Unmolested Volvo 850 GLT
Discussion
Thanks for your kind words J51dhu & Loose-Cannon
Yes they are still advertised as a 'good/ideal workhorse' and only the T5 variants seem to be desirable just now where prices are all over the place. Also have to agree it was a large car back in the day which is now dwarfed by the small modern hatchback cars that are now produced. I had a Vauxhall Senator (B) back in the late 80s early 90s which was a huge car, a few years ago I went to view one in the hope of purchasing and was shocked that it looks so small
My mission is to keep the 850 as it left the factory as much as possible and anything I put onto the car can easily be removed without causing any damage (e.g. dash-cam, grill badges etc.). Originality is important for me, the original owner & his family obviously took great care not to abuse the car and there are very few non turbo 850s as good still around so preserving for future generations is a must. Who knows, maybe in another 20 years the prices will be as good as base model Mk1 Ford Escorts...
On a lighter note when the car arrived into the UK in October 1999 it stayed in Willingham Cambridgeshire with the original owner for the next 15 years, I thought a Cambridgeshire badge would be nice touch but struggling to find something suitable to go onto the grill. I thought I had found one on eBay which is like new but now I've fitted it I feel it's way too big so I'm on the hunt for a smaller one (if such a thing exists)
Grill removed and on the workbench for some easy tweaking I'll be fitting a Scotland (obviously) badge when it arrives and if I can find a small Cambridgeshire badge it might look something like this...
Yes they are still advertised as a 'good/ideal workhorse' and only the T5 variants seem to be desirable just now where prices are all over the place. Also have to agree it was a large car back in the day which is now dwarfed by the small modern hatchback cars that are now produced. I had a Vauxhall Senator (B) back in the late 80s early 90s which was a huge car, a few years ago I went to view one in the hope of purchasing and was shocked that it looks so small
My mission is to keep the 850 as it left the factory as much as possible and anything I put onto the car can easily be removed without causing any damage (e.g. dash-cam, grill badges etc.). Originality is important for me, the original owner & his family obviously took great care not to abuse the car and there are very few non turbo 850s as good still around so preserving for future generations is a must. Who knows, maybe in another 20 years the prices will be as good as base model Mk1 Ford Escorts...
On a lighter note when the car arrived into the UK in October 1999 it stayed in Willingham Cambridgeshire with the original owner for the next 15 years, I thought a Cambridgeshire badge would be nice touch but struggling to find something suitable to go onto the grill. I thought I had found one on eBay which is like new but now I've fitted it I feel it's way too big so I'm on the hunt for a smaller one (if such a thing exists)
Grill removed and on the workbench for some easy tweaking I'll be fitting a Scotland (obviously) badge when it arrives and if I can find a small Cambridgeshire badge it might look something like this...
The Cambridgeshire bagde didn't work for me, it was too big and didn't look correct so with a lot of searching I managed to find a vintage military brass Cambridgeshire shoulder badge
My car history grill badges story are almost complete. The Cambridgeshire badge arrived today so I gave it a polish and put it onto the grill using a piece of copper wire. I've still to solder the wire at the back to stop it unravelling, touch up the paint on the bolts and I'm waiting on some bolts arriving for the Saltire badge then once they arrive I'll be able to refit the grill to the car
The story goes like so...
Built in Ghent Belgium, yellow badge Oost Vlaanderen (East Flanders) New in Germany red/blue badge British Overseas Army Rhine. Came to UK 1999 Cambridgeshire. Scotland Saltire present time
The car spent a few years in the Bolton area in the original owner's son's possession (mostly tucked away in the garage then a year in St Helens but I won't be putting any more on the grill. I've covered the most important parts (for me)
My car history grill badges story are almost complete. The Cambridgeshire badge arrived today so I gave it a polish and put it onto the grill using a piece of copper wire. I've still to solder the wire at the back to stop it unravelling, touch up the paint on the bolts and I'm waiting on some bolts arriving for the Saltire badge then once they arrive I'll be able to refit the grill to the car
The story goes like so...
Built in Ghent Belgium, yellow badge Oost Vlaanderen (East Flanders) New in Germany red/blue badge British Overseas Army Rhine. Came to UK 1999 Cambridgeshire. Scotland Saltire present time
The car spent a few years in the Bolton area in the original owner's son's possession (mostly tucked away in the garage then a year in St Helens but I won't be putting any more on the grill. I've covered the most important parts (for me)
The Scotland badge wasn't 'doing it' for me, it didn't look right so I had to use a bit of the old grey matter and think outside the box to finish the grill off
As I said above the car spent a few years in the Bolton area before moving to St Helens and then to me in Glasgow and with a bit of lateral thinking I've managed to find badges to cover them all. The Bolton badge is from a Bolton Corporation cap, it has the Bolton coat of arms and apart from the word corporation it fits my criteria so I can live with that.
St Helens and Glasgow badges were a little more difficult. I eventually found that there are 925 silver bracelets charms available with town coats of arms and I now have both Glasgow and St Helens. The difficult part was soldering 2 x charms and 2 x bolts to a small piece of cut copper (taken from 15mm copper pipe) without everything moving out of line but I think I've managed to make it strong enough to stay in place
Grill fitted today
It's amazing what is still available direct from Volvo for these old cars.
My original battery positive terminal cover was starting to show its age and I had glued it together last year to keep it going. I saw them advertised 'used' on eBay for anything between £13.00 to £35.00 so I contacted my local Volvo dealer and was told they still had them but could take up tp three weeks to arrive.
I received a call last week to say the cover was in and when speaking to the parts guy I asked if he could get hold of a genuine boot mat. "Yes we can still get them" he said so it was ordered. Today I had a call to say everything was in so I popped over and collected my parts
As I said above the car spent a few years in the Bolton area before moving to St Helens and then to me in Glasgow and with a bit of lateral thinking I've managed to find badges to cover them all. The Bolton badge is from a Bolton Corporation cap, it has the Bolton coat of arms and apart from the word corporation it fits my criteria so I can live with that.
St Helens and Glasgow badges were a little more difficult. I eventually found that there are 925 silver bracelets charms available with town coats of arms and I now have both Glasgow and St Helens. The difficult part was soldering 2 x charms and 2 x bolts to a small piece of cut copper (taken from 15mm copper pipe) without everything moving out of line but I think I've managed to make it strong enough to stay in place
Grill fitted today
It's amazing what is still available direct from Volvo for these old cars.
My original battery positive terminal cover was starting to show its age and I had glued it together last year to keep it going. I saw them advertised 'used' on eBay for anything between £13.00 to £35.00 so I contacted my local Volvo dealer and was told they still had them but could take up tp three weeks to arrive.
I received a call last week to say the cover was in and when speaking to the parts guy I asked if he could get hold of a genuine boot mat. "Yes we can still get them" he said so it was ordered. Today I had a call to say everything was in so I popped over and collected my parts
Pupbelly said:
Ooh that boot mat is wonderful! Can I ask the cost of that and a part number please? I'm assuming it fits all 850 estate versions (without 6 CD interchanger)?
Fits all 850 estates, if you have the boot CD changer you cut the extra piece offOrder from Volvo dealer parts department, the part number is 9451385 Cost was £49.87 plus VAT so £59.84
I could have ordered it from FRF and received a discount but by the time I paid for postage from Swansea it's cheaper to pay full dealer prices and collect it locally
Part number for the battery terminal cover is 6849457 and cost £2.80 plus VAT so £3.36
47p2 said:
Fits all 850 estates, if you have the boot CD changer you cut the extra piece off
Order from Volvo dealer parts department, the part number is 9451385 Cost was £49.87 plus VAT so £59.84
I could have ordered it from FRF and received a discount but by the time I paid for postage from Swansea it's cheaper to pay full dealer prices and collect it locally
Part number for the battery terminal cover is 6849457 and cost £2.80 plus VAT so £3.36
Superb! Thank you, I'll get one on order, I'd rather have a 'proper' Volvo boot liner. Thanks for the info, great work on your car, love the thread.Order from Volvo dealer parts department, the part number is 9451385 Cost was £49.87 plus VAT so £59.84
I could have ordered it from FRF and received a discount but by the time I paid for postage from Swansea it's cheaper to pay full dealer prices and collect it locally
Part number for the battery terminal cover is 6849457 and cost £2.80 plus VAT so £3.36
The parts supply is indeed excellent. I got a new loadspace roller blind, detachable tow bar, fold down dog guard etc, all for not much more than used sellers are floggong them for on Ebay. I can only imagine there must be a ton of them still on the roads back in Sweden and the USA that ensures continued interest from Volvo. As a company that pegs their reputation on longevity I hope that never changes.
I am now on the hunt for an 850 estate too, I can feel the old enthusiasm starting to rise the more I read about them
I am now on the hunt for an 850 estate too, I can feel the old enthusiasm starting to rise the more I read about them
It's taken a while and I totally messed up but I've eventually got there with my grill badge history.
For or some strange reason I mixed up Bolton and Boston, I had it in the back of my mind that the original owner's son stayed in Bolton when he sold the car to the dealer in Lytham St Annes but after sourcing a Bolton badge I was going through my paperwork and discovered it was indeed Boston in Lincolnshire where the 850 had spent a number of years...DOH!!!
I have searched high and low for a Boston Badge to no avail so the best I can do is Lincolnshire so my badge history is now complete
For or some strange reason I mixed up Bolton and Boston, I had it in the back of my mind that the original owner's son stayed in Bolton when he sold the car to the dealer in Lytham St Annes but after sourcing a Bolton badge I was going through my paperwork and discovered it was indeed Boston in Lincolnshire where the 850 had spent a number of years...DOH!!!
I have searched high and low for a Boston Badge to no avail so the best I can do is Lincolnshire so my badge history is now complete
That's my 850 now 25 years old (delivered new at the end of Feb 1997). It's been tucked away in the garage since last September and with an MOT due at the end of March it will soon be time to awaken the beast for another summer of enjoyment. Nothing has been done to the car since September except to put the CTEK on to keep the battery topped up.
I don't believe starting an engine every week or two and allowing then to come up to temperature. It does them more harm than good, the carbon build up is horrendous, the water sitting in the exhaust does nothing more than rot it prematurely, therefore my engine will get started for the first time later this month.
I have put some of my favourite pictures into a Flickr album so if you want a look you can click the link... https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzC4Ui
If you click the 'Toggle sideshow' button the images will scroll through without the usual adverts...
I don't believe starting an engine every week or two and allowing then to come up to temperature. It does them more harm than good, the carbon build up is horrendous, the water sitting in the exhaust does nothing more than rot it prematurely, therefore my engine will get started for the first time later this month.
I have put some of my favourite pictures into a Flickr album so if you want a look you can click the link... https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzC4Ui
If you click the 'Toggle sideshow' button the images will scroll through without the usual adverts...
I managed to get hold of another 'Special Delivery' keyring. This is an earlier all gold coloured 'Tourist and Diplomat Sales' one which is brand new, getting the chunky Volvo key on was a major task. There seems to have been several different versions of these keyrings throughout the years
@ sutts...
Thanks for your nice comments and glad you enjoyed the thread.
Carpet mats are no longer available from anywhere, I was lucky enough to find these for sale on none other than Gumtree at the other side of the UK from me, I just missed them as they were sold to someone else, but a week later the vendor messaged me to say the purchaser hadn't collected and I was given second dibs. His father had bought them for his 850R and never fitted them and they spent the next 25 or so years in the wardrobe...
The boot mat is still available direct from Volvo, your local dealership will be able to order one for you, they cost in the region of £60 and worth the money.
Enjoy your T5, they're becoming a rare car now and worth looking after
Thanks for your nice comments and glad you enjoyed the thread.
Carpet mats are no longer available from anywhere, I was lucky enough to find these for sale on none other than Gumtree at the other side of the UK from me, I just missed them as they were sold to someone else, but a week later the vendor messaged me to say the purchaser hadn't collected and I was given second dibs. His father had bought them for his 850R and never fitted them and they spent the next 25 or so years in the wardrobe...
The boot mat is still available direct from Volvo, your local dealership will be able to order one for you, they cost in the region of £60 and worth the money.
Enjoy your T5, they're becoming a rare car now and worth looking after
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