Hi James,
I understand your sentiments fully.
One of the 440/460’s problems is that they are not quite old enough yet; give them another 10 years and people will be hankering for the ‘pure’ feeling of a light FWD car. They are also overshadowed by the quirky 480, which is understandable as any sporting model tends to overshadow the more mundane ‘everyday’ models.
Yet, I have found the 400 to have a very good chassis, although the suspension is a bit too soft.
I do appreciate the 300 series. My mother had an S reg 343 DL auto for a few years and I inherited a 1987 340 GL auto (with power steering) that I drove at uni around 10 years ago. Sadly, although the auto had its plus points, it was not a very involving car to drive and was hatefully uneconomical on petrol for a 1.4, despite having only 21,000 miles on it.
I later sold the car to a young girl, who I believed ran it into the ground. Yet, I remained faithful and almost bought a 360GLT at one point and just missed out on an elderly friend’s V reg yellow 343 manual, which found a good home later with a member of the 300 Mania Forum.
Sadly, I think that one of the reasons that the 300-series has had a resurgence is because they are cheap and RWD, rather than for any particular merit. Like you, I am glad that they are now entering the hallowed arena of ‘classics’ and some examples are now being treasured and escaping the drifting (such as immature ‘sport’) community’s grasp.
Despite being a faster and better handling car (although I am not sure that the 400 was better built), I like the 400-series because they are still very cheap. Even the black 460 Turbo above was advertised for way less than £500.00 and I paid £650 (which was still fair) for a mint 18,000-mile full VSH GLT earlier in the year – the owner had advertised it for months, no one was interested and his 25 year-old daughter was ‘embarrassed’ to be seen in it.
Two 460 Turbo autos were advertised on Auto Trader for less than £500.00 last year, so a few are still knocking about. Despite me being a fan of them, I am well aware of what they are worth, which is not a lot. Yet, if I pay ‘top dollar’ (i.e. three sticks of used chewing gum and a fiver) for a 400, I expect a top car.
Fortunately, I am capable of bodywork repairs and I have a very good spray shop to hand, so I am not bothered about having to renovate a bit of panel work.
The Mk1 appeals to me more, because they are very much a 1980’s car (including the cheap plastics and instant-rattle dash and creaking suspension). I am not so keen on the later Mk2s which survive in greater numbers but they still make a great cheap and confortable ‘retro’ means of conveyance.
Still, I have now sold my SAAB 96 V4 and I have an empty space in my drive for another ‘80s Volvo. I’m in no rush. The 440 has been packed away for the next few months, to escape the worse of the winter, so I’ll see what comes up. Who knows, I may even look at a 480…
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