Steal Of A Deal: 1973 Volvo 144 Survivor
This three owner 1973 Volvo 144 is ready to go to a new home. While there is a little work that will need to be done, the current owner has already put $3,000 into the car in the last three years. At that point, your purchase should have less yearly maintenance costs involved. 37 bidders have put the price to only $3,050with no reserve. The seller bought it for $4,900, so you are getting a deal here. This Volvo is located in Pittsford, New York and there is a VIN listed along with a clean title and 48,314 miles on the odometer. The odometer is no longer working though. You can find it here on eBay.
The listing says that the car idles, runs, and drives great. The four-cylinder engine is connected to a manual transmission. Work has been performed on the engine by a master Volvo mechanic at a shop called Geneva Motor Sports. That mechanic installed a new camshaft, tappets and tuned the ignition. There are some rust spots near the wheel wells and near the driver side headlight. Photos are provided of those rust issues. The seller seems to think that it could be easily fixed if you are handy with that kind of work. Documentation of service history from all the owners is also available.
Inside, the car is clean and comfortable looking. The current owner has only driven roughly 1,000 miles in their ownership, so they have not put a whole lot of wear and tear on the materials inside. It is always fun to see the ergonomics and layout of dials and instruments on the dashboard for cars you don’t see every day.
Swedish car enthusiasts will hopefully find this car to be a lovable ride to add to their garage. That is always hard though, because those enthusiasts, like all automotive enthusiasts, already have more than one of their favorite brands or models of the car they like in their driveway. But, at the price this Volvo is at, how can one not just give this car some love. It will return the favor in driving enjoyment.
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Comments
In my opinion, the styling of this platform really peaked around this time. Later 240s that descended from this model never looked quite so good.
Yes the later ones were more squared off. My sister had a 242 with a stick and it was fun to drive compared to the S40 she traded in for. That thing was a slug!
Overall, I like the 240 series Volvos. I’ve never cared for the single square headlamps used on most European cars. I’ve always preferred twin headlamps on each side, or one circular headlamp, like on this 144.
I am no expert on Volvos.
But Colin Powell is. He is on Facebook.
He could maybe give some tips ? He certainly got it right on Weapons of Mass Destruction. 😁😂🤣
Wonderful driver’s car for long trips. I spent many hours in one of these during the mid-70’s running Coors beer from Colorado back to Mtn Vw Ca.
That’s when you couldn’t get Coors in California and man you could load that boxy Volvo up with lots of beer. Luckily I never had a problem with alcohol or weed, knock wood, as I could always get as much as I wanted.
You guys had Anchor Steam and you wanted Coors? Hmmm.
Yeah it was the 70’s and the grass is always greener.. besides who thinks rationally at 2am when someone says, “Road trip!”. We used to drive across the country like going to the 7-11.
That’s so funny! .People were doing the same thing running Coors from Colorado to New Orleans, I never could understand why. Tasted like the 3.2 or Near Beer they used to sell to the kids at Tulagis in Boulder
But it was definitely a thing. A friend went to Regis in Denver and actually drove the very same Volvo in blue and would load it up to visit us in New Orleans.
Kids do the darnest things. But it was a great car.
Sold for $3150. Great cars.
For a car that’s 47 yrs old, and given its nice original condition, $4,000 sounds like a good asking price. I’d buy one for that price if it ran, and everything works like it should.
Ha! I hauled Coors from CO to MI in a 142 four or five times – 36 cases fit in place of the rear seat cushion. Covered with a few blankets and ran at night to keep it cool.
Interesting a used car selling for the same price as new – not many do. Last year for the vent windows and first year with no carb option, BTW
I bought 68′ 144 new in Germany while vacationing with Uncle Sams Army and loved it for the first 50,000 miles, then disaster hit, the windshield leaked and rusted the top, the poor B-18 engine couldnt spin the tires on ice, it failed with a broken piston and ALL the rings broken. I did two rebuilds to get to 100,000 miles and sold it in Ann Arbor, MI. Yup, it had more care than any auto should have needed. Got to be an expert on SU side drafts, they wore the throttle shafts so much that replacing them was the only option. I havnt seen one here in Michigan in 30 years or so. Compared to a P-1800, they were trash.
Only 48,000 mi and needed a cam and tappets? These engines were good for
200,000 mi easy. Odometer doesn’t work? Sounds Fishy yo me.