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hey SW,
Figured im at a good point to share my Volvo, and the story and build behind it.
The story begins on November 01, 2012.
i was the proud owner of my long time favorite car, a 1995 mazda miata. i had always wanted one, and finally got one for an incredible deal.a short time later i realized, this little convertible i had longed for was something that really brough me no joy.
it was fun, quick, handled like nothing else, but i felt unconnected to it. i didnt feel right in it.
the next day it was on craigslist and it sold the following night.
It was friday, i had some cash, and no car. and work was approaching monday. needsless to say, i was in a pickle.
i started scouring craigslist like a mad man, i knew i wanted 3 things out of a car; Rear drive was a must, manual transmission, and turbocharged.
the makes and models started pouring into my head. do i get a z31? do i get another volvo v70 and have boost, but sacrifice rwd? do i just say to hell with it all and get a geo prizm?
Fast forward to saturday night, after a few nice dinners out on the town, gas in my friends cars to drive me around, and buying stupid shit here and there, i basically was broke, and still had no car. not what i had planned on.
i was out smoking a cigarette, looking on craigslist, and came across something that grabbed my attention.
For Sale: 1988 Volvo 740 Turbo.
i clicked the ad, on the inside was nothing more than a phone number. no details, nothing,
i called and had to leave a message. i basically gave up.
sunday evening rolled around, i was in a terrible mood. i absolutely **** not having a car.
then the phone rang.
a young ladies voice said, "hey im returning your call about the volvo"
i said, yeah, i just had some questions, is it auto or manual? is it inspected? does it run?
she says, "well...it runs" its a manual transmission, and its not inspected.
great, i thought, another pos that is ready for the scrapyard.
out of time and out of options i asked if i could come see it, it was a short drive away.
My girlfriend and i made the drive, we pulled in the driveway to the sight of a horribly neglected, faded blue, 88 740 sedan.
my girlfriend looks at me and says "your kidding right?"
i wish i was.
Tailights: broken
corner lights: broken
shifter: broken
exhaust: broken
camo seat covers? check.
the girl came outside and handed me the key, i took it for a quick spin, fighting to shift with the knob hanging off like a loose tooth, no power steering, it gets better and better.
i returned and asked how much buys it. she replies "im asking 500" for you ill take 400"
goody goody, must be my lucky effing day,
out of time and options i pay up and head for home, with my girlfriends wrx tailing me the whole way, almost taunting to say "get the fuck out of the way hippie"
i got home and went to bed, i didnt even want to think about it.
Monday morning, i woke from what i thought was a bad dream. got ready for work and walked outside. There it was, the blue turd. glaring at me.
This is where the story truely begins.
I made the long, seemingly endless 15 mile journey to work. no radio. window stuck down, and if i gave the car the slightest hint of letting go of the wheel for even a second it tried to yank me off the road. awesome.
on my lunch break i kept looking at it, wondering what i was thinking. i had owned volvos before. hell, ive owned cheaper cars before too, but something about this ugly little box got to me.
i started to clean it out, removing years of mcdonalds wrappers, long blonde hair, dirt, and those damn seat covers.
It basically stayed that way all week, for the first time i had no motivation to build a car.
Saturday morning came and i headed to the junkyard to find replacements for all my broken lenses.
ended up scoring new everything, including a set of tail lights.
I can stand amber, so i tinted the upper halves of the tailights with some leftover nightshades.
after i installed all the lights, painted the headlight surrounds black, and threw on a roof rack i had, i hit the car wash. probly the first one this car has had in 15 years. it wsas then i realized.
This car has potential.
Potential yes, and lots of it.
what i didnt have a lot of was money. i was barely making enough to pay my bills. let alone build a car.
little things started to come together though, Thankfully i have a lot of friends who either work at or own shops, and the work began.
12-21-12
I pulled the car into my friends exhaust shop, and cut the rotted catback off, we replaced it with a 3" side dump. Deemed the "hippie blaster"
at the same time it got a rf tie rod and alignment. on the house.
January came, and it was cold and snowy. i managed to save up some money and bought a grant hub adapter for the wheel i had laying around, and a cheap garbage shift knob.
It made winter shenanegans alot more fun.
During a late night snow drifting session, i had an epiphany.
i was sliding this cheap little brick around like a pro D1 driver, i would enter the corner, tap the brakes, kick down to second gear, smash the throttle, and its like the car knew what to do, even a few times when i thought i had entered a corner waaayyy too fast, she would just keep steering, it felt like i was never going to hit full lock, throttle response was good, steering felt great, and i realized as i straightened out after a 75mph, 3rd gear to the limiter slide, i had fallen for this little car. we were becoming one.
The next day i decided, im going to build this car. to the end. no If's ands or buts.
i started small, checkerboarding the rear view mirror in ohmage to my TE72 wagon (R.I.P)
I wanted to do something different with the trunk, i knew i wanted a spoiler, but nothing seemed...right. i wanted that vintage race car look, but no body made anyhting good, not that i could afford it any way.
then i came up with the idea to go oldschool nascar style. i got started with a template out of cardboard.
but then ran into a problem, wtf am i going to make this out of? i cant afford to have aluminum or plexy cut and shaped.
it hit me on the way home.
1/8th inch aluminum. FREE. Done deal.
Now what? well, i was headed in the right direction, still had no money, and was still at stock ride height.
