Jan Huijsmans

8 October 2005, I went to look for a volvo 780 as suplement for my volvo collection, which already consist of a volvo 740, volvo 740, volvo 760, volvo 760, and volvo 760.

It wasn't the first time we've seen the car. In may we went to take a look for the first time. When we went to take a look we suspected the car to be just as 'perfect' as all others we had seen. The car turned out to be really alomst perfect. To prevent insulting the current owner we decided not to place a bid, as the car was clearly worth more then I could afford. Even when the seller offered it for 75% of the initial indication, it was still out of reach.

When I got some spare cash, I decided to ask if the car was still for sale. It was, so we went to take a look to check if the car was as good as we remembered it to be...

Initial information

1986 volvo 780 The car was advertised as a 780 with an defective engine, but with a body in near min condition. While looking for some extra info about the car within the club, when the financial situation changed, I stumbled on suspissions about the car being the first 780 on the road in The Netherlands. Volvo Netherlands confirmed this, so we went to take a look again.

As the car was stored outside since we went for a look the first time, it was a bit dirty. To give an impression of the car when it would be clean, I asked within the club if someone had a picture of it in their archive. I received several pictures, so I put one online of the actual car.

Initial impression

When we arrived the first time, we suspected the car to be in the usual 'perfect' state the dutch use to state that the car has bin used, but still runs and may need 'some' work. (usually a complete repaint) This car however was not running, but the body and interior were in near perfect condition, with some minor points that needed attention. (Oh, and a complete engine rebuild, but that was no suprice) This car was in such a state that I didn't make an offer as a good offer for the car wouldn't match my financials and an offer matching my financials wouldn't match the state of the car.

The second time we went to take a look, the car was a bit dirty, as it hadn't bin used for 5 months. Below is a list of points of attention:

  • Needs a good cleaning.
  • Engine not running smothly and sludge in the fillercap.
  • Empty battery.
  • Coolant on top of the engine, between the 2 heads.
  • Moist within the booth, as the lower strip of the window was not fitted. (is included)
  • Small chip in left headlight lence.
  • Loose strip inside near the rear window.
    Suspect for hanging roof ligning.
  • Minor rust on the frame of the rear side windows.
  • Rust on the frame electric roof.
    Not seen, but repotred by the owner.

Testdrive

The car was not running, so we didn't have a test drive.

ToDo

The car is nice, in near perfect condition. The previous owner took good care of the car and had it restored as soon as some rust appeared. The engine however had a problem, that was not diagnosed correctly by the dealer, so it went bad. As with the 1986 780 I've devided the ToDo list per desired goal.

Daily driver

To be able to use the car as a daily driver from the start there is not much to do except the following:

  • Clean the car.
  • Polish the car.
  • Fix the engine.
  • Charge or replace the battery.

Longterm daily driver

The car can be used as a longterm daily driver, as no extra repairs will be needed. When you want the finish to be good, the spots of rust need to be addressed tho.

Complete Volvo 780 in working order

The car is almost complete. There is only 1 item missing to make it a complete Volvo 780.

  • The hubcovers of the wheels are missing.
    They were temporarely replaced with 760 covers.

Complete Volvo 780 in perfect condition

To achieve a perfect state however, there is a lot to be done.

  • Definitely address rust spots.
  • Redo small finish repair on the hood.
  • Replace chipped left headlight lense with perfrect one.
  • Replace bad steeringwheel with perfect one.

Conclusion

The car has lots of potential even when I want to fix it, as the only problems are technical or on bodyparts that can be swapped. Especially the fact that this is the first 780 that has been licensed for road use in The Netherlands made the choice easy...

It says My 1986 Volvo 780 in the title, doesn't it... :-)

It's mine...

Ok, not yet, I'll have to pay first and collect the car, but I already got my hand on a replacement engine, with computer. The B280E is from crashed 1987 760, so it's slightly different, but enought to prevent it from working as a direct drop-in replacement.

Additional info

I've added a nice app to calculate all costs made for this car. Just folow the link.
If you want to take a look at all the pictures I've got online, take a look here, just click on the image to view the fullsize image. I also bought a yunker for the engine, see the pictures here, just click on the image to view the fullsize image.

Last update: 26 March 2007

© 2005