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ZZZZZZZ's thread

299K views 5K replies 157 participants last post by  tabormeister 
#1 · (Edited)
So, I finally got a chance to sit and gather all the stuff together and write about acquiring my R. It's a long story, and I hope it continues for some time. Give me advice, feedback, and I'll be happy. Thank you in advance.

Lots to do to this car in the next year, and I've only scratched the surface. My wife and I also own the two other P2s in my signature. I've been around SS since 2005, and in the last year have had a lot more activity. I've learned a lot here, and continue to treasure a lot of the friendships I've gained, and the knowledge base you all have.

The story starts here: My Dad is from Burma, and my Mom is from Scotland and they meet here in DC in 1961. My mom doesn't drive, and so he teaches her. She's 18. Buys her a used Chevy II wagon. After my older sister and I are born in early to mid sixties, my Mom gets a new Pontiac every so often. Firebird and Grand Prix. Both have the 400. They are terrible, but my Dad knows them well, got a good deal as an employee, and certainly knows how to fix them. It's now 1975 and my Dad has been working for about 15 years at DC area GM dealers as a mechanic. He and my Mom decide they're done with GM, and go look at Volvos while they're out to dinner. My Dad proceeds to sell his Swedish made Hasselblad camera + six lenses and buys my Mom a 1974 164E in maroon, with maroon leather. He pays for it in cash. Still seems crazy, but that's what he did. Swede traded for Swede. We are the talk of our little town in the northern Maryland area, with almost everyone driving American cars. Our town is called a 'cow town' by our competing swim teams closer in towards DC, with the amount of farming around us, but it's wide open and clean. Our Volvo stands out among the trucks and fake wood decal-ed wagons. My little sister is born. I love this car, and dream of driving it. It seems so much more refined than the big, heavy door-ed 2 door Pontiacs we've had. It's smooth, it's quick, and it passenger seating position is higher and it has much more glass (well, it is a 4 door, by comparison). I am poring over the car magazines and reading about the cars of the day, and see ad ad in the back of C&D or R&T for a company called IPD who makes performance parts for Volvos. Whoa! My initials! I request a catalog and remain on their list for a long time. Sadly, it is the last Volvo my parents buy for the family car. A series of Hondas, Acuras and now (today) a Jaguar XJ are now in the driveway today (along with my old CR-V). Eventually, without any purchases, my name drops off the mailing list at IPD, but I still have my hat with their logo.

In HS, I begin to search for an affordable car to use for personal transportation, and share my Dad's 74 Vega (auto). It's not a terrible car by my standards at the time, and so I search for one. We look at LOTS of different things, including 70s Mercury Capris (german?) and a bad 68 Mustang fastback in green (I had recently watched Bullitt). The kids in my school are buying lots of cool stuff, and some are getting new cars. I find a 74 Vega for 500 bucks and recall the seller's name to this day. Terry Schubring in Bowie. It's white with black interior, and a muncie 4 speed. I try and mimic the Z28s of the day and find a set of GT wheels, and paint them white. My birthday is July 22, and coincidence gives me new tags that say HAP 722. It overheats a little just after graduation, and starts to become a problem. I happen to find another on the way home from work, that is a 75, but titled as a 74. It's freshly painted in blue and is in much better shape. I get new tires on the white wheels, paint a white GT stripe on instead of factory decals, re-badge the fenders with the GT emblem which had been left off in the repaint, and enjoy it for about 2 years while I work full time.

