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1971 145 Express Competition Service Rally Car Restoration Project

Old Iron wants things done yesterday. :lol: Kids, yeah, right. That's why the 81 coupe took so long. NY DMV sucks. I went back 3 times. each time they told me oh you need this form, then you need that form. And did we forget you this notarized. :grrr: The freaking old lady got paid and went on vacation never to be heard from again. Good thing I got a few papers and one signature from her. The rest was creativity. Then they were like how much did you pay for this car? Why so little? I asked the lady how much would YOU pay for a 35 year old car. She said she wouldn't buy it, exactly!
 
83glt said:
I'm going to pretend I didn't "hear" that.

Old Iron - You saw the Express in person and you think it would be finished in less than 10 years? You don't have kids yet, right? ;)
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Incredible what you had to got through in NY to get the car in your name. I am so happy I don't live in NY anymore, not to say that's the only reason. I always had issues when I filed income taxes every year, it was the biggest PITA.

You know I don't have kids, haha! First one is on the way though............... and I'm already in love! I can't wait to see how neglected the projects will get!

nel621 said:
Old Iron wants things done yesterday. :lol: Kids, yeah, right. That's why the 81 coupe took so long. NY DMV sucks. I went back 3 times. each time they told me oh you need this form, then you need that form. And did we forget you this notarized. :grrr: The freaking old lady got paid and went on vacation never to be heard from again. Good thing I got a few papers and one signature from her. The rest was creativity. Then they were like how much did you pay for this car? Why so little? I asked the lady how much would YOU pay for a 35 year old car. She said she wouldn't buy it, exactly!
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Haven't posted in a while. Been busy accumulating some more NOS parts for the Express. The plan is to start work with a body shop this summer. There's too much for me to handle if I ever want to get this project going. Anyway, more on that to come.

For now here are a few more NOS items I picked up:

1. NOS Volvo 140 rear Overload Shocks - Listed in the '70s R-Sport Catalog under part number 282877. NLA today. I have these on the Express now, but the springs are rusted and they're pretty beat up. Nothing like NOS replacements:





2. NOS NIB R-Sport Rally Exhaust Kit for the 140. Talk about unicorn feathers. I had known of this kit's whereabouts for sometime and the prior owner had it stashed away for me until I could finally pick it up. This was a pretty sweet score:




3. Competition Service Air Cleaner Kit. No pics, but I also just picked up the correct Competition Service carb kit with manifolds and air cleaner and such. Very rare and hard to find. Not to mention costly.

4. I also have on order the front R-Sport rally shocks for the 140. Apparently still available.


As I said at the beginning, there's more to come about next steps. I hope to be working with a body shop/classic car restorer soon.
 
brendon_ak said:
This is such a neat project! Did you mention who did the modifications to the roof?
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Not sure what you mean. The Express model came with the raised roof from the factory. That was the design - as a replacement for the duett - for the next generation delivery/service vehicle.

If you're referring to the plexiglass panel added to the front of the raised roof section, I believe that was added by the Volvo builders at some point. It doesn't appear in the photo of the Express found in the 1975 Competition Service catalog, but it's clearly visible in the 1976 Road & Track article.
 
I replied in Jfry thread 145 express but thought it should be here too. You may want to weigh using another body and your top to make the 145 express. Maybe talk to whomever is going to do the welding and see if it will be a better approach. Cars from the west coast tend to drier, no rust. So looking at the orphan thread I spied this 1972 145. Might be worth a call to get some detailed pics and look into transport fees. Might be better investment long term. Your call.
http://albuquerque.craigslist.org/pts/5518841298.html
 
83glt said:
Not sure what you mean. The Express model came with the raised roof from the factory. That was the design - as a replacement for the duett - for the next generation delivery/service vehicle.

If you're referring to the plexiglass panel added to the front of the raised roof section, I believe that was added by the Volvo builders at some point. It doesn't appear in the photo of the Express found in the 1975 Competition Service catalog, but it's clearly visible in the 1976 Road & Track article.
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I was curious if a coachbuilder did the work or if it was in house. I know VW used several coachbuilders as did other Euro brands.

