My new 740!

[swedish brick]

I thought I'd stick a few pics and details up about my new project.

All this came about purely by chance! I was chatting to my sisters boyfriend one day about cars, he mentioned his grandfather had a few old cars on his drive. Sadly it turned out the grandfather had recently passed away. The cars were parked up where he'd left them in July 2015 and haven't moved since.
The family are currently clearing the house and the cars were likely going to be going for scrap.
I got a few pics of the cars, a 72 Wolseley 1300 (already sold and going for restoration) a 97 Vauxhall Omega and at the front of the driveway was IMHO best of the lot! An 88 Volvo 740 estate!
A bit of communication went on and the short of it is that the owners son said I could come and get the Volvo and he didn't want anything for it. I think he was pleased I was going to get it back on the road and save it from the scrap man.

I had an 87 740 GLE saloon but had to sell it a few years back after buying and importing a classic yank. As soon as the car left me I regretted selling it and vowed to have another some day.
Well, that day has come!


So, it's an 88 E reg 740 GLE auto estate in the gorgeous shade of green blue metallic. It was originally a fleet car for the owners son, then at three years old was sold off from the lease company. The same guy bought it and gave it to his father who kept it until he passed away.
It's got low mileage (91k) and has some history and all it's original handbooks etc etc.

Here's a few pics of it after moving it off the owners drive and loading it up for the trip home. I got it from Bath and had it transported home to the south coast.

[swedish brick]

Here's a few more of it once I got it home.









It needs a really good wash and polish, and the interior desperately need valeting and some bits of trim have come loose but it's not bad at all.



Engine bay. A B230E, exactly what I wanted!

[swedish brick]

The plan for it is to bring it back up to a nice standard and just use it. It's a very solid car and it just wants a bit of tlc.

So far I've replaced the battery, changed the coolant and flushed the system out and replaced the radiator.
Given it a full service, replace the ignition components (dizzy cap, rotor arm etc), a good wash and started tidying various bits up.

It looks a million times better than it did when I got it and it's running perfectly now too. I just need to run it and burn off the old stale petrol! It's running ok on it at the moment but it's about 18 months old. I've diluted it with a bit of fresh petrol already but it needs more really.

Overall I'm absolutely over the moon with it! Especially since it was basically a free car!

[stephend]

Congratulations, that looks like a real find!

[AndysR]

That's lovely, great colour combination, will be stunning when cleaned and polished

[heyskull]

OMG

That looks to be in really good condition.
Same colour as my 1991 960 which i also got from Bath.
Mine has done a little more mileage (Nearly 300,000).

Keep this thread going really interested.

SC

[Laird Scooby]

Very nice! My first 740 GLE was also Green-Blue and E reg, it polishes up really nicely and suits the car well.

You've certainly got lucky with that one, overall condition looks terrific.

When you start using it, chuck 0.5 - 1.0L of meths in the fuel tank with some fresh petrol, it will help get rid of all the condensation in the bottom of the tank.

[lnparry]

Super looking car - 745s are a lovely shape. I had one for 13 years and it was the best car I ever had.

That engine bay has so much room compared with my current 940 LPT.

Great find, good luck and enjoy,
LeeP

[JCL]

Brilliant, I like stories like this. Clay bar the paintwork before polishing and it may not require a mop, however, it does look like it could benefit from a mop too if you want it looking it's very best. Two hours work with an electric polisher and appropriate lotion and potion.

As has already been said, keep us eager readers updated!

Jon

[swedish brick]

I've never tried clay bars tbh, are they worth using then?

The bodywork is good overall. There's a few stonechips but that's normal on a car this age and I've got some paint to touch them up with.
The only major bits are the sunroof lid, that's all blistered and flaking around the edges and a scratch/dent on one rear arch where the old guy caught it on his gate post one day. Both of these will need doing by a professional though. The dent will need pulling out and I'll just have a bodyshop do both at the same time I think.
That can come later though. Priority for now is get it running and driving ok and get an MOT.


So far I've given it a full service. Replaced the radiator, thermostat and coolant flush.
I've also changed the plugs, leads, dizzy cap and rotor arm. The dizzy cap was in a terrible state! How the car was running at all with it I don't know. The rotor arm was also well past it and actually took me about an hour just to get the old one off!

Here's the old dizzy cap exactly as it came off! Notice the date stamp... 1987! It's never been changed.


New bits fitted. Much better looking and it made an enormous difference to the running.


Front brakes are next, and I'll need to do a little bit of welding too but nothing major.