1982 Volvo 343GL
Discussion
I am jolly envious. I have had a 360GLS 3-dr hatch (BPA 942Y) and a 360GLEi SE saloon (D47 VCF). I wish I still had one or other. Great, robust, proper cars. I'd like to get one in 4 years time when my eldest turns 17. Brilliant thing to learn to drive properly in.
Love the look of this one OP. A GLS though with the velour seats, mmmm. Mine was metallic green with beige velour interior. It cost me £150 to buy including 6 months road tax. That was in 1997 though. Used to commute from Reading to Maidstone every day in it. Comfy, powerful and reliable. Thirsty, but when the car costs £150, who cares?
I prefer these 343/345/360 era ones before they were all called 340 or 360. They just seem a bit more "plush" and special.
Love the look of this one OP. A GLS though with the velour seats, mmmm. Mine was metallic green with beige velour interior. It cost me £150 to buy including 6 months road tax. That was in 1997 though. Used to commute from Reading to Maidstone every day in it. Comfy, powerful and reliable. Thirsty, but when the car costs £150, who cares?
I prefer these 343/345/360 era ones before they were all called 340 or 360. They just seem a bit more "plush" and special.
It's like you just found a time capsule...this could be filed under "Barn Find" could it not. Certainly not my cup of tea but what an amazing example of bygone motoring. I saw one of these converted into a drift car and it was bonkers....not that I am in anyway suggesting you do the same. Looks like you have a nice line already in time-warp volvo's
If you get bored of it i'm sure a car museum somewhere might be interested in it. Just the sort of thing they tend to like..one of those "My Dad Used To Drive One Of Those" affairs as previously stated
If you get bored of it i'm sure a car museum somewhere might be interested in it. Just the sort of thing they tend to like..one of those "My Dad Used To Drive One Of Those" affairs as previously stated
I like this and that you are going to look after it. Lovely condition.
I'm not 'up' on the trim levels of these....but...
My uncle had a sucession of these. I think 3 or 4.
But i remember two.
One was a white 4dr saloon. I'm sure it was a 360 2.0 GLT - (he said it was and it was very rare) but then i remember someone saying to me more recently that you couldn't get a GLT saloon, only as a the hatch?
The other was a (i think) grey/black GLT hatch. I remember the big rubbery spoiler on the back, the squashy velour seats and the (and this was big for us at the time - electric windows and central locking??!) Untold luxuries that we'd never seen before at the time!
My auntie would drive the hatch and my uncle the saloon.
Then they must have broken after a while as the next time i saw him one of them had been replaced by a Skoda Favorit Estate and the other a 120L!
I'm not 'up' on the trim levels of these....but...
My uncle had a sucession of these. I think 3 or 4.
But i remember two.
One was a white 4dr saloon. I'm sure it was a 360 2.0 GLT - (he said it was and it was very rare) but then i remember someone saying to me more recently that you couldn't get a GLT saloon, only as a the hatch?
The other was a (i think) grey/black GLT hatch. I remember the big rubbery spoiler on the back, the squashy velour seats and the (and this was big for us at the time - electric windows and central locking??!) Untold luxuries that we'd never seen before at the time!
My auntie would drive the hatch and my uncle the saloon.
Then they must have broken after a while as the next time i saw him one of them had been replaced by a Skoda Favorit Estate and the other a 120L!
My first car "Yorvik" was a grey 1.4 Volvo 340 GL (electric windows and everything) bought from local auction when a hard up student in the 90's.
Total lack of care and attention given by me, with minimal work just to scrape through annual MOT - yet ran and ran and only died when I continued to drive it to the airport to ensure I didnt miss a flight - despite a ruptured coolant hose.
Fond memories of ther car, would be interesting to drive one now though to see how woefully bad and underpowered it really was though!
Rear wheel drive driftability in the snow was great fun, Grandad image meant insurance wasnt sky high which was a bonus at the time.
Total lack of care and attention given by me, with minimal work just to scrape through annual MOT - yet ran and ran and only died when I continued to drive it to the airport to ensure I didnt miss a flight - despite a ruptured coolant hose.
Fond memories of ther car, would be interesting to drive one now though to see how woefully bad and underpowered it really was though!
Rear wheel drive driftability in the snow was great fun, Grandad image meant insurance wasnt sky high which was a bonus at the time.
Original.Love it, keep in original and enjoy
There's definitely something about Volvos that get under your skin.
My parents had a succession of them when I was a kid, 144 saloon, 145 estate, 244 saloon, a couple of 340s , a 360GLS, a 360 GLT and finally a 740 estate.
The 340s were a matching pair bought at the same time, one for mum and one for dad and had consecutive number plates, very flash.
In my early 20s I had a 360GLT, C47HOV, loved it...
Lates 40s now and what do i drive, a C30 T5, and my brother with a bigger family and 2 dogs has a V70.
Spend far too much time looking on line for 240 GLTs, my wife doesn’t understand...
There's definitely something about Volvos that get under your skin.
My parents had a succession of them when I was a kid, 144 saloon, 145 estate, 244 saloon, a couple of 340s , a 360GLS, a 360 GLT and finally a 740 estate.
The 340s were a matching pair bought at the same time, one for mum and one for dad and had consecutive number plates, very flash.
In my early 20s I had a 360GLT, C47HOV, loved it...
Lates 40s now and what do i drive, a C30 T5, and my brother with a bigger family and 2 dogs has a V70.
Spend far too much time looking on line for 240 GLTs, my wife doesn’t understand...
My wife had one of these when I was first dating her. It was her dad's old car that he passed onto her. With >100,000 mile on it, mostly towing an caravan, it was quite worn. It was an X plate 343 1.4 litre - I had an S plate Maxi at the time. I was a bit disappointed with the Volvo, I thought the Maxi drove much nicer even though it was dissolving into rust around me. It was also much more reliable as the old Volvo had quite a lot of fuelling issues, if I recall correctly it had a complex (for the day) emissions system and that had blocked up horribly and the car kept cutting out. I stripped a lot of it out which improved matters but it still let us down quite a lot.
We sold the Maxi for a gorgeous old Bedford CA and the Maxi outlasted the Volvo by a good few years. She replaced it with a Hillman Imp that had done 22,000 miles from new and turned it into a classic rally car and had many years of fun out of that!
Despite all that it's lovely to see one in such great condition. I enjoy seeing "ordinary cars" in such great unmodified condition and it sounds like this will be kept in an appropriate manner. Well done!
We sold the Maxi for a gorgeous old Bedford CA and the Maxi outlasted the Volvo by a good few years. She replaced it with a Hillman Imp that had done 22,000 miles from new and turned it into a classic rally car and had many years of fun out of that!
Despite all that it's lovely to see one in such great condition. I enjoy seeing "ordinary cars" in such great unmodified condition and it sounds like this will be kept in an appropriate manner. Well done!
What a find! I can never understand why people get cars new and then don't use them....but all the better for you. If you told me about the colour of the interior and exterior I'd say I'm not fussed, but actually seeing it, it really works for me. Love it.
Edited by Harveybw1984 on Friday 15th December 09:41
Warms my heart to see one of these again. My very first car in the UK back in 1990 was a silver D-Reg 340GL 2-door. In many ways it was a real POS, but at the same time i remember being very fond of it despite the obvious flaws which were primarily the 70hp(!) 1.4 engine, and a fairly bouncy ride. But it was roomy and robust and in some ways highly entertaining. With a bit of patience and a decent downhill descent you could get the little beast up to a mighty 85mph!!
The previous owner had installed a fairly punchy Sony head unit and speakers that may well have been worth more than the car itself, but one that also lent itself to being easily nicked - damn it.
Just checked to find it was last taxed in 2000, so probably rusting away in a knackers yard somewhere. Saddened by that thought.
The previous owner had installed a fairly punchy Sony head unit and speakers that may well have been worth more than the car itself, but one that also lent itself to being easily nicked - damn it.
Just checked to find it was last taxed in 2000, so probably rusting away in a knackers yard somewhere. Saddened by that thought.
I'll have a brochure somewhere for one of these. Never been my thing, but mostly fond memories of them. Our careers guidance teacher had one (345GL) and my Dad's best mate had a lot of them over the years. His last was a 1989 340 1.6 diesel saloon he bought new (he knew the 340's weren't much longer for this world). He had that 11 years & it still looked like new, but sadly crashed into the back of someone in it, and that was that.
M1C said:
I like this and that you are going to look after it. Lovely condition.
I'm not 'up' on the trim levels of these....but...
My uncle had a sucession of these. I think 3 or 4.
But i remember two.
One was a white 4dr saloon. I'm sure it was a 360 2.0 GLT - (he said it was and it was very rare) but then i remember someone saying to me more recently that you couldn't get a GLT saloon, only as a the hatch?
The other was a (i think) grey/black GLT hatch. I remember the big rubbery spoiler on the back, the squashy velour seats and the (and this was big for us at the time - electric windows and central locking??!) Untold luxuries that we'd never seen before at the time!
My auntie would drive the hatch and my uncle the saloon.
Then they must have broken after a while as the next time i saw him one of them had been replaced by a Skoda Favorit Estate and the other a 120L!
Was definately available as a saloon, my dad had one. It had a smaller rubber rear spoiler on it, more subtle than the hatch.I'm not 'up' on the trim levels of these....but...
My uncle had a sucession of these. I think 3 or 4.
But i remember two.
One was a white 4dr saloon. I'm sure it was a 360 2.0 GLT - (he said it was and it was very rare) but then i remember someone saying to me more recently that you couldn't get a GLT saloon, only as a the hatch?
The other was a (i think) grey/black GLT hatch. I remember the big rubbery spoiler on the back, the squashy velour seats and the (and this was big for us at the time - electric windows and central locking??!) Untold luxuries that we'd never seen before at the time!
My auntie would drive the hatch and my uncle the saloon.
Then they must have broken after a while as the next time i saw him one of them had been replaced by a Skoda Favorit Estate and the other a 120L!
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff