My new 740!

[57RKL]

Very nice, best colour combination with the beige leather. looks a great find with that mileage and should polish up a treat. Hope you can get it down to BKV as there were none judged at last years show.

[swedish brick]

One thing I've noticed with these cars is how undervalued they are!
This one was free, my last one I sold a few years ago was in very very good condition and yet I couldn't get much more than a few hundred quid for it.

Why are these not respected more as classics? They are far far better cars than any of their competitors and yet they seem almost worthless, even now with many of the early flat front models all being either close to or over 30 years old.
Trouble is, by the time anyone notices there'll be very few left. Since selling my old saloon I've been watching these cars and looking at what comes up for sale and it's noticeable, to me at least, that numbers of 700's are really starting to thin out nowadays.
I've not seen another for ages around here, then spotted a lovely silver F reg GLT estate today on my way home. Only a few years ago when I had my saloon they were still fairly easy to find.

Not that I'm going to complain at getting a free car of course but it just seems crazy these cars aren't more valuable or desirable yet.

[Prufrock]

Sadly very little interest in the Cinderella of Volvos - that is the 700 series. Both of my cars are over 30 years old now, and It's not helpful to repeat what I've said before in articles in the club magazine or in the book on classic estate cars I've recently contributed to.

They may become (more) valuable when they become (more) desirable.

Jon


N.B the fact that I had no takers when I tried to give away a 60k from new car perhaps says it all !

[Joe of Loath]

They're still too common to be cool. They'll be sought after again when there's only a few hundred left, just like what happened to the 300 series and the 480.

Having said that, turbo models are much more sought after than NA models, and manuals more sought after than autos. An auto 2.0L, even with low mileage, is pretty much worthless, while people will pay a decent amount for a clean, manual turbo.

Maybe the fuel economy puts people off when buying a non-performance, not yet "classic" car? If you want a big car for under a grand you can go out and buy a diesel Octavia or Mondeo that'll give you at least a couple of years of trouble free motoring and return almost twice the fuel economy. If it's an iconic car people might forgive the cost of running, but a 700 series is still a utilitarian car to most.

[Laird Scooby]

What hasn't helped is from the early to mid 80s onwards up to the late 90s, the French and Germans were really pushing their tat to the point motoring journos would often get "heavily subsidised" (read as "Free") cars from them for "long term road tests".

This meant the motoring press were often biased towards these cars and would indiscriminately pan the other marques. As a marketing ploy, it was cheap and very effective advertising on the part of the French and Germans. However it has bred a nation of people who think those cars are the best and won't touch anything else.

This has filtered down to the classic market IMHO and if you think back 20 years to the cars that were considered classic then and compare them with a lot of what is considered classic now there is a shift eastwards from our shores towards Europe.

Also look at the general car parc out there these days - every other car is a VAG or PSA product or perhaps German or French is probably a more accurate description.
Sadly many of these will be the classics of 20-30 years time, assuming they actually last that long!

That basically means anything made from the mid-80s on and would have been expected to become a classic is now struggling with values. For example, a Rover SD1 still has it's band of followers and is just about old enough to scrape into the "traditional" classic area so its values are pretty good. Compare that with the Rover 800 - struggling to attain a decent value. Same goes for the Mk3 Granada/Scorpio compared to the Mk2 and Mk1 Granadas, Sierra Vs Cortina, Jag XJ40 Vs Series I, II and III XJ6/12 models, Volvo 7/9xx Vs 1/2xx and so it goes on.
Now look at the price of something like a Pug 205, Audi 80, VW Golf or similar from the late 80s onwards.

I'll let you draw your own conclusions but i think i might have something here!

[Prufrock]

The 700 series isn't a car of utility to most (to those on here it might be), as it's largely invisible in the wider classic market; although this is not the case. for example, in the Netherlands and Sweden, where it has a strong following.

The 700 series is at best invisible in the VOC, at worst maligned by many on this forum - the car's virtues are many but subtle...I only became an owner because my Wife's Dad bought ours when it was only months old: although I did know them when new (ran fleets of them) and had a red 744T in 1988 - I now have two; a 745GLa and a 744GLa both 1986 on C plates.

The 900, has even further to go than the original 700.

Jon


N.B lending cars to journalists is a perfectly legitimate promotional activity, I used to do it when I worked for a manufacturer.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Prufrock

N.B lending cars to journalists is a perfectly legitimate promotional activity, I used to do it when I worked for a manufacturer.

I didn't say it was an illegitimate activity, just citing that as one probable reason for the shift in our classic tastes.
If you noticed i did point out it was a very clever ploy and cheap and effective advertising. Perhaps if the likes of Jaguar, Rover, Vauxhall, Ford and Volvo had done this more we would have a different view when driving down the road - you might never see one of those cars with optional indicators aka a BMW!

[Prufrock]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

I didn't say it was an illegitimate activity, just citing that as one probable reason for the shift in our classic tastes.
If you noticed i did point out it was a very clever ploy and cheap and effective advertising. Perhaps if the likes of Jaguar, Rover, Vauxhall, Ford and Volvo had done this more we would have a different view when driving down the road - you might never see one of those cars with optional indicators aka a BMW!

I didn't say you did, and I wouldn't call it a ploy. I did read your post, but seeing as you need to have the last word...

All manufacturers during the 1980s were lending cars to journalists...Jaguar Rover, Ford and Vauxhall and Volvo* - I was there, in fact the"premium" makers were less inclined to (BMW for example denied fleet in the 1980s).

And for the record, all the BMWs I've owned/driven have had indicators as standard - even the 1977 one in my garage.

Jon.

*I would cite some examples many would be unaware of.

[JCL]

Lol!! Here we go....




P.S Dave I got the indicator joke and I'm sure I wasn't the only one either!

[Prufrock]

Originally Posted by JCL

Lol!! Here we go....

P.S Dave I got the indicator joke and I'm sure I wasn't the only one either!

Indeed here we go. FYI I got the"joke", think it childish and wearing a bit thin...just what is with you people ?

Just because I'm not in your little gang..;-)

Jon.