I'd love to do this to a 240, I don't think we got them in the states.
 
nel621 said:
Once again no idea on the condition but you never know.
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I hadn't seen that one. It would have to be a $350 car to make it a potentially viable option. The reality is a $20k investment as the Express sits for body work and paint. If I chopped the roof and had it grafted to a stock 145, I might be looking at a similar cost if you factor in purchase price of donor, transportation from out west, need for its own inevitable body work and paint. I could be looking at a similar cost. But it is worth investigating. If it'll save $10-15k, then yeah might make sense. If it'll save $2-5k? I don't know at that point because the trade-off is destroying the historical "value" of this particular Express, such as it is. I'll end up with a replica instead. Which may not matter to me in the end. It's my car and I can do what I want.

brendon_ak said:
I was curious if a coachbuilder did the work or if it was in house. I know VW used several coachbuilders as did other Euro brands.

I'd love to do this to a 240, I don't think we got them in the states.
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I'll check the plate, but pretty sure these are all Volvo-built.

Mueller said:
Does this car have any special badges?
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Good question. Don't think so, but quite possibly special badging was used in different markets. I don't believe the Express was officially offered outside the European market. What a shame a bunch of them didn't end up in Canada!
 
brendon_ak said:
I was curious if a coachbuilder did the work or if it was in house. I know VW used several coachbuilders as did other Euro brands.

I'd love to do this to a 240, I don't think we got them in the states.
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Factory Volvo. It's essentially a base model 145 that has the raised roof. So, stock engine was a B20A. Would've been nice if Volvo had offered them in North America.

-J
 
"Historical" vs saving $2-5k. Tough call. Not sure how much the car would appreciate in value if all OE. You know there is no love for old Volvos, right. :) You're going to have over $30k in this thing when all is said and done. Ouch! Then what, you're going to be afraid to drive it. I would still look for an almost no rust body, graft the top onto it and go from there. I would also keep looking around for someone who does welding at a shop but willing to do some side work on the weekends to help you out. At least to graft the top onto another car. You can do all the sanding and prep or maybe the side job guy can do that too. At my friends' shop he has found a guy who did body work in South America. He is good, old school, so he welds with a torch oxy/ acetaline. Just finished a 72? BMW2002 model and working on another BMW 2002. Also doing some welding on my friends 1939 Buick, fabing stuff, etc. You should come by the shop and check it out. He can hire him to some work if you like.
 
^This.

While it'd be cool to keep it 100% original, at the same time, if the body is as crusty as jfry's old red car was, I think I'd do what he did. Back in 2000-02, I had a '73 145E. Was that dark Cypress Green color. I really wanted to fix it up, but realized that the body, while rust free floor-wise, the rockers and wheel arches were swiss cheese. Especially the driver's side rocker panel, which had been hit before I got the car. In December 2001, a buddy of mine mentioned that some friends of his had an orange '74 145E that was sitting beside their house. Much better body that was straight and very little rust, partly due to it receiving the recall paint job (no paint craters in the roof). Got it for $30. Pulled the B20F with the death rattle, along with the Bw35, and got it prepped for a rebuilt '72 B20F that I'd pulled from a '72 142E, along with a M41 from the same. That project got aborted when my '82 242Ti was wrecked. One of the stipulations of bringing the replacement car home was that I get rid of the 145E project. I have considered picking up another 140, but am more likely to pick up another 242, since they can still be found on CL without waiting for a while.

-J
 
But what do I do if my roof is rusty? Which it is? My point is whatever direction the project goes, it's going to be costing me a MINIMUM of $15k.

More details to come on a resolution ...

I might check in with you Nelson about that guy you mention.

I'm not concerned that much about not driving it. I'll drive it often enough. Not as a daily driver, but not as a trailer queen either. I envision it as a mix of weekend cruiser and errand runner given the cavernous cargo area.

I think if it were blasted to expose all the holes, it actually wouldn't be as bad as it appears. It looks so much crustier because of the ****ty red lacquer paint the former owner threw on it.

This might be a relatively inexpensive option to get it stripped:
http://www.dustlessblasting.com/
 
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jfry said:
But what do I do if my roof is rusty?


Repair the rust!
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Exactly! But why not just repair the rust in the cowl, floor, and around the windshield as well? The rest can be solved with new body panels that are still available?
 
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