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Light hearted rant from me so Mats no offence intended here mate.

Why is it,just about every movie I see involving your run of the mill family,single mom or dad set up,drives a but ugly Volvo ? Often the old 70/80's station wagon variety! Crikey my first impression is I am watching the living dead on celluloid.

Give them something fun to drive like an Alfa 164 ro nice Dodge Charger,a big boss Mustang like in 'Bullit'.

Oh yes.and a guy pitching up in an eco Honda hybrid trying to save the world??? Give me a break!

Now turbo charge raucouss Alfa GTV''s or Ferraris and now we would be talking.

So who else thinks I am nuts besides my girlfriend ?

Yup, saw a British detective show last night. Single mom, driving a.....Volvo 740 wagon.

BTW, what's in your GTV6 now?

Mats, I hear Volvo is for sale cheap! Are you going to buy it and set all those top-notch Swedish engineers to work on your Alfetta track car???

About 50% of the guys in my garage are top notch Volvo engineers (or at least were until just recently), 15% are at Saab and the rest are just top notch.

The automotive engineering scene is quite small here so you know all the good guys if you spend a few years contractor-surfing through the departments.


I've noticed that in a quite high percentage of big movies from the US there is a Volvo 240/740 or Saab 900 in the background somewhere. No way are they seen that frequent on the streets in the states?

Mats,

weather or not you see any particular vehicle alot depends more on where you are than anything else.

Here in the central valley of California where agriculture is big you see lots of pickup trucks and suv's. When I was in Long Island, New York I saw lots of Audis and Jaguars. It seems that Navy Commanders like the Volvo wagons alot.

I think too, there is an effect caused by the dealers...if there is a good dealer in an area you will see lots of that kind of car.

hth
zig

Yeah, sure. But how often do you see a mint Saab 900? Or a Volvo 245? I don't even see that over here.

When people have kids a few things change, obviously it varies but at least at first things like:

1) No sleep
2) No money
3) No time
4) Lots of stuff to carry around
5) Kids to put in child seats (2 doors not good, they struggle!)
This can have a negative impact on what you drive, in extreme cases leading to the Volvo estates.

Although I still have my GTV6 is is no longer my daily driver, although my two kids can be made to fit.

My daily driver is now a Ford Escort 1.6 5 door from 1994!


Just waiting for the 156 sportwagen guys! Why didn't they make more 75 estates?

Mats wrote:About 50% of the guys in my garage are top notch Volvo engineers (or at least were until just recently), 15% are at Saab and the rest are just top notch.

So One Man Racing has a staff?

So One Man Racing has a staff?

All female, cute, blond, and stacked

Why didn't they make more 75 estates?

Never seen one. Got a photo?

In Oz they call them Station Wagons not Estates. As far as I understand it, the trend for SUV's to replace the station wagons means a lot of the manufaturers are no making them any longer due to the low volume sales and some have phased them out altogether.

MALDI wrote:

Mats wrote:About 50% of the guys in my garage are top notch Volvo engineers (or at least were until just recently), 15% are at Saab and the rest are just top notch.

So One Man Racing has a staff?

Heh, no. They are working on their projects and I work on mine. Naturally we consult each other when we feel the need.

MR2 Zig wrote:

All female, cute, blond, and stacked

Well, it says one man racing doesn't it?

They were never in full production but I think a few were made by an Italian coachbuilder:


http://www.mitoalfaromeo.com/html/images/wagon75b.jpg

Practical but not boring...

Thank you Simon. Quite acceptable for its time. I'd be happy to own one for a work horse especially the V6


Incidentally, Fernando.Have you ever heard of the phrases: "horses for courses?" anotherwords, fit for the purpose. The old Volvos we are bagging here are certainly tractors compared to our nibble cars no argument there. I think we need to keep in mind that it is not the job of these old girls to burn off a BMW off the lights.

If you have never actually taken one of those old Volvos apart in detail ,it is hard to develop a sense of respect for these cars but they truly deserve it. We have a saying in Oz for something that is robust which is, "built like a brick shithouse". Well these cars are just that, tough. Slow, uneconomical, crappy handlers but built to a quality not a price. Typically after doing in excess of 450-500,ooo kilometres here, they still dont burn oil. Might leak a bit due to tired oil seals but so does any car after such a long time in service. We know that taxis, trucks and large capacity understressed engines do that and more but small capicity engines generally dont-not even your Alfa. Compare that to a Mitusbishi Jap engine that burns oil after 120,ooo if you are lucky. It's all about the quality of the metallurgy.

So when I see a volvo driving by , I tip my Dundee hat to Sweden...

...but then Ford got into the act, oh well can't win 'em all

Fear not Mike,it wasn't Volvo perse I was having a humorous dig at. It's often most of these movie family's have no need for a Volvo,so for a petrol head like myself the cars are a major part of a movie's appeal.

Who hasn't watched Bullit and had goosebumps when Steve Mqueen is getting ready to chase down the bad guys in their black Dodge Charger ? Turn up the volume and indulge in American V8 muscle at it's finest....bliss.

I hear GWM could be a possible buyer for Volvo.I cringe at the thought.

A good family estate/station wagon would be a Alfa 156 fitted with a GTA motor.

Z it's going to have a 3.4 litre 24 valve single turbo conversion done to it as we speak.I will post pics once its' finished which shouldn't be too much longer.

Decided with Barry twisiting my arm in a friendly manner of course,that now would be a good time to try some boost after years of N/A Alfa engines.

There seem to be quite a few Nissan 350Z with either turbo or super charger conversions where I live so the time is ripe...