My Retro Volvo 340!
Discussion
Ok, before you lot start hating on me, I know its not REALLY a Classic, but it's older than me, and i love the way it looks/drives, To me its a Classic 
My car History is pretty... poor? First car was a TERRIBLE Mk5B Escort i paid £130 for and lasted 4 months till the MOT ran out and i flogged it for £80
Next up was the dreaded Mk3 Astra, As god awful as it was, i paid £250 for it, beat it about for 9 months and sold it for £200, cant complain
Next up.. I finally got what i wanted, A 1.3 EG Hatchback Civic Payed £550 for it, Sold it for £800 Last week, It was expensive to insure/run, not worth it 
Now we come to what i currently have, picked it up two days ago from a man in Swindon for £850
It's a 1990 Volvo 340 (343) 1.7
Just under 36K Miles from new with only one previous owner, Full service history/Crazy ammounts of documents, the service stamps alone range from when it had 15 miles to when it had 35K. Serviced every 6 months without fail
It's red.. But the paint is amazing, it was garaged it's whole life
It also has, as far as im aware every factory optional extra The sunstrip tint, the pop out rear windows, sunroof, heated seats
Anyhow, enough rambling, i'll let the pictures do the talking, pictures from the day i picked it up. I'll have more up when i properly Clean it myself
And as odd as it is, i love the way it drives, Like a boat haha!
Once you get past the terrible body roll it isn't bad round bends, and it pulls like a train! 81Hp but 131 Foot pounds of Torque
I think the plans are just keep it and drive it, look after it and it might increase in Value, i cant see it losing value with the condition its in
My car History is pretty... poor? First car was a TERRIBLE Mk5B Escort i paid £130 for and lasted 4 months till the MOT ran out and i flogged it for £80
Next up was the dreaded Mk3 Astra, As god awful as it was, i paid £250 for it, beat it about for 9 months and sold it for £200, cant complain
Next up.. I finally got what i wanted, A 1.3 EG Hatchback Civic
Payed £550 for it, Sold it for £800 Last week, It was expensive to insure/run, not worth it Now we come to what i currently have, picked it up two days ago from a man in Swindon for £850
It's a 1990 Volvo 340 (343) 1.7
Just under 36K Miles from new with only one previous owner, Full service history/Crazy ammounts of documents, the service stamps alone range from when it had 15 miles to when it had 35K. Serviced every 6 months without fail
It's red.. But the paint is amazing, it was garaged it's whole life
It also has, as far as im aware every factory optional extra
The sunstrip tint, the pop out rear windows, sunroof, heated seats Anyhow, enough rambling, i'll let the pictures do the talking, pictures from the day i picked it up. I'll have more up when i properly Clean it myself
And as odd as it is, i love the way it drives, Like a boat haha!
Once you get past the terrible body roll it isn't bad round bends, and it pulls like a train! 81Hp but 131 Foot pounds of Torque
I think the plans are just keep it and drive it, look after it and it might increase in Value, i cant see it losing value with the condition its in
spats said:
keep it standard, but stick a nice set of wheels on it
found out how well they drift yet?
I have found that out, as fun as it is i try to avoid it found out how well they drift yet?
I haven't had a chance to drive it in the wet though when i wont destroy my tyres!
You cant really drift them as standard i'd say, and im not welding the diff/doing anything to it apart from maybe a change of wheels like you said, i dont want to ruin the originality of it
You can kick the back end though, it's always hillarious when there's a slammed/loud 106 tailing me and i kick it a bit
Trying to avoid driving like a yob though, i did enough of that in my Civic, this is more like driving around sat on a sofa, it's nice
Harding91 said:
I have found that out, as fun as it is i try to avoid it
I haven't had a chance to drive it in the wet though when i wont destroy my tyres!
You cant really drift them as standard i'd say, and im not welding the diff/doing anything to it apart from maybe a change of wheels like you said, i dont want to ruin the originality of it
You can kick the back end though, it's always hillarious when there's a slammed/loud 106 tailing me and i kick it a bit
Trying to avoid driving like a yob though, i did enough of that in my Civic, this is more like driving around sat on a sofa, it's nice
haha, I remember my first drive in one of those, in the wet with the worlds finest ditch finders pretending to be tyres I haven't had a chance to drive it in the wet though when i wont destroy my tyres!
You cant really drift them as standard i'd say, and im not welding the diff/doing anything to it apart from maybe a change of wheels like you said, i dont want to ruin the originality of it
You can kick the back end though, it's always hillarious when there's a slammed/loud 106 tailing me and i kick it a bit
Trying to avoid driving like a yob though, i did enough of that in my Civic, this is more like driving around sat on a sofa, it's nice
Interesting trip home I can tell you!nice to see one not due to get runined as a drift/rat car. Maybe try and find some period wheels? nothing to big or blingy, just something to set it off.
spats said:
haha, I remember my first drive in one of those, in the wet with the worlds finest ditch finders pretending to be tyres Interesting trip home I can tell you!
nice to see one not due to get runined as a drift/rat car. Maybe try and find some period wheels? nothing to big or blingy, just something to set it off.
The wheels ive seen i like are Weller wheels? Steel ish type looking wheels with slight dish Interesting trip home I can tell you!nice to see one not due to get runined as a drift/rat car. Maybe try and find some period wheels? nothing to big or blingy, just something to set it off.
t 
Brilliant!
There's an old boy that lives down the road from me who has a brown 340, it looks completely mint as he rarely uses it, except for one small car park dent that I noticed. He's had it as long as I can remember, so it wouldn't surprise me if he's had it since new.
Anyway, that is brilliant, good work! As already mentioned, keep it nice and standard and don't ruin it
There's an old boy that lives down the road from me who has a brown 340, it looks completely mint as he rarely uses it, except for one small car park dent that I noticed. He's had it as long as I can remember, so it wouldn't surprise me if he's had it since new.
Anyway, that is brilliant, good work!
As already mentioned, keep it nice and standard and don't ruin it 
I'm not sticking it on the paintwork Love it! My dad bought me a metalic tourquoise/blue saloon one of these to learn to drive in. I thought it was pig ugly but to learn to drive in it was great! Much better clutch than the 1.25 fiesta that my driving instructor had. The picture of the interior brings back some fond memories!
http://www.volvo300mania.com/forum-uk/index.php
These are a rather friendly bunch if ever you need to ask questions. A much quieter forum than this but a wealth of information.
Agree with keeping it standard though, even if an F7R/F7P conversion is tempting!
You also have the rarer "6 dial dash" by the looks of it...
I'm assuming rust is almost non-existant? Do your best to keep it that way and it should run forever
p.s. It's hilarious in the wet, I have to try very hard to not act like a child when approaching roundabouts
These are a rather friendly bunch if ever you need to ask questions. A much quieter forum than this but a wealth of information.
Agree with keeping it standard though, even if an F7R/F7P conversion is tempting!
You also have the rarer "6 dial dash" by the looks of it...
I'm assuming rust is almost non-existant? Do your best to keep it that way and it should run forever
p.s. It's hilarious in the wet, I have to try very hard to not act like a child when approaching roundabouts
Brings back many memories. My Dad had a love for all volvo's 240, 740's and also a 340 1.7 in green. I did feel sorry for my sister having to learn to drive in it, trying to complete a 3 point turn, in a tight road and with no power sterring. Lets just say it took 20 attempts and many tears.
Finally electrical gremlins meant it caught fire on the drive one day...
Finally electrical gremlins meant it caught fire on the drive one day...
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