I've had plenty of old volvos, oddly I guess I've never dealt with speedometer cables in 544's before, if I did it was 2 decades ago and I don't recall problems. I replaced mine (with a cheap make up kit) a couple days ago. I was happy to see that the speedometer worked (it hasn't since I owned the car) but it only lasted about 80 miles before the cable broke again. I suppose it broke in the same spot. My cable has an inch, at least - in inflexible steel coming out where the cable attaches to teh transmission. This requires an almost impossibly tight bend in the cable because clearance between the transmission and the tunnel is tight already. Could I have the wrong sort of cable? I don't ever recall these cars requiring a right angle drive but my memory might be off here.