zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Buying
/
For $9,300, Would This Custom 1975 Volvo 245 Pass Your Moose Test?
For $9,300, Would This Custom 1975 Volvo 245 Pass Your Moose Test?-October 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:09:58

With its 16-valve engine, Mustang transmission, and sport gauges today’s Volvo 245 looks ready to haul ass. You have to decide if its price makes it ass-tonishing.

Okay, so I know you saw yesterday’s and thought to yourself, cheese on a cracker, it’s another bike! Your palms got sweaty, an eyebrow started to twitch, and you had to do a hard swallow to get through it and figure out just what the hell that odd two-wheeled conveyance might be worth.

Turns out it wasn’t the two-grand the seller was asking. Fully 71% of you felt that custom sissy bar equipped little Honda was in far too worn a shape to ask that much. And now you can all relax because today we’re back to a car. I got you, fam.

It’s not just any car either guys and gals, it’s a that’s had… well, things done to it. Most of those are good things in my book.

First off, the car looks pretty good. The paint is serviceable if you don’t mind the chips here and there, or the patches of rust on the sills. That would be the first thing to have looked at seeing as it doesn’t seem to have gotten out of hand yet. You’ll also notice that the car has the Euro flat hood and lower grille. Inexplicably it has the U.S. sealed beams covered by zombie splatter guards rather than the nicer ice blocks. It does have some ancillary Hella-good lights to add to the party, which is a plus.

On to the inside. There you’ll find a sport gauge cluster, resplendent in its yellow markings and needles. You’ll also say “here comes the Bride” when you see the sport seats that have replaced the front two thrones. A dash-top trio of gauges helps keep track of what’s going on under that flat hood.

What’s under there is a 16-valve Volvo turbo four. Intercooled and raw-looking, the blown B-series looks right at home in this green machine. The engine is Bosch managed and backed up by a T5 out of a Mustang. Power is doled out in back by an Eaton True-Trac limited slip differential.

The ad says that the suspension has been upgraded to walk the walk so as to match the drivetrain’s talking the talk. That encompasses coil-overs, boxed control arms, poly bushings, and Bilstein shocks. ESR gold-center alloys dress up the wheel arches and enclose Brembo brakes.

Mileage goes undisclosed as does the reason for selling, other than the cryptic “car is looking for a new home.” That’s sort of like the car is telling him “it’s not you, it’s me” I guess.

It should find that new home as it is full of parts that make it sound like a fun runner. The seller says that’s just what it is, having been his DD for the past three years. According to the ad he wouldn’t hesitate to drive it across the country.

Of course, not knowing the precise limitations of what he wouldn’t do makes the gravity of that boast somewhat hard to gauge. I mean he might just also say that he’d drink nothing but his own pee along the way which might make you question his judgement.

You might also question the price on this well-modded but imperfect Volvo. That’s $9,300 which isn’t chicken feed, unless you’ve got a hen house that’s busting at the seems with chickens.

What’s your take on this 245 and that $9,300 price tag? Does that seem like a fair price—seeing as you couldn’t likely match the build for that? Or, is this a Volvo that’s priced only for Valhalla?

You decide!

SFBay Area via or go if the ad disappears.

H/T to Scott Reska for the hookup!

Help me out with NPOCP. Click to send a me a fixed-price tip, and remember to include your Kinja handle.

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Buying
For $7,500, Will You Find This Snake Charming?
For $7,500, Will You Find This Snake Charming?
Much like Windows Vista, and actress Jennifer Grey's nose job, people love to hate on the Mustang II as a woeful product transformation. Today's Cobra II may prove that ire to be unfounded, but will you still hate its price? Do you know what we do love? We love big...
Oct 19, 2026
For $10,000, Save The Whales
For $10,000, Save The Whales
Today's Olds is a Custom Cruiser. It's also a custom cruiser, get it? Whether you want to hit cruise night in it will totally depend on what you think might be customary to pay for a wagon like this. Well it's one, two, three strikes you're out, at the old...
Oct 19, 2026
For $3,500, Behold The DayJeepona
For $3,500, Behold The DayJeepona
Today's candidate is a Daytona on a Jeep. Or maybe it's a Jeep in a Dodge disguise? Whatever it is, you'll need to say if this custom's price is a match made in heaven. While the Mustang II may not be the marque's most beloved edition, yesterday's clean and nostalgic...
Oct 19, 2026
2014 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG S Wagon: The Jalopnik Review
2014 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG S Wagon: The Jalopnik Review
Hot rod wagons are a nasty fetish to a very particular group of people, just like fantasy football or horse pornography. Mercedes knows they aren't going to sell a billion E63 Wagons in America, but they're making a very particular group go nuts. That includes most automotive journalists and readers...
Oct 19, 2026
For $99,900, Engage Ridiculous Speed!
For $99,900, Engage Ridiculous Speed!
Originating in Italy, made crazy powerful by the Germans, and now here in the U.S. of A., today's Koenig Ferrari is an intercontinental guided muscle. Will you find however, that its price is right on target? If the muscle you need is to get you through the muck, then maybe...
Oct 19, 2026
For $6,000, Is This Mustang A San Francisco Treat?
For $6,000, Is This Mustang A San Francisco Treat?
The San Francisco Giants may not engender the kind of rabid fan base as do New York's Yankees or the Boston Red Sox, but as today's homage Mustang proves, there are still those who demonstrate that fan is derived from fanatic. San Francisco, despite its hilly nature and public transit...
Oct 19, 2026
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved