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The 140 series is refered to by many as the "forgotten Volvo." Those of you who regard them as a daily driver meant to last are right on the money. This was the "11 year car," as marketed by Volvo. Basically Volvo guaranteed this model to be the only one out there that would go 11 years w/ just regular maintenance.
For the time, this was a rather risky move. How many people actually owned a vehicle that didn't need major work after 5 years? I think all in all, the car lived up to the standards set, if maintained at the proper intervals and not abused. The problem was that most people who bought them were in the "middle-age" range, and by that I mean mid to late 30's and up. Forgive me if I offend anyone with that comment. That being said, either the cars were driven and driven, finally succumbing to the eventual body rot or barely driven, sitting most of the time, thus rotting as well. At least that's what I've seen from my experiences with this model.
Further, Volvophiles of the time were still driving the 120, 540/210, 1800 models, and then the 160's, which were much more comfortable than the 140, so the 140 was overlooked as it was a transition model, setting the scene for the major safety and design advancements of the 240 (with the exception of the blower motor!!!!)
I'm partial to the pre '73 140, as the earlier designs were much simpler and so much easier to maintain and repair, albeit, the heating systems were a tiny bit weak.
5 or 6 years ago, I bought my first 140, a '71 4-door, auto, with only 54k original miles, and a one owner car. Unfortunately it has some valve issues from sitting for a little too long and I ended up having to replace a few of them as well as some lifters and rods. Worse, the SU's were shot. The car has next to no rust, perfect interior and extremely clean as it was stored in a carport. It was my first project of the model and I made all the mistakes, like putting a Weber DGV on it instead of just getting a refreshed set of Su's, and trying to improve upon the exhaust system.....and just not knowing enough about the car, in general to know exactly what I should do.
Well, now I've got 7 140's, not including a '73 I completely chopped up into pieces to use as replacement metal and assorted parts.
I've got a '70 145s, '71 145s, '71 144s, '72 144e, '72 142s (had been an e model, w/ auto, but now it's an s mod w/ m41 and a ported head w/ double valves and shaved down to get a 10.5ish/1 ratio. It's nice and 25mpg is ok as well, '74 142gl, '74 144gl. Not all are drivable as they have various maladays, but all in the process. You could say I'm a complete nut w/ these cars, but I love them and scour around and am buying parts when I can.
I've figured things out like you can stuff a GM 10si, 3 wire alternator internals and back into the front of the original motorola front casing, and use a slightly modified version of the original bracket or make a custom one, change nothing on the block mount, and end up w/ a 92amp power plant for $60 and a new, shorter belt.
So, I digress, but they are becoming rare and that's why I constantly scour for parts. These cars are still out there and can be had for very reasonable to absurdly cheap prices. For how long, I don't know.
I figure, very soon, I will have a complete fleet of these cars as daily drivers, and they will continue to serve me very well hopefully for the next 30 years.
I'm making the transition to FI systems, so if any of you out there have experience w/ custom systems, like megasquirt, let me know your thoughts and advice, as I need to learn the stuff.
I'm usedvolvoboy at yahoo.com
Thanks,
J
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