I am looking to purchase a 1973 Volvo 145 Station Wagon with 26,000 original miles for $2700. I would like to know a few things. First, would I be getting a good deal buying this car? Is it possible to have a 35 year old car with only 26,000 miles on it? How would I be able to tell if those are actual miles or if the odometer has been tampered with? The car does have some issues: the clock doesn't work, the heat may not work, the engine temperature gauge may need to be replaced, a seal leak between the engine and transmission (leaking tranny fluid), the left turn signal doesn't work, and the driver's side window (manual) doesn't work. as someone put it, "small stuff". But the engine seems to run fine and the trans shifts smoothly. Also, I would like to know of the reliability of the car as well as it's longevity. Being that it is rear-wheel drive, how well does it perform in the snow (considering they were made to withstand "Scandinavian Winters")? What could be done to make it better in the snow? I try not to drive too much in the snow, but just in case I do.. I need the car as a daily local driver (not commuting) to run errands. But considering I live in the country and the nearest stores can be 5 or more miles away, I put an average of 12,000 to 15,000 miles a year. I figured since the car has low miles it would be a good choice. What does everyone hear think? I can't find anything else with low miles. I want a foreign car because I had 4 high mileage domestic cars in a row, and they're engines all failed. I want something built more substantial. Any info you could give would be appreciated. i've included pics of the car. Thanks.


http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo190/villageedge/volvo_interior.jpg

http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo190/villageedge/volvo4.jpg

http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo190/villageedge/volvo3.jpg

http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo190/villageedge/volvo2.jpg

http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo190/villageedge/volvo1.jpg

For $2700 the car should be very well sorted.
Considering what it needs $1-1.5 k tops.

Some D-Jet parts are getting scarce,and expensive.
The seats have been redone the seat bottoms don't look like 140 or 160 pattern.
Those clocks don't work very well ,if at all anyway.
The heater control in the firewall typically goes out at @ every 20 years.
The automatic transmission seal is another 20 year repair cycle item.
The stick shifts get better economy and are less troublesome.
As mentioned the wear on the brake pedal says 200K mi.
Those wheels are 14x5.5 inch from a 260 series Volvo,
and have a 20 MM offset not the 40 mm of a 140.
The stock wheel is # 684001 at 15"x5"x40mm offset.
Nanking makes an affordable 165x15 tire with a
tread pattern similar to the stock Michelin XZX.
--
71-145-S

Actually that car was on ebay about a year year and a half ago

Oh whatever. I had a 1973 145 for five years that I drove back and forth to the Bronx everyday a 54 mile round trip and only twice did I have a major problem, both times I was on the road in a matter of a day. Go for it otherwise I'll buy that car!

I'd have to agree with others... indeed, that car looks nice, but I'd have some serious doubts about the mileage. Could be real, but the problems you mention it having just don't sound like 26k mile problems. (heater fan... and that's a tough job) Front seats are not original.

If you're looking for a good driver, look into 240s. That's what I'd do... for $2700, you can get a near pristine 240. With a heater that works. Better yet, spend a grand on a good one, and have $1700 left over. Don't worry too much about a 250k mile 240... if well cared for, they'll hit a half million easily.





--
-Matt I ♥ my ♂

Are you goofy or something? You want a 35-year-old car as a reliable daily driver? It may only be 26,000 miles old, and the 140 cars were terrific, but it is 35 years old. AGE affects a cars as much as mileage does. Every plastic and rubber part is 35 years old, every seal is 35 years old. Every bit of non-replaced lubricant (as in the odometers and heater fan) is 35 years old. Buy this as a hobby car and restore it. Drive it in summer to shows or on fun outings. But you better trust on a much newer generic car to get you to the store in winter. (If this is fuel-injected, wait until you see the cost of Bosch control components and other parts.)

I paid $400.0 for my 1972 145 - my 1st volvo (and second car ever) in 1993. I was 19 and in college. The car was older than me. So $2700 seems a bit high to me...

My 145 was excellent in snow and ice. I lived about 12 miles out the town at the time and it did slide a coupe times on the icy backroads of Missouri, but being such a heavy car, it was quite controllable.

The main issues I experienced were:

Rust!!!
I did not have one of those "Belgian Rustflowers" but my floorpans were eaten away along with the rockers. This let the car suck significant exhaust back into the car and really upset the gal who later became my wife. It also let a lot of gravel road dust into the car and made keeping it clean impossible.

Clutch
I burned up a clutch when something went "sproing" and the clutch became useless. $40.00 clutch plate and my first real experience crawling around under the car. It was down for over a week.

Alternator
Died. my skilled mechanic went and made me some new parts because you could not get new brushes for the car...

Headlights
Goofy reflector thing, replaced by sealed beams that never aligned properly...

Fuel
Leaking tank required some JBWeld inginuity. The never quite functional fuel gauge got me stuck more than once.

Speedo/Odometer.
Was unhooked when I bought the car. Mileage was completely unknown. I reattached the speedo and the things made a horrible wizzing noise on the highway. The previous owner disconnected it (when?) because of the noise.

Windows.
The runners that hold the back windows were rusted out and the windows dropped abruptly once day. I had to MacGyver it together.

Also, the glue that holds the vent window pivots and vent window locks, pops off and is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to reattached permanently. I was lucky in each case and caught the glass, but this made life harrowing because parts were hard to get in the early days of the internet.

Heater Valve
It was leaky and eventually HAD to be replaced with a new unit from the nearest Volvo Dealer (130 miles away).

With the manual gearbox, the short shifter retaining ring would work loose and the short shifter would suddenly pull free... While driving...

I feel I could tackle these problem better now with the full resources of the internet and the brickboard, but back then, these were terrible annoyances and I was a young inexperienced kid with no good wrenches and no money at all.

