Well, plans to get a 164 ´75 are progressing, but now I wonder, where in USA to get it, which states should be avoided (rust, bad paint, mechanical troubles, etc.), and how much to pay?

What should I be aware of, what defects are most common? Where it rust most often? Advices very welcome.

I have to import it back to Sweden as we never had them new here, sad enough... So it has to be street legal, not too much to fix, engine have be to run good, etc. This as spareparts here are tough to get. 75´s are very different from 74´s in many way. it´s more a 264 than a 164 inside if I had understood things right.

I just bought a '75 164 (USA) this summer -- a southern car, just a few (cosmetic) rust spots, but with a original sunroof and power windows (and automatic, A/C which still works, etc.). It's also a 49-state (or "federal") car, so it doesn't have a catalytic converter or an unleaded gas restrictor in the fuel filler (but it does have the air pump, which I plan to remove).
Most of the work required is the interior -- the leather upholstery hasn't held up to the test of time, but I'm planning to swap in 240 seats -- but the engine runs nicely and I expect it will run even better when I replace all the vacuum hoses, fuel injector seals (I may also have the injectors reconditioned).
I spent a couple of years looking for it -- I had bought a '73 164 new, and now, 30 years later, I felt nostalgic and wanted another, but decided the '75 was the only choice because of its many shared parts and compatibility with the 240's (making parts easier to come by). E.g., wheel offset is different from the '74 and earlier 164's and the same as the 240's, as are the seats.
The only trouble I'm having is with the front brakes (the rears share the same parts with the 240's), which are unique to this model and this year, as far as I know, so far!
BTW, I paid $1,000.
Good luck. You have to just keep looking, on the internet, in Hemmings, etc. Hang in there -- you'll find one.

If you do decide to remove that airpump, whatever you do...don't throw it away. Best to remove it if only to preserve its working condition. If you ever decide to sell the car, it could well end up going to someone who lives in an area where that air pump will be required in order to pass a smog test. Even though it doesn't do a damn thing...

-Matt

$1000 seems decent, they ask $3600 here for a ´73 you know.... and a ´75 has a average price of $ 3000 here with swedish papers. So it will be bargain how it ever will be fixed.

Front brakes you said? Unique for ´75? Ok. Good to know.

Thanks friend, I will look around! By the way, which state came your car from?

Friend of mine bought a '74 for $900US. Runs decent, near-perfect interior, but rust in the trunk. Be wary of vehicles from the Northeast US (I'm in Maine), or other places where it snows a lot and salt is used to clean it up. Northern US coastal regions in general should probably be avoided if rust-out is a concern... Worst rust spot for Volvo bodies (at least 140, 160, and 240s) seems to be the spare-tire wells and rear quarter-to-trunk seams...

How is winter road-maintenance handled in Sweden?

Well, same trouble as here by the way.., winter-maintenance of roads? salt, gravel, and just plowing them, depending where you go. salt are very common here in southern sweden and the rust trouble thereafter. I hate that salt...