Volvo 480 Club Europe

Thanks all for your kind comments and encouragement - much appreciated!

Just a morning spent on Pud today, before heavy rain and cold winds drove me back indoors. I was lucky enough to secure a replacement OS rear light unit from eBay the other day, in better nick than the existing one. Strangely, Pud appears to have a lovely shiny new one on the NS, the downside of which is that I doubt I'll ever have a matching pair of lights That said, come better weather (ie Spring) we'll see what a bit of 2 stage lacquer can achieve...

Anyway, I had to spend a long time getting rid of tons of sealant that wasn't achieving anything anyway (stupidly I was so keen to get on that I forgot to take a horror photo), resulting in a nice clean panel as so:



Then carefully re-fit lights with nice new seals:

And for those wondering about the light coloured patch, Pud was the victim of an attempted theft, the damage from which is what caused her write-off and subsequent long, long sleep in a barn. The idiots obviously thought that the lower metal panel was part of the boot lid and bashed it about somewhat: hence the rear bumper was like this:



So far I have carefully cut out, filed, sanded and filled to a smooth finish, and the light patch is where I have primed it. There is a lot of scratching along the top of the bumper so I shall re-spray the whole top of it down to the black stripe in due course.

You might also notice two dents in the back panel - damage from same source, although they were far worse (as per this photo) until I managed to beat them out a bit today (as per photos in previous post). I am hoping that once the paintwork is done they won't actually show that much, then in due course I'll get them professionally sorted.

Coming along nicely, David. Lovely to see the Pamper Parlour in full swing !

dcwalker wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 09, 2020 6:59 pm

Aren't individual, leather rear seats just the coolest thing ever?

Keep up the good work David, loving the updates.

JKM

Did you make your own seals or are they available for a reasonable fee?

I have just realised how long it is since I updated this thread!

Pud has been coming along steadily - she's received auxiliary gauges, mud flaps, replacement rubber seals under the bonnet (round the scuttle and behind the headlights) to let me get rid of the nicely mouse-chewed ones that were there, and a nice condition set of genuine carpet mats, albeit they have gone a tad green

Why oh why does the grey in those mats fade to green? In Lily the GT I have a set that, miraculously, have remained grey, and when she comes out of hibernation I may try swapping the mat sets over, so the greenish ones are in the green car and the grey ones in the grey car...

Otherwise it's just been cleaning and general tidy up, bits here, bits there. I've tidied the back bumper further and it now has an undercoat of black over the light grey primer - unless the car is sparkling clean, with these winter lanes it actually barely shows once there is the usual layer of dirt over the back.

Given the limited amount of use any of our cars are getting due to lockdown, and the snowy/frosty/slushy roads we keep getting around here, we have been just using the 440 Wilhelmina. She's been coping admirably, but her tyres are an ageing set of Avons which whilst "OK" aren't fully up to the job in my view (I'm rather fussy over my tyres). Pud, meanwhile, is sitting going nowhere on an excellent set of Michelin Pilot Sport 3s. No problem - time to look at new tyres for the 440...but I cannot decide whether I like the Canis wheels on her or not, and actually I think Cetus would look better (only the GLT got Cetus, which are the 480 Celebration wheels. I happen to have a spare set of Cetus but they need refurbishing before I get new tyres on them.

So for now the easy answer is to swap the wheels over between the two cars. So Wilhelmina now sits on Cetus wheels with Michelin tyres, and her road-holding in al aspects has been transformed. I gave the Canis wheels a thorough clean today, and fitted them to Pud, who also had a good clean. And now I've got a dilemma... Because although I'm not sure about them on Wilhelmina, those wheels actually look rather good on Pud. Not sure why - the different shape of the car? The different colour? In the failing light I took a couple of photos:





Being a bit of a stickler for originality, I'll probably get the other Cetus refurbished and onto Pud with new tyres in due course as per the original plan. Either way new tyres will be needed. But then, as a 440 ES Wilhelmina should be on Canis, and I've happily put her on Cetus, so that's originality out the window! What do others think?

David

As someone who has always disliked the Cetus wheels (too curvy and blobby for a wedge) I think this is a very nice switch. It doesn't work perfectly, but for some reason I am not sure why, maybe need some pics in better light.

Smart move I reckon, although if I had complete freedom of choice it's either be Taurus or Pictor wheels...

There's not many wheels I dislike on a 480.....

And whilst Canis only upset me by not being "handed", I think they're a bloody lovely wheel (yes, I've got a set!)

Personally, I think a Celebration should stay on Cetus wheels as it couldn't have come out of the factory on anything else. My take on originality is that personal preference should only go as far as what the original owner could have chosen. I have forbidden Al to change the Vesas on Sven the GT. The older our cars get before being sold, the more important originality will be to prospective buyers.