Then I get the hankering for a new car with the cash filling my pockets. I immediately look at the Turbo 240 sedan, and lust over the grey with tan leather in a manual. The salesman in the showroom shows me zero respect until I tell him I have 10K saved and I'm ready to drop it as a downpayment. It's 1986. The sticker is 24K, which is pricey. My parents convince me to visit the Chevy dealer next door, where my Dad works to consider a z24. Ummmm..... no. The z28, however, looks pretty. It's in all the car magazines I have been subscribing to, and is always head to head with the Mustang GT. I hate the Mustang. Maybe a z28 in IROC-Z form with the 16" wheels is the way to go. My Dad can get me a 100 dollars over cost deal, so the manager throws me sets of keys. "Go get the stock number, and tell me which one." I drive several, knowing the one I really want hasn't been touched by anyone and is buried behind three other cars, next to a fence. I finish, ahem 'test' driving some cars, and come back to settle at the table with a red over grey IROC. I pay 16.3 vs the 19k sticker. Employee discounts are awesome. I own this car about 2.5 years and am terrified to take it anywhere for fear that someone will touch it or get it dirty. It's not me. I have no mullet, I am not italian (no offense), and I get picked on quite a bit by my friends, one of which lives down a horrible dirt and gravel driveway. I visit his house very infrequently. :) This is the car that gets the ZZZZZZZ tags, wax once a month and almost daily washes, even in very cold weather. My chamois is having trouble picking off ice crystals, and my hands are bright red, but I have a clean car! Insurance is almost as much as the car payment. Gas is sucked down in about three days from a full tank. It's a fuel injected v8, with fat tires and I'm 19.

2.5 years later: At this point, with a half inch of snow at any point in northern MD disabling my car (which wore Corvette width gatorbacks), and the fact that I'm too anxious and freaked out to actually enjoy my car, I traded it in on an 88 Toyota 4x4 pickup. By comparison, it is spartan! A big engine and a chrome package, but vinyl seats, no a/c, vinyl floor, no power windows or locks. I add a CD player by myself, fog lights, great speakers, carpet. I put my Z tags on it, and say they are tire tracks, sideways. It's the best vehicle I ever bought, and it went from 30 miles on the ODO to 220K plus without ever - EVER - letting me down. Original clutch, one set of brakes, two sets of tires. Three mufflers. It can't get stuck in snow, and my bikes fit in the back. Fuel consumption is great, and it's got a v6, so can surprise people. Power at highway speeds is good. It is an awesome, trouble free (bullet proof) vehicle. I have it for a little more than ten years, or a third or my life.

I meet my wife in 1995. We go on our first date, and we're married ten months later. About a year and a half later, we are expecting our first child. I have always loved wagons, and decide to look for one. I hate the minivan scene. I won't have one. Kill me first. I see a used 240 turbo wagon for sale in town (black) at an indy shop, and remember the icon. I drive it and it's clean, but I'm non-plussed. Maybe it wasn't running well? Anyway, when we are out to dinner one night, I spot a 93 Accord wagon in a used lot at the local Honda dealer. That's the last year they made that body style, and I think it is the best. A clean long, flat roof like the v70. No rack. We stop by the next day and drive it. It's flawless, and has low mileage. I am sold, and then have to spill the beans to co-workers and family that we're expecting... I cry when I leave my truck at the dealer trade in, but I haven't got the space for it at the TH development where we live. It is a sad moment, but I move on. The tags get moved to this new wagon. My sister buys a new s60 in 2002 or 2003. I am amazed by the fit and finish, and the sleekness. I've seen these on the road, but have never driven one. It is a stunner. I can't afford it.

My wife starts telling me her fond memories of a neighbor's Volvo. I tell her we had one. I begin a new search (when did I ever stop? :)), and find a clean (seemingly) used 99 v70 nearby at a dealer. It's a N/A wagon, but it has decent pep. Not as snappy as my Honda, but the Honda needs a fair amount of work done soon, so I trade it on this car, and am amazed and in love again with the solid tank feel, the sound of the 5 cylinder, the click of the doors, and the fact that not many of these seem to be in my area. I like different. We enjoy it for 7 or 8 years, maintain it well, and slowly, my lack of carfax inspection begins to show. It has been in an accident at some point up front, and it's hood is fading, bumper peeling some cheap clear coat. Mechanically it is fair and I think it was abused by the PO, but we maintain it. I try desperately to keep it looking good, and do OK. It begins to have small niggling issues, and so I search the internet and find SwedeSpeed. I sign up and get my answers from friendly people. I take care of the issues, and all is well. Almost instantly, my wife and I fight over who drives the v70, and ultimately she commandeers it to drive in town, and I have to drive the CR-V she chose around the same time frame back and forth as my commuter. It's not horrible, and proves to be very decent, but has little finesse or power. At least it's a 5 speed. Then 2012 comes...

