Volvo 480 Club Europe

This one here confused me; but that doesn’t take much

Listed as a 480 GT, but with a dubious GT badge.

Isn’t one of the two GT metallic colours and doesn’t have the crazy imprint leather.

Apparently the V5 states “GT” and the registration checker I use agrees. Agrees with the number plates that are screwed on, at least.

Strange one?

This also confused me. There is no way this is a GT but how on earth can the V5 say so? Possible plate change illegality in its history? Either way, it’s probably (sadly) going in the bin.

Quite a few 480ES mis-registered at 480GT with the DVLA according to this discussion in 2005, so more likely this than a dodgy history:
viewtopic.php?f=19&t=8038&p=82684#p82684

Looks like an ES to me. The GTs had a locking rear centre storage compartment (I think). Maybe it was mis-described as a GT on the DVLA database and someone saw that as an opportunity to convert their ES to a GT. I know that my Vase green Two-Tone is officially 'Blue' according to the DVLA.

WillC9303 wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 23, 2021 4:00 pm

Looks like an ES to me. The GTs had a locking rear centre storage compartment (I think).

I think that was just an early car “thing” but maybe they did add it to the GT? Can any GT owners GT owners confirm this geeky point?

This is probably not a GT.
The red GT-Logo belongs to a Chevrolet.
The 480 GT should have an adjustable seat on the passenger side and a front spoiler.
btw: my GT has no lockable compartment in the back between the seats

That is a UK ES model, not a GT.

As James says, there were a number of ES models registered by DVLA as GTs for some unknown reason.

In the UK the GT was a strictly limited edition of 250, either burgundy metallic or racing green metallic, with front spoiler, air con, Vesa wheels and specially commissioned patterned leather upholstery.

And no, the rear centre locker does not have a lock! That was only on early ES models and then discontinued (like the auxiliary gauges as standard) when the Turbo launched - after that the locking rear box plus gauges were only on the Turbo.

There was "GT pack" for models in mainland Europe, which made GT models there quite common over a number of years
but that was quite different. The UK just had the one run of 250 in 1994.

So this is just one of those DVLA anomalies , I'm afraid...

David

I had no idea the Auxiliary Gauges were rare, I thought being Volvo that would be a big safety thing?

MisterH wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 23, 2021 7:18 pm

I had no idea the Auxiliary Gauges were rare, I thought being Volvo that would be a big safety thing?

Are you referring to the oil pressure and voltage gauges below the radio? My ES never came with them and I'm after a set to retrofit.

Yes, the oil, volt and blank was originally fitted to the ES up until when the Turbo came in.

The Turbo got the 3 gauge set (volt, oil and Turbo) and the ES, and all subsequent versions (even the Celebration) just got the cubby hole.

A lot of the 2 gauges sets were pilfered from early models once scrapped, hence there are quite a few about. I've got them my GT and Celebration, but in neither car were they standard (actually the set in the Celebration were a Turbo set and I removed the Turbo gauge).

Hardest thing to find is the bracket the sender sits on. Lots of people took took out the gauges and sender, but didn't give the bracket a thought...

David

Fascinating the things you take for given, I can't imagine it without!

Me too; they a virtually useless but the dashboard does look bare without them.

jamescarruthers wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 23, 2021 10:34 pm

Me too; they a virtually useless but the dashboard does look bare without them.

Not entirely useless: The first indication I had that my alternator had gone was when the voltmeter started flickering madly, its uselessness proving most useful in that case

As long as you remember that the gauges give a rough idea, rather than assuming they are pieces of precision-tuned engineering (which they are not!) they are useful. Certainly, they look pretty!

Broadening the conversation slightly, I think what happened is that Volvo rather pushed themselves into a corner with the UK models. For many manufacturers UK models tended, across the board, to be higher spec'd than those sold in mainland Europe.

When the 480 ES was released here, for 2 model years (87 and 88) it was the only model available. To get sales of this radically new car going, Volvo put everything on them. I recall that when they very first came out, the only factory option was body-coloured bumpers; otherwise anything else was dealt with by the dealer (including fitting the original sunroof).

Then came the Turbo, which made a range of two, and Volvo wanted the Turbo to be the "top of the range". OK, it was more powerful, but what else could they do to make it higher spec'd than the already-fully-loaded ES? Give it body coloured bumpers as standard. And the spoiler as standard. And? There was nothing....

So, instead they started down-grading the ES to make a difference between the two. Out went the lockable rear locker, and out went the twin gauge unit (that also saved money since now they were just making them with three gauges, rather than producing one set with three and one set with two and a blank). As far as I know these were, from 1989, the only differences. But it all effectively made the Turbo just that little bit higher spec'd.

