A few weeks back we featured a 1985 Volvo 245 DL wagon with 4-speed+OD manual gearbox sold by the original owner for a single bit coin (or $1000). This car was picked up by DT reader Andrew M for his son (who picked the Volvo over a 4X4 Toyota pickup - great kid!) and it looks like another happy tale of cheap motoring for a family man.
Andrew sent us the following nice note:
Hi DT,
Thanks for posting my Toyota, it did well on eBay! Finally here is a pic of the Volvo I purchased for my son...that's him in front of it, get his license next week (hopefully!)The transaction was great, the selling owner was very pleasant, and his father (the previous owner) even showed up to say goodbye to the Volvo that served as a first car for all 3 of his kids.I drove the car back to Reno, NV, about 250 miles without any problems. It had a sweet smelling heater and loud fan, so first thing done was to replace the heater core and new blower fan to battle the cold mornings here. It still has issues with the push button overdrive that we will need to address before anymore long trips, but I expect to get a lot miles out of this rig. Very happy with the purchase and I still am on the site numerous times a day looking for my next purchase as my current daily driver has 275,000 miles (1995 Infiniti J30.)
Regards,Andrew
Every time we can help a parent get his/her son/daughter into a Volvo wagon with 5-speed instead of a slushbox equipped Toyota Camry we consider it a job well done. One more gearhead in the world and one less mindless automaton driving 55 in the fast lane.
We are sending a few DT stickers to Andrew (and his kid) and hope to see more stories from readers like this one.
Got your own story of cheap cars, internet searches & busted knuckles? Email us here: tips@dailyturismo.com
you have chosen... wisely
ReplyDeleteGreat First Car! Hauls you, your friends and most importantly, your stuff!
ReplyDeleteBest. First car. Ever.
ReplyDeleteMy first car was a 1988 DL wagon, silver. It had the fun-sapping slushbox but I took immense pleasure in shifting it anyway...2-3-D I think... Took the hot girl to prom in it and she totally dug it, even with the smell of my team's sweaty lacrosse crap in the back. Since it was my technically my mom's car I had second dibs on it; my little brother and sister got the jumpseat in the back-back but shotgun was mine unless I was pilot. Almost tested Volvo's legendary structural safety one afternoon on the freeway outside El Toro, CA when a weaving jalopy clipped the semi in the lane to my right, served in front of me in a sideways spin, and kicked around into the divider after missing my bunker by about a centimeter...
...or my bumper. Either one.
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