I give you a compilation of my cars before the s60 purchase. Story continues below...


In 2012 or so, my company decides the associates should be getting a little extra something. We have a little meeting with the small group. I will now get an extra check once a month. It's time again to search, now that I have funds to spend on stuff, and it helps with the purchase of my first real car for me in 15 years. It'll be mine. I find a few Rs, but out of my price range, and run hard + put away wet. I am looking at used, all over the area, and have a spreadsheet. For some reason I don't push hard for a wagon, because the good ones I find are all more expensive that the sedans. My wife seems to like the look of the s40, but I'm not sold. It's too junior to me. s80s are in the price range, but they don't look as sporty. I find only two, with thors which are my favorite wheel aside from the peg. I didn't realize in my search for cars with this wheel that they're typically also AWD. One in blue, an 06 with about 50K miles in Rockville at Scan, and a silver 05 in Baltimore at a dealer. I pore over the details and the pictures hard. The CR-V would go back to my wife, and the 99 v70 would be traded. It's got a few new issues which have recently popped up, and I just don't have the heart to get into it with the fading hood. I could get it painted, but the back bumper is now crunched some from a misjudgment my wife had in a parking lot and the parked trailer won. The interior is grimy from her allowing the kids to drink things & eat snacks (apple juice boxes and cheerios, chocolate and goldfish). Vacuuming and leather cleaner and tuff stuff spray just don't do it justice. I wash it one last time. The silver s60 is my choice, and so I move ahead...

I get up early on a Saturday morning on Father's Day weekend and head to the dealer in Baltimore with my daughter to 'have a look'. My wife rolls her eyes. "Just in case," I say, "I need to take the wagon. It makes sense to trade it, and save the AWD CR-V for town." She agrees. On the way out route 70, the car starts acting oddly. Throttle is off a bit, and it's worrying me. I get half way there, and then a fair number of lights come on the dash. I am in terror, not only because this is happening in the middle of nowhere, but because my daughter is with me. We stop at the side of the road briefly and shut the car off. I wince, say a small prayer, and start her back up again. All is good, and we continue to the dealer, where I park over by the used car area and walk over to the new prospect. It's really clean, and almost flawless. I drive it and am surprised by the lack of little squeaks with the brittle plastics of the 99. No way anyone ate in this car, or drank coffee. My kind of owner. I pore over everything very carefully in broad daylight, along with the carfax. Clean underneath, inside and out. Spare has never been used. Trunk is unused in the slightest. The thors have some rash, but minor and only on edges. I cry a little once again on the way home without my daughter seeing me, because it's the first real car I've had for myself. Not a toy, but a grown up car, with a trunk that I've always wanted (but will rarely use)! I snapped a pic of the lady adding my Z tags to the new ride, aside the beloved v70 as we leave, the 4th car to wear the Zs. It was a good car, but it was time to let it go! Car 5 with the Zs rolls off...
One more of the v70 as new to me, and then the new s60.


My wife is impressed. "So this is how the other half lives!", she says. She tries to commandeer this new car, even if only for a day or two a week. We argue, and I selfishly win. About two years+ later, we search for a nice XC that she likes better than my car, and we sell the CR-V to my Dad for pennies, as he's retired. I detail it and ship it to my parents in SC with a stack of receipts for all the work I had done to it in the last 14 years and he is thrilled. Not bad looking for an 18 year old...



Then 2016 comes...
 
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#2 ·
I had the same color 5.7 liter Iroc-Z except mine was a '87. Got it '92 for $3000 with 115K on it. I was just thinking about it this morning actually wishing I still had it. It's funny that my XC has nearly the same horsepower though.
 
