All right Kyle... I'll try to keep this as short and sweet as possible... regarding the green 145... I'll start by saying that I *really* think you should buy the damn thing. YOu might lose. It might not be worth the money. It might be a piece of crap. But I think you should buy it; if for no other reason than learning experience.

Get down to basics... Ideal scenario, average scenario, and worse case scenario. We'll start with worse case...

Worse case scenario:

You buy the car. It never runs. Bad knock in the engine or something... can't figure it out, but you tow it home and get lots of good bits including fancy sway bars, a 4 speed with overdrive, lots of electrical parts that'll neatly fit in a box to be saved for a rainy day. Not to mention all the other goodies. You sell the rest of the parts on ebay to make back what you paid. Or you'll lose some money. Don't forget that scrap steel is going for mint these days.

Average scenario:

You buy the car, get it running, and it runs fine. Most things work. A good day fixing little stuff and its a solid driver. And you get the bonus of a 4 speed with overdrive tranny that will make your commute more relaxed, and them fancy sway bars make it more fun. A fine beater that can even be shiny with some elbow grease.

Best case scenario:

You buy the car, and find that some past owner really liked Volvos, and really spent some time and money to make it wonderful. And you get a gold mine of great parts, or you just get a great car with all them great parts already installed.



I'll be the first to recognize that $3-5 hundred is a lot of dough to be spending on a POS old Volvo 140. Back when I was your age (about 14 years ago), I'd have made an offer of about $75. But those days are (mostly) gone. Now them cars fetch a bit more. There was one day that my brother and me bought 3 of 'em in one day. And we didn't have a place to put 'em. But had to get them, and none of them had overdrives.

You probably remember my most recent 145 purchase a year or so ago.. granted, it was a bit cheaper at $50, but I never even saw the car. Bought it sight unseen for parts. After having it towed home (another $50), I discovered the IPD lifters, double valve springs, spiffy Moto Lita steering wheel, limited slip rear. But no overdrive. Body and interior are dreadful though, and won't be getting any better in my ownership. Oh.. and it also has a vacuum advance distributor. That alone made it worthwhile.

Bottom line... you never know what you might get. But if you buy at the right price, you can't go wrong. And you might get very lucky. Or you might just get a good solid driver.

I really think you should buy that car Kyle. Even if it turns out to be a piece of junk that ain't worth its weight in scrap, you need the learning experinece. I just wish I was near so I could give you a hand getting the old girl back on the road... shouldn't take more than half an hour I figger....

Good luck, and keep us posted!

--
-Matt '70 145s, '65 1800s, '66 122s wagon, others inc. '53 XK120 FHC