Volvo 480 Club Europe

Being a 480 addict, you have to accept two things.

One thing is pouring humongous amounts of money into the cars while getting no returns on your investment financially. A hobby like this is not a sensible thing. (If you want a sensible car, buy a Toyota and be the one in front of the queue on A-roads while doing 10 mph under the limit )

The other thing is, you can't have enough of 'em. Things are getting a bit out of hand here I'm afraid.

My first Volvo 480 is the one I have kept until now, a Vase Green 2.0 GT (Dutch GT spec). It was also the most expensive at € 1500.
The second was a Paris Blue 2.0 ES I have driven for a month when the first was undergoing restoration. Bought and sold for € 250.
The third was a Smoke Silver 1.7 Turbo, bought for scrap for € 250.
The fourth is a Paris Blue 2.0 GT, bought for € 500, which I intended for daily driving, but things worked out differently (am going by train now) and I gave it to my dad to use as his second car.

Behold Volvo 480 the Fifth! The pictures are quite bad, but you'll get the idea. It's a 1995 2.0 ES in Vase Green, with only 153.000 kms on the clock (in 2002, at 43.000 the clock has been changed by Volvo) and full dealer history. Unfortunately, the previous owner didn't care much for its appearance!









I thought I bought a car for the parts (the unobtainium bits alone are worth more than the price I paid for the car!) but it drives like new. Pulling in 5th gear from 50 to 80 mph. I will give it a go at bringing the car back to reasonable condition.

To do:
MOT
service
stabilizer links
rear brakes
cambelt (last change 6 years ago)

Maybe Vase Green is the new "Black"

By the way, could you send me the pic you took of the identification plaque under the bonnet on Skip? I need to check the color code, it should read 314 I think

It is at the body-shop this week but I am chasing a replacement front spoiler.

frenchfries wrote:Maybe Vase Green is the new "Black"

By the way, could you send me the pic you took of the identification plaque under the bonnet on Skip? I need to check the color code, it should read 314 I think

It is at the body-shop this week but I am chasing a replacement front spoiler.

It says 314 but the digits after the 314 aren't on the picture, and those are important, because it denotes the supplier and whether it was water-based or acrylic paint. Volvo had many suppliers for the Vase Green colour.

I know that Joep Vrijling has re-made a number of front spoliers.

I did not know about the numbers after 314. I will check when Skip is back

I have just asked Joep about spoilers as well.

Merci

Front spoiler can be bought here in the UK from WR Composites just south of Birmingham - see their website for details.

http://www.wrcomposites.co.uk/automotiv ... parts.html

Interesting... they also do the bonnet scoop... (or snow cover as it seems to be known)

All this talk of obtaining more 480s is making me think I need another one now, perhaps to use as the daily run about that I am trying to protect Lily from becoming...

Maybe if I could sell the S40 I'd be allowed...although I'd also like a C70 to play with...hmmm

David

I briefly had three and had two for a long time as my only cars. Those were the days!

dcwalker wrote:All this talk of obtaining more 480s is making me think I need another one now, perhaps to use as the daily run about that I am trying to protect Lily from becoming...

Maybe if I could sell the S40 I'd be allowed...although I'd also like a C70 to play with...hmmm

David

Or a C30 2.5 T5R.............

jamescarruthers wrote:I briefly had three and had two for a long time as my only cars. Those were the days!

Tempting.....

frenchfries wrote:

dcwalker wrote:All this talk of obtaining more 480s is making me think I need another one now, perhaps to use as the daily run about that I am trying to protect Lily from becoming...

Maybe if I could sell the S40 I'd be allowed...although I'd also like a C70 to play with...hmmm

David

Or a C30 2.5 T5R.............

Aw no...don't go suggesting a wider range still; I had a V40 T4 and loved it and a couple of S40/V50 T5s are available at the moment...a C30 T5 would be great fun...mind you, I do have a V60 D5 and that's no slouch...but I've still never had a 480 turbo either...need a bigger driveway (and a bigger income!) I think...

dcwalker wrote:

frenchfries wrote:

dcwalker wrote:All this talk of obtaining more 480s is making me think I need another one now, perhaps to use as the daily run about that I am trying to protect Lily from becoming...

Maybe if I could sell the S40 I'd be allowed...although I'd also like a C70 to play with...hmmm

David

Or a C30 2.5 T5R.............

Aw no...don't go suggesting a wider range still; I had a V40 T4 and loved it and a couple of S40/V50 T5s are available at the moment...a C30 T5 would be great fun...mind you, I do have a V60 D5 and that's no slouch...but I've still never had a 480 turbo either...need a bigger driveway (and a bigger income!) I think...

Black with red leather interior

Well, sad but not really sad news.

I made a calculation of all the cost (over €1000 in parts and labour already) and time needed to fix this car. Both rear windows and the side marker seals are leaking, the exhaust is almost gone, brake lines are rusty, the dreaded hydraulic gearbox support has given in (part alone is € 95 plus several hours of labour because the subframe needs to be lifted), etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. And it would cost me more time than I have currently, I expected some technical work but this will take more time and money than expected. The car is a solid basis for restauration, there is only some rust in the wheel arches but not in other places. So I made a calculation of all cost and sold it for exact that amount to my 480 mechanic, now he has 5 of them! (and a classic DAF 66 plus a VW Golf TDI and a BMW 3-series for daily drivers - some people just can't have enough cars )

Eventually the car will be put up for sale for a small profit, but the bright side is that another 480 hasn't been scrapped for parts just because the repair bill is too high, and will be saved from oblivion!

Is that you who posted this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZBJOzfk3tM#t=10.49907

Yes, I have the full video but only uploaded parts that weren't embarassing to view
(they didn't cut cost on the car's production only, also on the production of the introductory video )