#7 ·
Ha! If only I had wrenched more like you! Your threads are more picture and tech (which I love). I gotta make content somehow...


Thanks, all. Advice and inquiry time coming in the next few posts past me buying the R.
 
#5 ·
:) When our son was born my wife and I had the same reaction to minivans and SUV's. I had driven a friend's parents 240 in high school and didn't particularly care for it so my heart sank a little when my wife and I went to test drive a 855 for sale in a used car lot. I couldn't believe how much I instantly enjoyed the car.

Nice to hear the beginning of your story!
 
#6 ·
Updated thread through the s60. This is nice to document and recall the memories. R to come next!
 
#8 ·
Hey Z, loved your story. You and I have talked before ... similar ages, families, and I know you like to Tri . I did for a couple years a long time ago only to say I could do it then the kids came and that was that. I even owned a Vega once too (and that's the last time I will admit that). Enjoy 50, hope your wife throws you a big party :)
 
#9 ·
Thanks, man. There's only a little left before we're current. Then it will be the discussion on the current ride and what to do to it.
 
#11 · (Edited)
Story from post 1 continues...
When I met my wife in 1995, I told her I had a ton of cash saved up. Mistake #1! I tell her my dream is to continue to save and save and buy a classic Corvette with cash on my 40th. I go to shows annually, read about them, buy books, pore over options and determine rarity of each model I'm seeking. Kids come along, work happens, SF house purchase after outgrowing the TH. In other words, life. I turn 40 and things are good, but the money is gone. Another decade goes by and the recession happens. Money is scarce, and so we make do on one salary and get creative. Slowly after, this life begins to return to a better state and I'm able to save a bit here and there. Turning 50 wasn't a big deal to me, but I have seen some friends die, some family get older and die, and I now have older kids. Nobody lasts forever, and so I decide I'm done with wanting an R. I'm going to make it happen by the time I turn 50! I look for MONTHS. February 2016 forward. Like anything on the calendar - once it's on there (July), the goal looms. A deadline I set for myself at 40 has moved ten years, and now instead of a frivolous Corvette purchase, I'm now looking for a car I have lusted after since 2003, for 13 years, and it can still seat the family and serve as a carrier. vRs are here and there, and mostly far away. I begin a lot more activity in the forums and watching the classifies on SS here. I looked at cars all over. Michigan, CA, NH, FL, MN, TN, NC, PA, etc. None in my neck of the woods that are decent. I consider heavily, flying out with a cash belt and driving a vast distance. I consider flying to see some, then wiring money and having a car shipped. Sellers are mostly all good enthusiasts. Luckily, my Dad tells me to wait & I listen. "Don't act with emotion," he keeps telling me. I create alerts on all the sites that I can, and feverishly chat with sellers and read the emails, and collect details about several and store them in a vR folder on the desktop with subfolders like 05TiNoGT and 06EsNoM66, 05PrGoM66, etc.

It's a Sunday in July, right around my birthday and I'm in the yard cutting grass. My phone dings to tell me I have a new email. It's an alert from cars.com. A vR has popped up for sale. I stop and open the email and see no pictures, but it's an 07 and it's within a hour of my house. I look at my watch and see they don't open for another 30 minutes. I tell myself to calm down and finish yard work. If it's meant to be, it will work out, and I'll get it. So, I ignore the desire to call right when they open, and finish doing chores. About two hours after they open, I call and get salesguy 1. He tells me there have been no calls on it, as it just got traded Saturday night. I ask what the color is. He says red, and cream. I calmly tell him to write down my name, and to hold it for me until I can see it. The I ask for a series of pictures, and am floored by how clean it is. I tell him the number 345 after getting more pictures and talking to him over the next several hours, and he says, "Well, that's probably why we've had a TON of interest in this thing." He tells me I'm first in, so it's mine if I want it. I thank him, and go about planning how to get through the "mixing bowl" one night after work in the next week. Seaway or anyone else in this area can tell you what a bear DC traffic is, let alone the "mixing bowl" in rush hour. Then salesguy 1 calls and says he's getting too many people interested in flying in to buy it and wants a deposit. I give him a card number and secure the car on hold.

