1995 Volvo 850- Swedish Dream.

Well this is a departure. My wife and I just had a son born to us and I needed a comfy, convenient and safe vehicle to transport him in. At my job I am constantly tempted by all sorts of ordinary and misfit cars available to purchase at or below wholesale prices. One day, this little Volvo showed up and spoke to me. I had to have her. I'll be brief.

1995 Volvo 850 GLT

She's over 20 years old and only had 86k miles on the odometer. The gray leather interior was immaculate and her body and paint weren't too shabby either. She even had good tires! She was let go in her later years and I had to do a "little" sprucing to bring her up to snuff. Her transmission was failing and required some replacement parts, which I was able to source for cheap at the local junk yard.

I also had to do a little engine tuning to really make that non-turbo 5 cylinder sing. I replaced the restrictor-plate throttle butterfly with a non-restrictor unit from a junkyard Volvo 960, this gave me better throttle response off idle. I adjusted the intake and exhaust cam timing to provide for a little overlap, which yielded a slightly irregular idle, but noticeably improved the engine's torque delivery, particularly in the low rpm ranges. FYI, Volvo 850's come from the factory with adjustable cam gears and fine-tuning adjustments only take a matter of minutes. Another interesting fact: Here in the state of California, adjustable cam gears are illegal to have on "pollution controlled vehicles" which this Volvo is. How about a round of applause for them renegade Swedes!

I changed all the notoriously weak engine mounts and replaced the seepy heater core, which was about an hour job. Everything I did to the car was easy thanks to the thoughtful engineering that went into designing this car. I gained a lot of respect for the Volvo 850 and would gladly own a clean example again, though they are far and few between these days.

                                    
The wife complained that the front grill made it look like a Buick, so I painted the grill black to "tone it down." She remained unmoved by it's pure Swedish good looks

                                    
              I had all the windows professionally tinted to 35% for a tasteful and subtle look.

                                     

A well cared-for Volvo leather interior. This is something rarely seen in this vintage. I cleaned and conditioned the seats about once per month to keep it healthy. These seats are so comfy. If you have not experienced the Volvo seat, you simply must. It's the cushy, yet supportive seat you've always dreamed of but never knew existed.

I swapped on some rims from a later Volvo, "Canistos." They freshened up the look a bit, but the lower profile tires made the ride harsh. I removed them a day later and put the stock ones back on. The Volvo 850 has an ultra smooth and luxurious ride, yet handles like a sports car when needed. The buttery smooth 5 cylinder engine sounds like pure magic wailing away at redline. They are easy to work on, parts are very reasonable, and there is tremendous amounts of good info and support all over the internet. I highly recommend one. I sold this one when a gorgeous 12-year-old Cadillac Deville DTS land yacht lured me in. It was a bitter sweet parting.