Volvo 480 Club Europe

Free 480ES in Scotland

I've been offered a free LHD 480ES (2.0) which is an hour north of Ullapool in Scourie.

It was driven over by a Dutch guy but came off the road when the Dutch MOT ran out. Apparently it was running and was solid but would need a new clutch and some bushes.‎ A few parts have been removed and sold on eBay but I don't know what-- it didn't sound like too many.

It needs to be gone pretty soon or will be scrapped, hence the offer of being free.

I can put interested members in touch with the guy, who ‎is in Edinburgh. He is called Joris: maybe Brinkie knows him from the NL club?

No pictures yet, but have asked. ‎

Yes I know Joris, he was living not far from me and he's been to my place several times, when he suddenly left for Scotland. (The bastard! Leaving this shitty overpopulated country for stunning nature, good whisky and friendly people! Well at least there is the same amount of rain, or even more )

The car is pretty solid, it might need some work but I guess Joris' luck and/or budget on cars ran out. It's a 1995 dark grey 480 ES 2.0, I think there are approx. 220,000 km on the clock. I've given him a speedometer face plate in miles.

Sad end for a well travelled car.

It would probably be a good parts car for me, can you send me his details and I will see if I can do something.

Would be a shame to see usable parts scrapped.

Nice one. I'm pleased someone's interested.  

I've requested his contact details through the forum. Can I have yours to pass to him incase he doesn't get back to me fast?

Just need to find someone to deliver it from the middle of nowhere.

Could you hire one of those little car transporter converted vans maybe and go yourself?‎

I assume you've heard of Shipley‎? If not, basically you place an ad and people bid for your transport work. It starts high and goes lower basically. 

I appreciate that middle of nowhere means it'll probably cost a bit more. ‎

I will see if Joris comes back to me with some firm details and photos etc.

Shipley would be the way to go, I can only drive up to 3500kg vehicle, though I could tow it on a trailer, not ideal roads though and time is at a premium.

Will see how it goes.

www.anyvan.com works as well. Used them in the past

Interesting experience with the shipley and anyvan.

Was a little put off with the firm, came across pushy but I appreciate they want to fill the diary and forward plan. The price changed a little over the course of a few days and then they dropped in there would VAT on top.

Upshot is I will be sorting out the electrics on my landrover and borrow a trailer. Will be an epic 600 mile 12+ hour round trip which in a drafty land rover isnt ideal.

Wish me luck.

Wow! Quite an adventure on the horizon!

That was epic.

Picked the trailer up yesterday, absolute first class service from Striling trailer centre, helpful and even had a look at my electrics which I had installed and checked with a pukka socket tester. Great trailer and all the equipment.

I have tucked the car up at a friends until I can figure out what to do with it. It is a 2.0litre with aircon just like mine so I will take a lot of parts off before the shell gets scrapped. I will put a breaking thread up.



Was just about 600 miles round trip, weather was mostly great. The car was in a really nice part of the country. There was a lot of Dutch registered cars doing double takes and a dutch family in a hire car had a passing interest when I commandeered several parking bays at costa, I think the father was tell the teenage son how good/bad they were in the day.



Perhaps a twist of fate, I had a choice of two routes where the motorway splits but can rejoin a few miles later. Instead of turning off I stayed on the road and about 3 mins later a 480 the same colour passed me on the opposite carriage way.

Also, no such thing as a free car. I found 50cents and £1.32 in coins (old £1).

Excellent, I'm pleased that all worked out well!

What was your fuel bill!!??

door to door (600miles) then dropping the trailer off and home (another 100 miles) I used £160 in fuel. Roughly 25mpg average for the trip. not that much less than normal. Trailer was £64 for the 2 days. I did have a few other costs like a number plate and associated electrics.

Still worked out cheaper than the transporter that were proving suspect and it gave me good trailer experience. I passed my trailer test in November so good to get some time doing it to keep the skills up.

That's less than I thought actualy. Done very economically

I stayed at the campsite for £8 and a meal in the bar and a pint was £12. So cheap that way.

It was 48hrs of my time which was the biggest cost really. It may have speed up some clutch/gearbox grumblings towing but the original box has 220,000miles on the clock so always been a plan to do a rebuild.