The way she looks now: new tires, better exhaust tip, a subtle tach where the broken clock was, hidden driving lights, and a nearly endless list of repairs of every sort...

This was our beloved 145 when we bought it in October of '06.

As with any old car there is always something new that needs attention that you aren't prepared for...before our trip the Great Bay City tonight I must: fix a brake light, find a new bolt for the exhaust header, check the axle oil, and get the damn rear brakes to stop squealing! I'll let you know how it goes.

After months of dread I am finally getting to the leaking rear axle seal. I have been putting off the repair for at least six months because it is such a pain; but the leaking axle oil has finally all but ruined the brake pads on the passenger side, so procrastination is no longer an option. After some setbacks in trying to get the parts, I am all set and the axle is currently in the machine shop getting the old bearing pressed off and the new one with the new seal pressed on. For those who are curious, it is not a very difficult job after all, as long as you have a place to take the axle for the bearing swap---the trouble was getting the parts. For future referance, the part number is: Beck-Arny 051-2121, and the place that finally had it was Car Quest (forget about AutoZone or Kragen/Checker/Shucks). It should be all back together this afternoon; it will be nice to have our car back! If anyone has tech questions feel free to e-mail me.

Volvo 140 series: prelude

I am not quite sure how it all happened. Volvos have always had a certain appeal, but it was never anything really compelling. Since I was a teenager I have thought wagons of almost any make and model were sexy, Volvo or not; but I had never had actually bought one. While working in Oregon one average day I happened to see a flat black 145 with massive rims pulling a u-turn while I was on my way home from work, and my attention was caught and held fast. Something about that car struck me as incredibly cool. I guess that was the real starting point, and soon afterword I was half-heartedly surfing craigslist.org for old bricks. After my truck died I really needed a car, and my wife's truck had a sloppy timing chain and was running on three cylinders. The time was ripe. One morning while absently looking though the Portland area car listings, almost by accident, we found exactly what we were looking for: A 1972 145 wagon, lowered, Virgo wheels, rebuilt and gently souped-up engine, manual transmission with overdrive. It was perfect, and my darling wife fell in love with it as much as I did. From then on our interest in old Volvos grew into a fever and is now a full-blown addiction; in 13 months we have put 19,000 miles on our wagon, and it just keeps running better every day. We have had our share of break-downs of course, but that is half the fun. And it is all about the fun. The only reason this blog exists is for the sheer pleasure of driving, repairing, building and living with those cars we can't seem to shake; we're all freaks---but it's good here.