Hey all,
I've been driving this '86 Volvo 740 Turbo, 5 speed Wagon for about a month now.
And...frankly, I'd probably rather be driving something else. So...I thought I'd fish for a trade here where folks like them (apparently more than I do). I'm not particularly interested in selling it outright...because then I'd have to go buy a daily driver to replace it. I'd rather just trade a good DD for it.
About the car: I got it with a bad head gasket. I replaced the head gasket and had the head surfaced to take the warp out. It now runs good and does not show any signs of overheating, leaks, etc. It's all stock, to the best of my knowledge. It drives smooth and straight, and I've had it to KC and back (about a 4 hour round trip) earlier this week.
The bad: There is a howling in the driveline that is possibly the driveshaft center bearing. A cheap, easy fix (if that's it) that I haven't done yet. The headliner was falling and has been removed. I have the fiber board that is in need of recovering. The interior is in need of cleaning and it's about what you would expect from a 25 year old car. The A/C doesn't work (because it hasn't been fixed). There's some evidence of a little bit of a fender bender on the driver front. You can see a shallow dent in the fender. And a bunch of other stuff typical of a 25 year old daily driver (gauges are intermittent, I don't think the brake lights are working...today, dings, it's been repainted, etc).
The particularly-good: Mostly I've already mentioned this stuff, but it warrants repeating. It's a solid turbo engine and a 5 speed. There is no rust that I have found (I am NOT fooling myself into thinking that there is none there...but volvo's seem to be quite the anomoly for a car this old in this area).
So...about what I'd be interested in as a trade. I'm interested in something that is daily drivable. My tolerance for "driving projects," however is huge...afterall, I'm driving this thing with no A/C in the summer and no headliner. I drove my Corolla wagon with no hood or headlights for, like 2 months.
I'm looking for something with 3+ seats. I'm a sigle father of 2 young daughters.
Rear drive. This isn't a deal breaker, but I generally don't look at front drive stuff.
Gas mileage. Part of the reason I'm wanting to part with the Volvo is because if I'm going to get this kind of gas mileage, I want to have a little FUN while doing it. So...I'd like something that gets upwards of 25mpg on the highway (more is better, of course) and/or something that is more fun to drive than a volvo wagon.
Things that strike me off the top of my head:
An E30
Old GM G-bodies (Malibu, Cutlass, Regal)
GM B-bodies (caprice and such)
Ford Panther platform cars (P71 is good!)
Ford Fox body platform cars
Rear drive toyota stuff
Pretty much anything diesel would pique my interest.
A subaru might be fun.
A 1.8 Escort GT (or Protege or Tracer).
A Merkur XR4T1
What do you have?
Clem