Wednesday of the next week is hell for many reasons, but I know I have to make the trek or the car will go away, deposit refunded. I get there on a 100F day, and it's blindingly bright. It's about 4pm as I have left work a little early to see this car. Salesguy 1 is on route to get another car from PA to bring it to the dealership, so salesguy 2 and salesguy 3 meet me. I look it over and am impressed. Rash free pegs, nose with no scrapes, paint very clean, interior very clean, satellite equip, nav, etc. Everything works. I drive it, and am impressed too. Shifts well, lock to lock is good, and it's smooth riding, even in advanced mode. I ask to get it on a lift. By this time, it's 445 and the guy says he can't. I tell him I really want to see it indoors, on a lift. It's so fricking hot outside I can't lay on the pavement in a dress shirt and slacks. He wastes another 45 minutes doing who knows what and comes back to tell me if I want the car, I have to buy now. OK, I say. I do the deal and drive home in the s60, leaving it there until the weekend. Dealer add ons take it north of my initial budget, but not by much. They tell me they will send the new Maryland tags to me by fedex overnight. "Great," I say.




We go to the beach the week after, so I am excited. I drive to see my grandmother in hospice and give her some much needed attention, and it rains BAD. On the way home, my car is vibrating, and I hear a WAIL. A HOWL that is so horrible, I am terrified. I send texts to Maronha and a few others. I'm distraught and come home the back way, driving 30 MPH and pour myself a 'neat' big glass of tequila to try and sedate myself. What the F+@# have I done? I bought a piece of crap?!? I call Maronha and he says it sounds like "rain squeal". I read about this and JRL confirms it too, via email. The indy bends some stuff around the next morning. EBOD missing, so check one off the list! Rain Squeal gone. I feel better.

We go to the beach for a week with the s60, and come back to find the tags are not there yet. Now it's been two and a half weeks since I bought the car. Temp tags last 30 days. I call. "Where are my tags?" "Well, you have to get the car inspected in Maryland." I am not happy, but whatever. It has a VA inspection sticker covering the next year so it should pass with flying colors. It's Sunday, so I call the shop which is local to my office on the way to work Monday at 645am to see if they can squeeze me in, and I go to an all day meeting with a company truck. The shop calls me and says it has failed. Tires are too big (now I know why it was smooth - I looked at production dates but not size - doh!), the wheel well on passenger front is missing, and it has an oil leak which must be fixed before they will pass me. UGH! He says he's afraid to fix the leak and recommends a Volvo specialist.

I call my Indy, and he says to bring it over. He scans it with DICE/VIDA and it comes up totally clean on all counts except some odd code for the interior rear view mirror. Glove test good. Check another thing off the list! 105K on the car, and timing belt is blue, so it's been changed. Check another thing off the list! However, he can't find the leak at first, after a good look. Clean off the area and drive, look again. Still hard to determine. It's at the front of the motor (pass wheel well), and we scour. It almost looks like maybe a leaky axle? He adds two different dyes to Power Steering reservoir and oil and we determine it is oil after another week. Meanwhile, the first three salesguys and the fourth and fifth people I dealt with are ignoring my emails, texts and calls. It's August and I was a July sale (used car with no warranty) and so I am nobody to them. I'm trying to get them to extend the temp tags to get this car fixed and finally get tags. One day before the tags expire, I finally plead with a customer service manager in new car sales and she gets me the tags to last another 30 days. They arrive by fedex on Friday and they expire Saturday. Saturday, the indy finally determines it is a seal and so he has to pull apart a bunch of stuff, and replace it. I help him over the course of 3 hours and we get it done. Wheel well installed, new tires, leak fixed. Go back for my free followup inspection. Nope. It's been over 30 days and I've added more than a thousand miles. Gotta pay again. Finally it passes, and the dealer send me real tags. Phew.

