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I know it sounds like I am going to speak of a wreck, but when I saw that other post about a wreck - I though to myself about the 760 I own that, if not for me ...no telling where she would have ended up.
I had a 91 black 745t that was totaled. Loved that car. My 'friend' calls me and says ..."We bought a Volvo for our daughter. She has drove it for a spell, and is tired of it, and ...would you like to buy it? You know ..my husband is the credit manager at the Buick dealership, and this was traded in and it really runs like a sewing machine ..yada, yada, yada". The part about her husband working for the dealership should have been warning enough ...another story.
Anyway, she sent me pictures, and it looks like a really clean 89 760, and after all .."it runs like a sewing machine". So I grab the wife, take a day trip waayyy down to south Alabama to check it out. I get there, and the paint is not that good, but it seems to run pretty good, body is straight, and the inside looks great. $3000.00 does not seem to be too bad a deal for such a low mileage 130k '89 760. I bite. After all, this is a friend.
While driving it back, I note the rear end rides a bit low on one side, and it seems to be running a bit oddly on the highway. The gaudy blue lights on the replacement cd/radio tell me that someone was not going for quality in this dept, and when I pull on the cigarette lighter, the whole center console comes loose. It also is a bit warm, as the air does not seem to be doing that well. When I put gas in the door falls off in my hand. Oh, boy!
Next day I take it to my trusty Volvo shop. Mike raises the hood, looks at it and says .."Where did you get this THING?". The tone in his voice tells me that he does not think much of it. The first two things he finds are front strut mounts on backwards at the top, and timing WAY out of whack.
Well to make a long story short, his first repairs and corrections were some of many to be done to correct some crappy maintenance and bad shade tree mechanics.
His bill that day - 530.00
IPD Nivomat conversion - 550.00 (incl. labor)
Front struts - 150.00
Front rack - 400.00 (inc. labor)
Air conditioner service - 150.00
Timing belt, seals and used distributor - 275.00
And then a bunch of nit-picky here and there things ...all together well over the price I paid for the car to start, I am sure. Still needs a paint job. :)
Today. Well, I am glad I still have the car, as I need it to drive while I fix the head on the wife's '93 940. Thing is, I bought this wonderful red '92 245 for me, and I was going to sell the 760. The wife is in the 245 for now while I fix her car ..so I am driving the 760.
Wow, this is really a neat car! It is running better than ever, really fast since I put new turbo hoses on it, and low and behold - it even stopped burping fluids on the drive. What's with that? Did this car hear that I was going to sell her, and decide to behave?
Anyway - looks like I will keep her. She really has stolen a corner of my heart, warts and all. She survives to tool down the road another day!
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' Of all bad men religious bad men are the worst. '' (C S Lewis ; on Evil Men) 89 764 (170K), '94 940T (265K), 92 245 (150K)
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