Volvo 740 Trivia.

[john.wigley]

Originally Posted by Prufrock

Let's return to the thread subject, Volvo Trivia.

Here's a Melburg Cabriolet - nice.

J.

I am sorry if you feel that the direction the thread is currently taking to be a digression, Jon.

We were discussing the propensity of these undoubtedly fine cars to rust, of which '57RKL' said he was unaware, and which I considered to be relevant to the thread. My experience of this supported the fact that they do, but only after a much longer period of time than most other cars.

You will know better than I, but didn't Volvo once claim in their advertising that the average life of their cars was 20 point something years, or double the average for all cars? That mine made it to 29 I thought both outstanding and also trivial - in that that was of little importance to anyone else.

My apologies if I was mistaken.

I must confess that I had never heard of the Melburg Cabriolet - thank you for sharing.

Regards, John.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by john.wigley

We were discussing the propensity of these undoubtedly fine cars to rust, of which '57RKL' said he was unaware, and which I considered to be relevant to the thread. My experience of this supported the fact that they do, but only after a much longer period of time than most other cars.

You will know better than I, but didn't Volvo once claim in their advertising that the average life of their cars was 20 point something years, or double the average for all cars? That mine made it to 29 I thought both outstanding and also trivial - in that that was of little importance to anyone else.

It's inevitable that anything made from ferrous metal will eventually rust John, there's much that can be done to slow the process and Volvo were better than most, especially in the late 80s after the debacle with 240s made from Russian steel that rotted faster than Igor inhales a bottle of Vladivar!

Something in the back of my mind says 20.7 years was the claim Volvo made at the time and yes, it was about twice the life expectancy of most other cars on the road back then.

My 760GLEa is almost at its 30th birthday now and aside from a small bit of welding to the floorpan/outrigger area in the passenger footwell, battery tray and a small patch in the drivers side inner wing, hasn't had nor needs any welding. As such if i continue to stay on top of it and keep the mechanical side going, i see no reason why it shouldn't last another 30 years. Not so sure about me though!

[Prufrock]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Put it back together, sort out what's needed for the MoT, get any bodywork problems sorted, interior valeted then set yourself up as a wedding car business as a part-time/weekend job. Best of both worlds - you get to keep a fairly rare car in good condition and others pay you for the privilege!

Thanks for that Mr - I need a part time job like I need a hole in the head ! Seriously though this car's shell, bonnet, doors, boot lid are perfect, perfect battery tray, prefect under radiator cross member. I had a guy with a rusty 744T that wanted the shell (he could've had it but...).

A pal of mine thought he could help subsidise the running of his Yank motor, but it was a nightmare, car was abused so he stopped - we often go to Goodwood in it these days.

J.
*dismantle and it's down to the crusher - sadly.

[Stephen Edwin]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

It's inevitable that anything made from ferrous metal will eventually rust John, there's much that can be done to slow the process and Volvo were better than most, especially in the late 80s after the debacle with 240s made from Russian steel that rotted faster than Igor inhales a bottle of Vladivar!

Something in the back of my mind says 20.7 years was the claim Volvo made at the time and yes, it was about twice the life expectancy of most other cars on the road back then.

My 760GLEa is almost at its 30th birthday now and aside from a small bit of welding to the floorpan/outrigger area in the passenger footwell, battery tray and a small patch in the drivers side inner wing, hasn't had nor needs any welding. As such if i continue to stay on top of it and keep the mechanical side going, i see no reason why it shouldn't last another 30 years. Not so sure about me though!

Gosh I never knew that ferrous metal rusts. Is that a fact ????

Actually I truly never knew about the Russian steel. Is that a form of industrial warfare? Like the EU is economic warfare?

.

[Laird Scooby]

Not sure about industrial espionage but in the late 70s there was a general shortage of steel except from Russia. For some reason it wasn't as inherently rust resistant as the other steel produced and many 240s were made from it. Quite a few Lancias too from what i remember and Lancia had problems with gearboxes and engines falling out because of rust!

I once owned a Lancia Beta 2000 Coupé that was V/1980 registered and obviously made from Russian steel as when it came to the MoT the tester said "Congratulations, your battery needs a new car!".

Given the problems Lancia had and how they have rusted and how few are left as a result, the remaining Volvo 240s are a testament to Volvos anti-corrosion treatment.

