I have a 87' 740T Wagon I'm gonna unload...

I was rear-ended in my third Volvo, a 740 Turbo Intercooler wagon I had for
seven years. Although it doesn't really look that damaged at all, estimates
came to $4200 because they said the frame buckled. The insurance company
just made an offer of $2600 for settlement. It's fair considering the car
needs a lot of TLC to get it presentable again (although really it's a nice
looking car) and I'm already driving a new car. Anyway, I'm in San Diego, we
have a place here called R-C Autowrecking that specializes in Volvos. It's
one of the few Volvo yards in southern California other than a huge one up
in Los Angeles. Do you think these guys will give me top dollar? I'm not so
hot on fixing it to resell and the insurance company doesn't want to deal
with taking it off my hands, should I try to sell it damaged? It still
drives great, a shame to have it junked for a mere $160 dollars. Anybody
have any ideas?

As an aside. This car really started deteriorating at 165,000 mi. Mostly, it
was all the plastic parts on the car, the upholstry, carpeting, and
headliner. That is the most annoying thing. Because the body and engine was
great, but the plastic parts under the hood and throughout the car just
nickle and dimed me to death. I had a marigold/sunflower yellow 1982 240
wagon that I just loved to death. That car went 210,000 with ease and the
interior still looked just great. I thought by giving that car to my niece,
and buying this 740, it was a step up. But really the 240 still looks way
better than the 740, both on the inside and out. What an embarrassment
considering the 740 costed twice as much, was five years younger, and I
babied it more. I feel sorry that some of these newer S70, Cross Country,
and V70 owners are thinking they're buying into the same "Rolling Strength"
legacy, when today's Volvos are very different than the good ol' 240's and
144's. My next Volvo will be another 1982 (super fat tugboat bumpers!) 240
wagon. Dang that car was comfy to drive.

 

Well the new Volvo's are for sure different. They are built in a way to make
them more cost effective. A new Volvo built the old ways would cost around
$70-80K CND IMO. Yes, it's too bad the plastics in the 740's rotted out... I
have to say the 900 series is a massive step up in this department, our
960's interior is as good as the day we bought it. Leather slightly broken
in of course ;-).

I still think a new Volvo could last 15 years or more, if regular service
was done on it. The materials used in the inside are top notch, and they are
still very well made vehicles... it's just they have many more complex
electrical circuits which can have issues, but this is true even on the
cheapest cars out there. Hell you should see how complex a commuter car like
a VW Golf or something is.... there is more computer power in those things
then any Volvo from the mid to later 90s.

I'd excpect a well taken care of V70 bought now to last until 2020.

 

Chato buys his cars at insurance auctions so he pays ~$100 or so for a
wrecked car of that vintage. I offered him my '86 740 with a bad tranny'
for free if he would come and get it, he wasn't interested. Give him a shot
then put it in the paper for a bit more than he offers, someone may want it
for parts, does it have a 3rd seat?
Dave Shannon
daveshan_at_spamsoneonelse_cox.net (Spring Valley CA)
1988 240 DL 19X,XXX
1984 245 DL 20X,XXX
1984 245T 19X,XXX
'01 Jeep Wrangler Sahara 14K
http://www.homestead.com/volvo2/

 

Is this climate or what? The plastics in my 740 have held up remarkably
well, it's also an '87, dash is completely crack free, door pockets are all
intact, headliner is sagging though so that's an obvious issue, but I
haven't found the rest to be any worse than a 240. On my 240 the door
pockets have been replaced once already, and the parking brake console is
cracking finally, the dash was badly cracked so I replaced it too.

 

Well if it still drives fine why not advertise it as-is for $500 or so?
Might make a good car for a student or someone else who needs inexpensive
reliable transportation, it may never be perfect but perhaps they could fix
it up to the point where it would look decent.

 

Has a lot to do with climate and if the car was garaged. My father is in the
plastics industry, and has said that older plastics lose a lot more of
something called plasticizer (not sure on the spelling) when they age. And
that when exposed to sun the rate of this form of decay increases by quite a
bit. The loss afftects how brittle the material is. So when its cold and you
hit an old plastic that has been soaked in sun for 10 years, its chances of
breaking are significantly higher then a brand new plastic (of just say,
exact original specs). Newer plastics are more stable then the older stuff,
and problems involving the molding process have been worked out.

Of course sometimes it comes down to how gentle you are on the car, and if
it's taken care of.