Having said that, Snazzy is anything but original. Having decided that a high mileage ES has little resale value anyway I've had fun re-vamping her but I've gone with 'what Volvo might have done but didn't'. So - the paint is still Volvo 480 colours, the sill guards are Volvo ones and the steering wheel is a Momo, the same brand as the upgrades Volvo offered, albeit from a later era. The half leather interior has the same look as the old cloth one, having kept the same fabric on the centre panels and simply changed grey cloth to grey leather. Perhaps I should dismember her boot badge and re-apply it as 480 SE (as in Sylvia Edition)

dragonflyjewels wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 17, 2021 9:18 pm

Personally, I think a Celebration should stay on Cetus wheels as it couldn't have come out of the factory on anything else. My take on originality is that personal preference should only go as far as what the original owner could have chosen. I have forbidden Al to change the Vesas on Sven the GT. The older our cars get before being sold, the more important originality will be to prospective buyers.

Having said that, Snazzy is anything but original. Having decided that a high mileage ES has little resale value anyway I've had fun re-vamping her but I've gone with 'what Volvo might have done but didn't'. So - the paint is still Volvo 480 colours, the sill guards are Volvo ones and the steering wheel is a Momo, the same brand as the upgrades Volvo offered, albeit from a later era. The half leather interior has the same look as the old cloth one, having kept the same fabric on the centre panels and simply changed grey cloth to grey leather. Perhaps I should dismember her boot badge and re-apply it as 480 SE (as in Sylvia Edition)

Yeah I generally think like that, I think it is known as OEM+ basically where you mix and match but only using correct parts, creates a what-if? car

dragonflyjewels wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 17, 2021 9:18 pm

Personally, I think a Celebration should stay on Cetus wheels as it couldn't have come out of the factory on anything else. My take on originality is that personal preference should only go as far as what the original owner could have chosen. I have forbidden Al to change the Vesas on Sven the GT. The older our cars get before being sold, the more important originality will be to prospective buyers.

Having said that, Snazzy is anything but original. Having decided that a high mileage ES has little resale value anyway I've had fun re-vamping her but I've gone with 'what Volvo might have done but didn't'. So - the paint is still Volvo 480 colours, the sill guards are Volvo ones and the steering wheel is a Momo, the same brand as the upgrades Volvo offered, albeit from a later era. The half leather interior has the same look as the old cloth one, having kept the same fabric on the centre panels and simply changed grey cloth to grey leather. Perhaps I should dismember her boot badge and re-apply it as 480 SE (as in Sylvia Edition)

That's sort of my view.... with some variables...

1) As I'll never sell the car, I don't have worry too much.
2) I think any modification I've made can be reversed as I kept the part.
3) I'd love another (I know I've 3, but 2 of those are technically for sale) to do some modern mods on.

Thanks people!

I too tend to be "original plus any options that could have been on the car from new, plus other options extinct by the time of the car as long as 400 series". An example of the last is the auxiliary gauges - the 2 gauge unit disappeared when the turbo came out, but we all like retrofitting them!

I'm also happy to do what Volvo might have done - eg illuminate rear side markers (they were prepared for the USA market that never happened - 340 number plate light bulb holders are the actual fit) and illuminated window switches...

Like Jeff though I keep any original bits I replace...

And, already, I just know that Pud will end up back on Cetus!

David

The wheels look good.

If they were Volvo optional then even better, not as if they are tacky aftermarket wheels.

With 90's Volvo's becoming more rare it is nice to have the option to swap wheels.

Also didn't the German Celeb come with Taurus wheels?

Yes the German celebration came with Taurus, is known as collection instead of celebration though.

As a stickler for originality it’s Cetus every time for me. That’s the thing about the 480 it looks good on lots of types of wheel and comes down to choice.

arthuy wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 17, 2021 10:27 pm

The wheels look good.

If they were Volvo optional then even better, not as if they are tacky aftermarket wheels.

With 90's Volvo's becoming more rare it is nice to have the option to swap wheels.

Really interesting input here - good to see there are plenty of sticklers for originality!

Right, I've settled on the way forward: she sits on those wheels for now until I get the other Cetus refurbished and newly shod - then she will move back onto those...

...I think...

David

Ben, you wanted a picture in better light to help you decide what you think, so although yesterday was a gloomy day it was at least dry, so - ta da!



David

dcwalker wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 19, 2021 6:46 pm

Ben, you wanted a picture in better light to help you decide what you think, so although yesterday was a gloomy day it was at least dry, so - ta da!



David

Looks superb, a really good switch

Thanks Ben

Certainly it takes the pressure off getting the spare set of Cetus refurbished!

I'll take a photo of Wilhelmina the 440 on the Cetus tomorrow and add that to her thread - I think it's really improved her look but others may disagree, of course...

David