Then the ES also got body coloured bumpers as standard - eventually the only other distinction between the ES and the Turbo would be the wheels fitted - after 1993 the Turbo got 15" Taurus whereas the ES always stayed on 14"...

And of course, when the S joined the UK range in 1991, that was seriously stripped down - in its original guise black bumpers, no moon-roof, no info centre, no front fogs, non-rds radio/cassette...

Anyway, I'll stop being a sad geek now!!

David

MisterH wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 24, 2021 10:03 am

jamescarruthers wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 23, 2021 10:34 pm

Me too; they a virtually useless but the dashboard does look bare without them.

Not entirely useless: The first indication I had that my alternator had gone was when the voltmeter started flickering madly, its uselessness proving most useful in that case

Must be a very rare and privileged club that has found use for them other the decoration— John de Vries would be proud! I do love them though!

Mine have only hindered me when not looking pretty, when the current car’s Voltmeter decided to read in the red about 250 miles from home for, what turned out to be, no reason— now replaced.

I had a red 1994 2.0L ES, M314 NJA, that was registered as a GT. I think I’ve seen the issue more than once around the Internet too.

I wanted to get to the bottom of this one for information for the GT Register I've been compiling. Obvious in the photos were wrong colour, wrong badge, wrong wheels, wrong interior, no aircon and moonroof. All could be explained with a stretch of the imagination - highly unlikely but nevertheless possible.
The seller kindly sent me an extra photo - the under bonnet plate showing the factory colour code. As expected it is 235 - the standard bright red which wasn't used on GTs.
Now I am happy to put an entry on the register stating it is an example of the mis-registration that has caused confusion on the GT numbers shown by howmanyleft.

Is a moonroof the same as a sunroof? I’ve heard a lot of people talk about a moonroof on here and wondered if it was different in anyway to the sunroof I have on my TT

WillC9303 wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 25, 2021 11:22 am

Is a moonroof the same as a sunroof? I’ve heard a lot of people talk about a moonroof on here and wondered if it was different in anyway to the sunroof I have on my TT

From one pic of your car I could see the roof on I suspect your TT has the “moonroof” unless you have something aftermarket fitted. Post a pic of the roof, inside and outside, and this can easily be confirmed.

Basically, very early 480s didn’t come with a sunroof from the factory. In the UK, but probably elsewhere that had a soft spot for these bastard things, the Volvo dealer installed a cheap nasty thing that only actually tilted, didn’t slide back and was manually operated.

Later, the “moonroof” came from the factory. This is electric and also only tilts, not slides. This is at least a nice bit of kit and nicely installed. It pretty much never leaks or goes wrong, except for a little piece of plastic which can snap though thankfully be replaced by our 3D printer equipped friends. For some reason, it is called the “moonroof” because it does not slide back. I’m not particularly sure why but it seems to be a sort of Volvo marketing name for a fairly limited sunroof.

Jan_Berlin! wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 23, 2021 6:10 pm

This is probably not a GT.
The red GT-Logo belongs to a Chevrolet.
The 480 GT should have an adjustable seat on the passenger side and a front spoiler.
btw: my GT has no lockable compartment in the back between the seats

GT of the UK has a different spec than GT of the Continent. Especially the interior trim, UK GT have a pretty whacky colour scheme, very 1990s!

This car looks like a 2.0 ES with ABS to me. I wouldn't go through the trouble of restoring this car, the wheel arches give a good impression of how the parts look like which cannot be seen. So it will be around 250 pounds plus the cost of trailering it out of SE Wales.

jamescarruthers wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 25, 2021 11:29 am

WillC9303 wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 25, 2021 11:22 am

Is a moonroof the same as a sunroof? I’ve heard a lot of people talk about a moonroof on here and wondered if it was different in anyway to the sunroof I have on my TT

From one pic of your car I could see the roof on I suspect your TT has the “moonroof” unless you have something aftermarket fitted. Post a pic of the roof, inside and outside, and this can easily be confirmed.

Basically, very early 480s didn’t come with a sunroof from the factory. In the UK, but probably elsewhere that had a soft spot for these bastard things, the Volvo dealer installed a cheap nasty thing that only actually tilted, didn’t slide back and was manually operated.

Later, the “moonroof” came from the factory. This is electric and also only tilts, not slides. This is at least a nice bit of kit and nicely installed. It pretty much never leaks or goes wrong, except for a little piece of plastic which can snap though thankfully be replaced by our 3D printer equipped friends. For some reason, it is called the “moonroof” because it does not slide back. I’m not particularly sure why but it seems to be a sort of Volvo marketing name for a fairly limited sunroof.

apologies for the massive pictures, but I'm guessing mine is the moonroof then? It operates electrically, and there is no evidence of it ever leaking.