That said, and i'm sure Jon has the facts and figures to bear me out on this, there are much fewer 240s left as a percentage of original UK sales than the 7xxs, simply because they had Ivan the Terrible Tinworm, heavily fuelled by vodka chomping his way through all the steel they were made from!

[Prufrock]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

I once owned a Lancia Beta 2000 Coupé that was V/1980 registered and obviously made from Russian steel as when it came to the MoT the tester said "Congratulations, your battery needs a new car!".

I seem to recall being told that Lancia did use Russan steel and what exacerbated the problem was the shells when built were stored outside - don't know who told me that, but in a previous life Heron Trading were a client of mine and they held the Lancia distribution (before it came under Fiat's wing) with their company called Lancar.

The interesting, and purely anecdotal, thing about the survival of 200s is that the late ones outnumber early one's by a considerable margin - by late I mean F & G plate on, and most of the survivors seem to be the 2.0 litre.

J.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Prufrock

The interesting, and purely anecdotal, thing about the survival of 200s is that the late ones outnumber early one's by a considerable margin - by late I mean F & G plate on, and most of the survivors seem to be the 2.0 litre.

J.

I would suggest the reason for that is that sales of the earlier 240s suffered because of the rust, so fewer new cars were sold and out of those, a higher percentage turned to dust than later ones.
By the time the later cars were around, Volvo had recovered from the "Russki Rust" and won owners back again so what cars were sold were once again better looked after.

As for the 2.0 outnumbering others, i know in the late 80s the Volvo 240 became an option on a lot of company car lists, i've known several people that had them but they were only "allowed" a 2.0 litre for tax purposes.

This might explain why a lot of the survivors are 2.0 models, the private buyers would probably prefer the 2.3 for the extra grunt except those that can just about afford a new 240 when it's bought and while they might like the 2.3, can't afford it.

I remember a work colleague telling me she had bought her new Vauxhall Nova 1.2 Merit because she really wanted the 1.2 GL but couldn't quite afford the GL trim level. The Merit was a run-out "special edition" that had a lot of "extras" over and above the L trim level it was based on bringing it almost to GL spec.

I'm sure similar happened with all the manufacturers (in fact i know it did, things like the Pug 306 Zest and others) so it's entirely plausible Volvo gave some sort of incentive to buyers of the 240 to have the 2.0 version.

[Prufrock]

The 2.0 in both the 200 and 700 was introduced for tax reasons, as you suggest BiK (Benefit in Kind) tax was higher on the 2.3 equipped car and the sub 2.0 was more"tax efficient"- and 1985 saw the introduction of the low friction unit.

J.

[Stephen Edwin]

The Lancia Beta. A then colleague treated himself to one brand new. He wasn't happy that it was unhappy mechanically time after time.

As for industrial ESPIONAGE warfare ... EEK ... are there spy detector devices in my Volvo? Well if Ruskies put detectors in my Volvo, that precursors spyware et al in the interweb. Gosh. I wonder if GCHQ are doing anything similar? ANGEL EMOTICON.

Between models there is the overall stats and there is personal experience. My only Volvo terminal rust problem was a 740. Otherwise a very good car. Not as good a load space as a 240 but I won't harp on about it. oops I just did, sorry.

As for rust and 240s. and later models there is a view that introduction of galvanic protection is relevant. Note I did not say they became galvanised. That could lead to a lovely debate as to whether the 240s were galvanised in whatever is the true sense of that word.





“When I use a word,’ in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’

.

.

[Laird Scooby]

Bear in mind my Lancia Beta was only about 9 years old, low mileage, still went like stink (well i suppose it would seeing as it weighed less than a new one! ) and outwardly appeared to be in very good condition with no obvious rust, it came as a bit of a shock!

Not sure i agree on the load space between a 740 and a 240 being that different, had a 240 company estate for a while and i reckon that was about the same as the 740s - there might be something in it but not much and obviously not worth arguing over. If you'd said a 740 (or 240) and a V70/XC70 then yes, big difference. My neighbour before i moved here had an XC70 and was constantly coming round to mine to ask if i minded doing a tip run for him because he couldn't fit it in his!

As for galvanised or not, shall we settle on a zinc coating and call it good?