Whoa! Metallic purple, no less. Owner has a sense of irony – can’t get more prosaic than an old Volvo wagon.
Though any Volvo that lives in Florida probably has had to be painted. The earlier models were not known for UV stability in the original finish. It may have changed by now but at one point the highest total mileage (on original drive train) of any Volvo in their “high mileage club” was a 1992 740, same model I had. Great car (except for the crappy traction in winter due to rear wheel drive). I bought mine used with 75K and put another 125K on it with no mechanical issues, just regular maintenance and brake shoe, battery, filter, tire and belt replacements. The AC punked out – should have just had it fixed and kept the car but sold it to buy a loaded used '95 850 turbo, on which an axle broke and took out the transmission 6 months later. Fortunately that happened a few miles from a good friend’s house and it was also less than a half mile from the shop of her buddy who specialized in foreign car trannie repairs – he put in a rebuilt one and fixed the axle for $1300.
Meanwhile the Volvo fan to whom I sold the 740 (for $2500) was still driving it with no problems 3 years later. Chagrin…
I got paranoid about the 850 after that and sold it a year later to buy the lemon Outback, which also required a new transmission within less than a year! These failures were not due to my use, as when I have bought new cars, manual or auto, and been the only driver, I have never had to have a gear box replaced, even with over 200K on the car. This is why the year before I retired I opted to buy a brand new 6 speed manual. Most drivers are way too clueless when driving a stick and I would never buy a used manual trans car again.
In retrospect, I think the vehicle that served me best was the 1989 Caravan 5 speed I bought new (yes, they did make them with a manual back then). Great rolling box that I hauled a lot of stuff with and used to camp in – removed the back seat (did not come with the useless third seat) and never put it back in til I traded it in. Had rain channels that worked with Quik-n-Eazy roof rack brackets for which I made sturdy cross bars of treated lumber. Even though it was the shorter van with the 4 cylinder engine, the 5 speed gave it some zip and good acceleration and I could count on 32 to 34 mpg on highway trips.
Again, the Caravan was a car I should have kept and had fixed up instead of giving it up at 105K miles for something I really ended up not liking as much. (I could say that about most of my past romantic relationships too – urk.)
I hear you. My two “should never have sold it” cars, were a '92 Saab 900S and a '97 Land Cruiser FJ80 (40th Anniversary Edition). Needed a step ladder to get a kayak into the LC’s J cradle, though.
The guy who used to handle Valley kayaks way way back that was set up on the Great Lakes, George something, had a pretty certain means of handling returns of boats deemed defective in manufacture. He would take the boats back and get the purchaser a new one if he agreed they were defective. But those boats were sawed in half to guard against scams on the part of the purchaser. I am talking mostly glass boats though.
Fairly common approach. I worked at Volvo’s Penta division many years ago, and saw lots of returns and obsolescent parts smashed with a sledge hammer or cut up. The hourly workers grumbled a lot when they had to destroy a new looking $800 car stereo…didn’t seem right, but from a book keeping standpoint, it had to be done.
Or wait until it eentbout on the curb for scheduled pickup. I think the reason people sell stuff like that is because the trash services won’t accept it. Instead, they load it with their old appliances, electronic equipment andcold kid"s toys and paddle it to the furthest poi tbod navigable waterway and abandon it there. I just winder how the get old Desoto that far up river.
If I can help it. Actually not yet. I do feal rested. You know! King of the same sensation. My kids heard the national emergency alery sysyem test and said they didn’t know if they should run for cover. I told them I got through 7 partial whiskey bottles before they announced it was just a test. Will Smith isn’t getting my whiskey for a post-apocalyptic scenaria. See, Im sober! Thanks for asking.
And it continues to puzzle me why so many 25 to 30 year old sea kayaks turn up in Western Pennsylvania barns. This vintage (probably late 1990’s) Valley Skerray just popped up out in the boonies north of me. (if it didn’t have an ocean cockpit and probably needs hatch covers and a seat – barn finds usually succumb to critter modifications – I would be tempted for $75. But I can’t salvage every orphaned kayak…)
