1982 VOLVO 340

Nick Larkin looks back at his best – and worst – classic buys. This week, a Volvo 340 bought for £10 at auction

WHY DID YOU WANT ONE?

Erm, well I didn’t, really – I was at British Car Auctions in Peterborough when there, cowering behind rows of Ford Mondeos and Vauxhall Astra Merits, was this small and very brown Volvo. I was accompanied by Mr Peter Simpson, formerly of this parish, who proclaimed that he would buy the Volvo for me if it were to go for £10. Nowadays Volvo 300 series cars have a real classic following, something that was definitely not the case in 2004. They have inherited Volvo’s accident protection legacy (remember that 1980s TV advert featuring an example being driven from a first-floor window?) and are easy to work on. The 360 GLT is a potent beast as well, but even those didn’t really pull my plug. Ah well, XLT 798X had survived for 22 years and its brown-ness did somehow seem to work its magic on me. It needed an MOT but seemed to be in good condition so it would have been a shame to drive it straight to the scrapyard.

WAS IT A JOY – OR A NIGHTMARE – TO LIVE WITH?

The garage rang up with some bad news – the Volvo had passed its MOT. A tiny amount of welding and brake adjustment had been all that was needed and the bill was a mere £60 all in. I certainly couldn’t scrap the car now and did have a vacancy for a stand-by car. And to be honest, no-one else was going to take on this beauty, now christened by all as ‘Brownie’. XLT 798X rewarded me with a year’s motoring and it never missed a beat. Performance wasn’t great initially but was transformed by a diet of super unleaded. I can’t remember the fuel economy on this four-speed car being that great, though. That said, no £10 car had the right to be so comfortable on long journeys, so the Volvo was my vehicle of choice for journeys to such exotic locations as Crawley, Sussex and Whitchurch in Shropshire.

WHAT’S YOUR ABIDING MEMORY OF IT?

I began to think of ownership of this Volvo as a social experiment. Derisory gazes were often cast my way when I rolled up to an event in it or parked it next to exotica in a supermarket car park. But the critical multitudes’ attitude changed completely when I mentioned that it had been acquired for just £10. They would often ask to pore over the vehicle while murmuring ‘ten pounds…’ in wonderment and thinking about the monthly repayments on their Audi. After all, the Volvo could reach motorway speeds while sporting a radio and a heater. It needed some more welding come the next MOT so it was time to say goodbye. In a fit of never to be repeated generosity I offered it free of charge through Classic Car Weekly in the hope that a restorer could be found. Eventually a nice couple from Bristol picked up the gauntlet though I never heard from them or the car again…

WHAT ARE YOUR TOP TIPS FOR BUYING ONE?

There are a fair number of Volvo 340s around, most survivors being cars that have been cherished for many years by a single owner, often in retirement, rather than everyday hacks. Spares for these cars are not in as great abundance as you might think, though the Volvo Owners’ Club can be a good source of help. Anglesey-based Classic Swede (classicswede.co.uk) supplies spares, sometimes via contacts in Scandinavia, as well as working on the cars. Proprietor Dai Brace says that it’s important to check the cars for rust, including the sills, A-posts and around the windscreen. The front suspension spring ‘cups’ should also be checked. Mechanically, the Renault engines can suffer carburettor problems and prospective buyers are advised to check for cylinder head maladies. Overall, though, these Volvos are rugged and do stand up to hard use with much of the DNA of their bigger brothers. Prices of Volvo 300s have risen of late – mainly thanks to their popularity among the drift brigade – so get started on that search for a good example.

ENGINE 1397cc/4-cyl/ohv POWER 71bhp@5500rpm TORQUE 81 lb ft@3000rpm MAXIMUM SPEED 96mph 0-60MPH 14sec FUEL CONSUMPTION 30-35mpg TRANSMISSION RWD, five-speed manual