Yesterday was VC-Day. Volvo Collection Day
It took 3 trains to get there, but eventually I arrived at the sellers premises to see the 940 sitting in the car park ready for me. It gleamed and looked absolutely gorgeous. The panels are sooo straight - not a single dint in sight, just the crease in the front bumper that had been disclosed in the advert. The interior is equally exceptional - virtually no marks or wear to the upholstery, and for a change the leather is quite supple!
So, after doing the deal I set off for the drive home - this one journey would be further than the car has travelled in the last year
First thing - fill up with petrol... £105's worth! Unleaded was £1.95 down there (Sevenoaks), even in Tescos!
Initial impressions were that the car is exceptionally taut - it drives like a brand new car and I can't remember having a 940 that had suspension so good. Beautifully supple, no noises whatsoever - its a wonderful ride and I wafted along it typical 940 comfort.
The engine looks to be in superb condition - the cam lobes are like new, and inside the rocker cover the head is lightly golden with no sludging whatsoever. The seller said that he has always used Mobil 1 in it, and I found nothing to dispute that. The oil filter was a Mann one, which is my preference too.
Its not all roses though. The engine is flat. Utterly gutless and I'm wondering whether the turbo is functioning at all - hopefully its just a vacuum hose that has broken off. The idle is a bit lumpy as well, so that could also point to a vacuum issue. The accelerator cable has the usual sheath corrosion resulting in a very stiff accelerator pedal - the only part of me aching when I got home was my ankle!
The sunroof doesn't close fully - its about 3-4mm out of adjustment so there is quite a lot of buffeting noise. Luckily, the drain tubes seem to be unobstructed, as last nights heavy rainfall didn't result in a soggy cabin! I have to admit to checking the interior at 05:00 this morning as I was quite worried about it!
Nevertheless, I'll need to attend to that asap. The car has been stored inside a barn as part of a private collection for many years, so I'll excuse the seller for not declaring that - its been a sunny day cruiser for one weekend a year by the sounds of it. (The seller also had various older Volvos to play with - 140s, 240s etc).
The bonnet has some stone chips and a small scratch, so that will need repainting next year, and I'll probably get the boot lid done as well, as there is some bubbling near the rear number plate. There is also the usual rusty hole in the corner of the battery tray, and I assume the same will be present under the washer fluid reservoir - I expected to find these, so no biggie really.
Some instrument and switch lamps aren't working, along with the auto transmission selector lamp which I remember very well as being a royal PITA to replace. One headlamp reflector is badly corroded, so I'll either replace it or get it re-chromed. The tyres, while new, are UniRoyal RainExpert3s (not RainSport) and are surprisingly noisy. I'm not sure what to do about those at the moment, but they may get replaced with some all seasons ready for the winter. They are very supple though, and of course they'll be very good in the rain.
There is no record of the cambelt being changed, so that'll need to be done, along with the other drive belts as they look out of adjustment and aged. In fact, if it hadn't been a redblock car (so a non interference engine) I wouldn't have driven it home - it would have been trailered back. But with there being no chance of destroying the engine if the cambelt snapped I decided to collect it and drive it home.
On the plus side, the brakes are stunning - better than the 850R. Very sharp bite and loads of power, so thats one area I won't need to attend to. Everything electrical seems to work ok apart from the aftermarket radio, which is fine as I'm either going to fit an original one (with a Pure DAB add on unit), or a Blaupunkt DAB.
The documentation includes a lot of service history, including some main dealer stuff, so I'll get a print out of it all from my local dealer. There is also some interesting Danish Embassy documents, and the important Special Delivery & Diplomatic Sales document folder and keyfob
Sadly no Diplomatic Sales sticker on the car - I assume it was to keep it discrete.
The journey home was exactly 300km (its an all metric instrument cluster remember) which equates to around 185 miles, and the fuel gauge indicates a 1/3 tank depletion which is amazing. A rough calculation makes this around 29mpg, but I'll top up the tank at the weekend to get a more accurate figure.
So, overall I'm happy with the car. Disappointed about the sunroof as that is quite an involved job (need to drop the headliner a bit), but the rest is pretty much what I expected. I'm still loving the colour, and how comfortable a long distance cruiser it is!
In the meantime, I'll be ordering a lot of parts to get all the work done before winter - I have a few (cosmetic) jobs to do on the 850R as well, so they'll be fighting for attention lol. I just have to negotiate with SWMBO to get some free time to do it all...