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posts about #144 more → Today, We're Thankful For The Pre-Chinese Volvo
1969 Volvo 144S
Detroit, 4:27 PM
Sat Dec 5
16 posts in the last 24 hours
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Today, We're Thankful For The Pre-Chinese Volvo |
1969 Volvo 144S |
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
11/25/09
11/25/09
I worked in broadcasting for a few years. I hated it.
I sat in my garage staring at my cars talking to my wife on the telephone.
"Honey, I think I want to sell cars."
"What?"
"I think I want to sell cars for a living."
"You're going through some, quarter life crisis, Ian. What are you talking about?"
"I want to sell...*staring at my '82 240 *...I want to sell Volvos."
*silence*
So the next day down I went.
That was last year, July. It was hot. I rolled up in the old 240 that doesn't have properly functioning air conditioning. The two salesmen who work there (only two at that time) walk out to my car.
We begin talking about the Volvos. Old Volvos.
Oh my God. They're car guys.
I started working there a few days later.
It's odd, many people come in here and complain about the "New Volvo". They complain about the way the New Volvo looks. They say they hear they're unreliable. They say they're too fast/too slow.
The funny thing is though, those people owned 240s and 740s and 850s when the internet wasn't readily available. You can't investigate problems of cars you're looking at as easily when only 1% of every car on the road is what you drive.
Understand, those cars were built extremely well.
But Volvo people are weird.
A few weeks ago I sold a car to a woman who traded in her manual '86 240 that had rattly shock mounts, a leaky sunroof, randomly inoperable windows, and a christmas tree of lights illuminating on the dashboard - those are the problems that I can remember. It had many more. The randomly functional windows have been that way since new.
She was able to see through all of those problems and believed the car to be immaculate.
She purchased a new S80.
Drawing from past experience - if that car has any perceived problems (through operator error or otherwise) - she will come in and ask me why Volvo has gone downhill. What's wrong with Volvo?
Volvo carries a special place in many car enthusiasts hearts. But along with the advent of the internet car purchaser, Volvo has seemingly lost its way.
Were Volvos ever safer than other cars? Maybe. Where they ever more reliable than other makes? Possibly. Are they now? Well, the internet will tell you "NO". So why purchase one?
Most Volvo owners that I work with have told me that they wouldn't mind selling Volvo. Non-Volvo owners just don't get it. I have been told that I'm a horrible car salesman. I'm just a very passionate and typical Volvo owner.
What non-Volvo people don't understand is that Volvo, more so than just making safe, reliable, and attractive automobiles, is a way of thought.
See a friendly man step out of a Volvo? Say hi. See an attractive woman pull up into a parking spot? You instantly can trade Volvo stories.
I now own three Volvos. Two pre-Ford ('91 780 Bertone Coupe, '95 940 Wagon) and one Ford era (2003 V70 2.5t). The connection with other Volvo folk is still there.
The big thing I hope doesn't change if we do get bought by Geely is the stories, feelings, and friends you make by owning one.
Here's to hoping.
11/26/09
I bought my first, and currently only, Volvo over the summer-- a C30 T5. I've never driven any of the pre-ford Volvos, but I may accumulate one or more down the line.
Shortly after getting my C30, a friend and I went to dinner with her family and another family they're close to. They had an old Volvo wagon they'd bought at a yard sale-- "How else am I getting this stuff home?" They loved that car. But, they did offer to trade me for the C30.
11/25/09
I do not need another project.
Or another mechanical mouth to feed.
11/25/09
11/25/09
@Mobius: They probably won't do this, though...
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11/25/09
I know, refrigerator-like, but it's nicely done.