I did love volvos. I saw my first 122 back then and now I own three...
I kinda miss that 140 some times.

I'd be really suspicious of the mileage claim. The body appears to be nice. The wheels are not original. They have likely replaced some ugly steel wheels to make the car look better. They are missing the center caps. I may be wrong but I believe those seats should be brown. I don't think I've ever seen a car with brown carpets and black seats. That would indicate they've been re-upholstered. The brake pedal seems to be showing shiny steel through the rubber pad. Those don't get that way with only 26,000 miles of driving.

All the "little" things wrong with it certainly indicate to me that it has significantly more miles than claimed as well. Some things, like leaks, can manifest themselves in a vehicle that hasn't been run for a number of years because seals dry up and become brittle. Things like windows opening? I doubt it. No heat? Unlikely. Inoperable temp gauge? I'd be surprised.

As far as longevity goes, that engine will run forever if properly maintained. Dead reliable. The tranny is a good one too but I'd take it to a tranny shop for a good flush and some fresh fluid. The auto isn't as trouble-free as a manual but they last a long time.

The 145 is a wonderful winter car. Of all the Volvos I've owned I think my '73 145 was the best. Get some original 15" wheels and put 4 skinny 165 winter tires on it and it'll be virtually unstoppable...

--
Dale

There are known issues with heater fans on those models and they can be fixed but not without time and patience.
The fuel injection system is good but has a substantial learning curve - it is NOT intuitive and you HAVE to know where to get parts for them BEFORE you need them.
Automatic transmission on a 140 - Don't think so if I could avoid it.

You probably need two of these oldtimers so that you can drive one while you are fixing the other one. Once you know how they are relatively easy to fix but it takes time to learn.
Being from New York it may have a lot more corrosion in hard-to-fix places than is worth dealing with also.

They are nice cars and can be made pretty reliable but it takes a lot of work.

--
George Downs, Bartlesville, Heart of the USA!

I can answer some of your questions. Yes, it's certainly possible to have a 35 year old car with only 26k. My mother-in-law gave up driving this past year. Her 1991 Sentra, purchased new, had 19k total. I see the car has NY plates. If you are here on LI or the Metro area you will not have any problems going in snow with all season radials. If you are up in the Catskills or Adirondacks or the western NY snow belt areas a full set of radial snows is the way to go. The car has non-original wheels--I think those came on the 242GT--so a set of 15" rims-steel or alloy (from a 140/160 or 740/760) with skinny winter tires will take you anywhere. The 140 is very well balanced. Does the odometer work. Those models had all sorts of problems with the trip meter-if the trip meter jams up it will keep the main odometer from registering-while the speedo section continues to work. The reliability and longevity of the 140 is nothing, if not terrific. They take a bit more maintenance then the 240 and 740--but it's worhwhile. As long as there's oil in the motor and coolant in the radiator you will not blow it up. Volvos slogan back then was --"drive it like you hate it". If you don't feel confident about assessing the cars condition, it would be worth the investment to bring it to a qualified shop and pay an hours labor to have it looked over--top and bottom. At 26k the chassis parts-ball joints, tie rods, steering box, idle arm should all be in excellent shape. Rubber bushings may get dried out but they should still be tight. If the webbing on the seat bottoms is the original weave of stretchy bands they are probably dry and stiff. Parts are available to renew seats. If this car is for real it may be the last car you will ever need to buy.

Sorry, but honestly, questions like yours make me laugh. Reliability of a 35 year old car?

I mean, come on. Your asking questions about a 35 year old car and using it as a daily driver. It is a 35 year old car. It is going to have issues. Do you want to deal with the issues, or are you expecting to get into an old car and have it to perform as if it just came off the lot!? If you are, go get a newer Honda or Toyota.

Is it a good car? Yes. 26,000 miles? Wow! That is as good as new in my opinion. $2700 for a 145? Eh, I don't know. For me, probably not if it has items to deal with. It just may not be worth the dough for the repairs in the end. How much rust does it have? NY plates. Been through winters here in the northeast? Do you have parts car that you can pull from? If not, are you willing to pay someone to search down parts for you? Or will you show up at the garage with parts in hand and expect them to know what to do with them? Are you going to work on the car yourself? There is great information here if you are ready to dive in. I use a '70 as a daily driver, and enjoy it. Nothing else like it around here, but something always seems to go wrong every few weeks - its old, and NE is tough on cars. I don't mind. I enjoy troubleshooting and repairing.

Snow? Sure it's good if you have snow tires and some weight in the back.

If you can't work on it yourself though, you may be in for surprises. Don't expect that the neighborhood gas station is going to have any idea how to repair an old Volvo correctly. It takes patience and time to diagnose any old car as far as I'm concerned. There is no scan tool to plug into this car. You actually have to know how to diagnose a problem.

I really apologize for being a curmudgen. But I have seen a few people end up being disappointed after buying an old Volvo. They have bought on the idea that nothing will ever go wrong, and when something does, they blame the car as being junk. Some seem to think that old Volvos are great cars (which they are) and that nothing should ever go wrong. Therefore, they expect them to perform like their 2004 Honda. That is just not going to happen, old cars break down.

What do you consider "high mileage and breakdown" in domestic cars?

Driving a 73 145 daily...in virginia. The fan was frozen up and one of the brushes had backed out of the plastic holder (see photo I just uploaded under Technical in the 140 section ). Heated up the plastic retainer and put it back in position, then added retaining wire-tie and lubricated the shaft. This was tough getting to the fan motor; you would have to loosen the dash front to get the vents out of the way, to get to the motor...

The speedometer works occasionaly and mostly when the weather is cold???