1972 VOLVO 145 DL ESTATE

In December 2020 this 145, registered in December 1972, was removed from a garage in Elstree where it had sat since 1989. The owner, a Mr Cox, had bought it second-hand in the mid-1970s and used it as his daily vehicle until taking it off the road when given a company car. According to his son, he wasn't really a 'car type of person', but nevertheless kept hold of the Volvo, ran the engine from year to year and kept it covered up in old carpet. 

The Volvo has an incredible history file with it, documenting up to the 122,703 miles it shows today, from family trips to further commutes undertaken by its owner as a nuclear power station safety officer. In 1985, a small amount of damage occurred, resulting in the front passenger wing, bonnet and grille being replaced. Again, all the correspondence is in the file and Mr Cox bought the car back from the insurance company as the damage was relatively small. He had it fixed by a local body shop.

 Work and new parts fitted since it was removed from the garage include: new steel timing gear and gaskets fitted, (an engine-out task) clutch, brake discs, callipers, pads and lines all round (the only remaining parts are the hard lines in the engine bay), carb rebuilt with all new gaskets, floats and jets, period-correct Blockley tyres, original wheels colour matched and powder coated, suspension refreshed where necessary, electronic ignition, new coil, distributor cap, plugs and leads, whole body machine polished and ceramic coated, and the underside waxoyled (not undersealed). Parts and labour amounted to approximately £4500 over the past 14 months. It has travelled around 120 miles since this work took place. The Volvo starts and runs exactly as you would like and also has a seven-seater conversion, along with some spares accompanying it. It's not a mint concourse car, it's a time warp survivor. The car's documentation includes the V5C, showing one former registered keeper, plus a previous V5, service manual, brochures, correspondence and invoices. 

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