With its 16-valve engine, Mustang transmission, and sport gauges today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Volvo 245 looks ready to haul ass. You have to decide if its price makes it ass-tonishing.
Okay, so I know you saw yesterday’s 1969 Honda CB350 and thought to yourself, cheese on a cracker, it’s another bike! Your palms got sweaty, an eyebrow started to twitch, and you had to do a hard swallow to get through it and figure out just what the hell that odd two-wheeled conveyance might be worth.
Turns out it wasn’t the two-grand the seller was asking. Fully 71% of you felt that custom sissy bar equipped little Honda was in far too worn a shape to ask that much. And now you can all relax because today we’re back to a car. I got you, fam.
It’s not just any car either guys and gals, it’s a 1975 Volvo 245 DL that’s had… well, things done to it. Most of those are good things in my book.
First off, the car looks pretty good. The paint is serviceable if you don’t mind the chips here and there, or the patches of rust on the sills. That would be the first thing to have looked at seeing as it doesn’t seem to have gotten out of hand yet. You’ll also notice that the car has the Euro flat hood and lower grille. Inexplicably it has the U.S. sealed beams covered by zombie splatter guards rather than the nicer ice blocks. It does have some ancillary Hella-good lights to add to the party, which is a plus.
On to the inside. There you’ll find a sport gauge cluster, resplendent in its yellow markings and needles. You’ll also say “here comes the Bride” when you see the sport seats that have replaced the front two thrones. A dash-top trio of gauges helps keep track of what’s going on under that flat hood.
What’s under there is a 16-valve Volvo turbo four. Intercooled and raw-looking, the blown B-series looks right at home in this green machine. The engine is Bosch managed and backed up by a T5 out of a Mustang. Power is doled out in back by an Eaton True-Trac limited slip differential.
The ad says that the suspension has been upgraded to walk the walk so as to match the drivetrain’s talking the talk. That encompasses coil-overs, boxed control arms, poly bushings, and Bilstein shocks. ESR gold-center alloys dress up the wheel arches and enclose Brembo brakes.
Mileage goes undisclosed as does the reason for selling, other than the cryptic “car is looking for a new home.” That’s sort of like the car is telling him “it’s not you, it’s me” I guess.
It should find that new home as it is full of parts that make it sound like a fun runner. The seller says that’s just what it is, having been his DD for the past three years. According to the ad he wouldn’t hesitate to drive it across the country.
Of course, not knowing the precise limitations of what he wouldn’t do makes the gravity of that boast somewhat hard to gauge. I mean he might just also say that he’d drink nothing but his own pee along the way which might make you question his judgement.
You might also question the price on this well-modded but imperfect Volvo. That’s $9,300 which isn’t chicken feed, unless you’ve got a hen house that’s busting at the seems with chickens.
What’s your take on this 245 and that $9,300 price tag? Does that seem like a fair price—seeing as you couldn’t likely match the build for that? Or, is this a Volvo that’s priced only for Valhalla?
You decide!
SFBay Area Craigslist via BaT or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to Scott Reska for the hookup!
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