I found a set of load bars for 35 on CL and bought them, got a replacement glove box assembly (it hung to the floor), picked up a navigation remote and 2013 disks, got a cable for the iphone to play aux, added swedespeed sticker, IPD sticker (me!), an Obey 'face' sticker (the face looks like my indy...), and a revolv sticker. Got some new all weather mats, replaced the fuel filter myself with some ramps I got on CL for 20 bucks, and re-appropriated the perfectly clean rear black carpet mat from the XC since it has the all weather mat too.

I washed and waxed it and took these pictures (including some at a nearby warehouse) recently.





On the list for next year after cashflow is better are: exhaust, brakes, a winter set of wheels, some other odds and ends!
 
#13 ·
Thanks!
I. Love. This. Car.
It's an obsession, and probably not a healthy one! ;)
 
#15 ·
#16 ·
I love seeing pictures of your VR, nothing beats a beautifully clean 07! Good read too. My uncle had three late 70s 164s that got me back into the Volvo scene in my teens. I drove a green '75 around for a few months when I first got my license, which stuck out like a sore thumb in 2007, but I loved that car.
 
#17 ·
Thanks!
An m66 sonicama may give it a good showing... Were you at the Carlisle rainfest last year? I recall a few sonicama s60s.
 
#25 ·
That's probably true. If I were to tell my wife I found a buyer for the tires in the garage or something else she wants gone, I'd get no Flack. Quick meet and greet with a cup of coffee and out!
 
#26 ·
Nobody has to know that I'm meeting TJ (or whoever takes possession of the wheel that morning) literally right around the corner!
 
#27 ·
So, I was thinking about the little black antenna on my roof for Satellite.
I have also seen these out there, and thought, "Why can't I convert to one of those?"
Has anyone got experience with this on how to do it? Is it relatively simple? I am NOT drilling, so it's clip and replace connection in the new piece.

This is what I have now (pretty close)...
 
#28 ·
Because everyone loves wheels! Eight from a buddy for the right price (0). Pegs with tires and XC without!


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#30 ·
Whoa you finally got your second set of Pegs! DWS? 17 or 18?

Looking forward to meeting up and swapping wheels!
 
#31 ·
Damn that's a score. Does your buddy drive that photobombing Polestar?
 
#32 ·
Yes, sir. DWS are jacked/warped a up a bit, and pegs need to be refinished. Zero complaints though. Maybe plasti-dip. Then refinish in summer 2017.
 
#33 ·
I didn't notice the "(0)" attached to the "right price" until just now lol. Yes, that IS a score. Wow! I guess I need to do some mods to my aspirations if you stop caring about a hundred bucks when you're cruising around in a Polestar!
 
#38 ·
I can't imagine never caring about a hundred. He's just a super nice, very generous guy. That car is gorgeous. He's fortunate to own one in rebel and is the best steward of any car, especially a Volvo. Hoping to continue the tradition and help someone out one day soon.
 
#39 · (Edited)
Do you know how large that shark fin would need to be? :) it would be like an advertisement for 'shark week' on Discovery channel!


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#40 ·
Why not just paint that thing that's on there now and see if that looks acceptable?
 
#42 ·
Snow in northern Maryland this morning. And then the XC found a friend at the tree farm.



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#48 ·
1: Sand and prime until smooth, then paint it, this won't take much work
2: Just remove it for now, polish and wax the roof (the NAV does NOT need not use it)
3: If you ever go with Sirius, install a better, tiny, THIN, 2' round and correct Sirius antenna. They are very unobtrusive and can be mounted anywhere including your dashboard corner.
 
#49 ·
Thanks, all. May remove like Maronha did. And then use interior one for satellite later. If it needed to be exterior was thinking a small shark shaped one would work. Certainly they must come from volvo for newer R designs in passion red. There is a wire. If not original to Volvo I think it's probably coming off the roof.
 
#50 ·
Someone is doing a half-assed job of stealing your license plate idea ;)
 
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