Figured im at a good point to share my Volvo, and the story and build behind it.
The story begins on November 01, 2012.
i was the proud owner of my long time favorite car, a 1995 mazda miata. i had always wanted one, and finally got one for an incredible deal.a short time later i realized, this little convertible i had longed for was something that really brough me no joy.
it was fun, quick, handled like nothing else, but i felt unconnected to it. i didnt feel right in it.
the next day it was on craigslist and it sold the following night.
It was friday, i had some cash, and no car. and work was approaching monday. needsless to say, i was in a pickle.
i started scouring craigslist like a mad man, i knew i wanted 3 things out of a car; Rear drive was a must, manual transmission, and turbocharged.
the makes and models started pouring into my head. do i get a z31? do i get another volvo v70 and have boost, but sacrifice rwd? do i just say to hell with it all and get a geo prizm?
Fast forward to saturday night, after a few nice dinners out on the town, gas in my friends cars to drive me around, and buying stupid shit here and there, i basically was broke, and still had no car. not what i had planned on.
i was out smoking a cigarette, looking on craigslist, and came across something that grabbed my attention.
For Sale: 1988 Volvo 740 Turbo.
i clicked the ad, on the inside was nothing more than a phone number. no details, nothing,
i called and had to leave a message. i basically gave up.
sunday evening rolled around, i was in a terrible mood. i absolutely **** not having a car.
then the phone rang.
a young ladies voice said, "hey im returning your call about the volvo"
i said, yeah, i just had some questions, is it auto or manual? is it inspected? does it run?
she says, "well...it runs" its a manual transmission, and its not inspected.
great, i thought, another pos that is ready for the scrapyard.
out of time and out of options i asked if i could come see it, it was a short drive away.
My girlfriend and i made the drive, we pulled in the driveway to the sight of a horribly neglected, faded blue, 88 740 sedan.
my girlfriend looks at me and says "your kidding right?"
i wish i was.
Tailights: broken
corner lights: broken
shifter: broken
exhaust: broken
camo seat covers? check.
the girl came outside and handed me the key, i took it for a quick spin, fighting to shift with the knob hanging off like a loose tooth, no power steering, it gets better and better.
i returned and asked how much buys it. she replies "im asking 500" for you ill take 400"
goody goody, must be my lucky effing day,
out of time and options i pay up and head for home, with my girlfriends wrx tailing me the whole way, almost taunting to say "get the fuck out of the way hippie"
i got home and went to bed, i didnt even want to think about it.
Monday morning, i woke from what i thought was a bad dream. got ready for work and walked outside. There it was, the blue turd. glaring at me.
This is where the story truely begins.
I made the long, seemingly endless 15 mile journey to work. no radio. window stuck down, and if i gave the car the slightest hint of letting go of the wheel for even a second it tried to yank me off the road. awesome.
on my lunch break i kept looking at it, wondering what i was thinking. i had owned volvos before. hell, ive owned cheaper cars before too, but something about this ugly little box got to me.
i started to clean it out, removing years of mcdonalds wrappers, long blonde hair, dirt, and those damn seat covers.
It basically stayed that way all week, for the first time i had no motivation to build a car.
Saturday morning came and i headed to the junkyard to find replacements for all my broken lenses.
ended up scoring new everything, including a set of tail lights.
I can stand amber, so i tinted the upper halves of the tailights with some leftover nightshades.
after i installed all the lights, painted the headlight surrounds black, and threw on a roof rack i had, i hit the car wash. probly the first one this car has had in 15 years. it wsas then i realized.
This car has potential.
Potential yes, and lots of it.
what i didnt have a lot of was money. i was barely making enough to pay my bills. let alone build a car.
little things started to come together though, Thankfully i have a lot of friends who either work at or own shops, and the work began.
12-21-12
I pulled the car into my friends exhaust shop, and cut the rotted catback off, we replaced it with a 3" side dump. Deemed the "hippie blaster"
at the same time it got a rf tie rod and alignment. on the house.
January came, and it was cold and snowy. i managed to save up some money and bought a grant hub adapter for the wheel i had laying around, and a cheap garbage shift knob.
It made winter shenanegans alot more fun.
During a late night snow drifting session, i had an epiphany.
i was sliding this cheap little brick around like a pro D1 driver, i would enter the corner, tap the brakes, kick down to second gear, smash the throttle, and its like the car knew what to do, even a few times when i thought i had entered a corner waaayyy too fast, she would just keep steering, it felt like i was never going to hit full lock, throttle response was good, steering felt great, and i realized as i straightened out after a 75mph, 3rd gear to the limiter slide, i had fallen for this little car. we were becoming one.
The next day i decided, im going to build this car. to the end. no If's ands or buts.
i started small, checkerboarding the rear view mirror in ohmage to my TE72 wagon (R.I.P)
I wanted to do something different with the trunk, i knew i wanted a spoiler, but nothing seemed...right. i wanted that vintage race car look, but no body made anyhting good, not that i could afford it any way.
then i came up with the idea to go oldschool nascar style. i got started with a template out of cardboard.
but then ran into a problem, wtf am i going to make this out of? i cant afford to have aluminum or plexy cut and shaped.
it hit me on the way home.
1/8th inch aluminum. FREE. Done deal.
Now what? well, i was headed in the right direction, still had no money, and was still at stock ride height.
epic build and a job well done. thing looks mean as hell.
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