've already outlined and the service, run it for a few years and then sell as the values are going up at the moment and have been for some time now. If nothing else, you'll have a very nice car to use in that time and possibly get offers to sell at a good profit.
Meanwhile you might decide you don't want to sell at all.

[AllHailKingVolvo]

Just to echo what has been said, it's worth spending the money if you intend to keep the car-these really are fantastic cars which are becoming increasingly rare, not due to them wearing out per se, more due to the vicissitudes of things like the UK scrappage scheme and people moving on (not up) to modern sh!tboxes for whatever reason.

If you're looking to sink £1600 into it then flip it for a profit, you're likely to break even, but no better than that. As Dave suggested, the best thing to do would be to spend the money on restoring it, then run it for a year or two, enjoy the experience of owning a classic Volvo and then sell it on-prices of these cars are climbing all the time, and you are very likely to see a profit in that timeframe.

Although, whether you will want to sell it after two years of owning it is another question entirely!!

[griston64]

Originally Posted by AllHailKingVolvo

Just to echo what has been said, it's worth spending the money if you intend to keep the car-these really are fantastic cars which are becoming increasingly rare, not due to them wearing out per se, more due to the vicissitudes of things like the UK scrappage scheme and people moving on (not up) to modern sh!tboxes for whatever reason.

If you're looking to sink £1600 into it then flip it for a profit, you're likely to break even, but no better than that. As Dave suggested, the best thing to do would be to spend the money on restoring it, then run it for a year or two, enjoy the experience of owning a classic Volvo and then sell it on-prices of these cars are climbing all the time, and you are very likely to see a profit in that timeframe.

Although, whether you will want to sell it after two years of owning it is another question entirely!!

By reading the thread the OP has bought the car for £940 and then is considering spending £1600 on the resto. Thats an outlay of £2540. Resto cost will always be considerably more than the initial estimate, so you will be the best part of 3k. On an auto with 250k mileage you will be well out of pocket as I would say its £1500 at the absolute maximum

[AllHailKingVolvo]

Originally Posted by griston64

By reading the thread the OP has bought the car for £940 and then is considering spending £1600 on the resto. Thats an outlay of £2540. Resto cost will always be considerably more than the initial estimate, so you will be the best part of 3k. On an auto with 250k mileage you will be well out of pocket as I would say its £1500 at the absolute maximum

Ah I think I misunderstood the original post, I thought the £1600 was all-in. I agree absolutely about resto always costing more, cars I've done just basic recommissioning on in the past have always come in at a minimum of £1000, usually just on parts as I do most of the work myself, and that's without any cosmetic work other than basic detailing.

I must admit that I could have done it cheaper in every case, but I will always use genuine or high quality aftermarket parts where possible as cheap pattern bits always turn out to be more hassle than the saving is worth.

[Kev0607]

What a lovely car. Its great to see these old Volvo's on the road.

Now to your question, if you plan to restore the car (including the respray) to make a profit soon/quickly, then its not worth it because you'll be out of pocket by a considerable amount.

However, the values are rising on these older vehicles. You may recoup some of your investment back if you were to keep the car for several years & sell it in the future fully restored in pristine condition, but that's purely market dependent.

You'd have to sell the car when there was a boom in prices, but in the future (if the price boom does happen) to get your money back & you'd be doing well to break even, nevermind make a profit. The only way I see you making a profit is if the market for these cars really booms & values increase significantly, but again, that's in the future & not at this present moment in time.

As of now, investing £1600 into a restoration to make a profit isn't realistic. Its only worth restoring the car if you're keeping it for your own pleasure for years & years to come & that means cherishing it even longer than you already have. The day may come when you do decide to eventually sell it in the future & that's when you'll need to do your research to see what other cars in similar condition are selling for. Being realistic, you have to be prepared to either lose money or break even... profit would be a bonus.