My Forever Car - Inspired by Moog and his Mini #blogpost

It’s Just a Car. A sentence everyone who likes cars will have heard before, but couldn’t be more untrue.

My Forever Car - Inspired by Moog and his Mini #blogpost

It’s Just a Car. A sentence everyone who likes cars will have heard before, but couldn’t be more untrue. This is the story of my forever car and why it’s more than just a car, how it’s a piece of me and my history, how the darkblue Volvo 850, whose keys are laying on my nightstand as I am writing this is connected to my life through all my life.

It all started with the plain red box 850 my mother had and therefore carried me around in to Kindergarden, school, my friends and all vacations. It’s the first car I remember, I remember how it stood out between all other cars that my friends parents had, how I was always able to spot it in all car parks, how it took me to all these beautiful places in Sweden, Denmark and Italy, how it smelled. How my second older brother first showed me that cars could be cool, by racing it full throttle at 200 kph down the Autobahn with the, as I thought, loud screaming 144 horsepower 5 cylindre working its ass off and me being awe struck by the noise and speed that surrounded me in that moment. From that moment on, I was unknowingly in love with the plain red box and all its bulk. I wanted little Volvo toys, I wanted to know more, I wanted to be there every time it got dropped off at the Volvo dealer for servicing. I even got a Volvo poster from the Volvo museum during the next vacation in Sweden and hung it over my bed. So time went by and then came the shocking day, when my parents swaped the trusty old Volvo for a new Passat (saddest day of my back then young life) so I swore myself at 9 or 10 years old that I will one day own a Volvo 850. I held on to my 850 Modell and toy cars and thought about it from time to time.
With time came other things in my life, like racing Mountainbikes, the additional love for Porsches, (because I found out that a friend of my parents was once an engineer at Porsche) girls, puberty and so on. But through all that time the Volvo poster remained in my room.

Time went by and the love stayed.
Time went by and the love stayed.

More time went by, I got my first car a Golf, which I crashed, my second car a Skoda Octavia, which I crashed thrice and more trouble mounted up in my life as my parents got a ugly divorce and was forced to move from the house I called home, I realised my dream job wasn’t really all that dreamy, my second older brother who got me into Volvo’s, got horribly ill and died later.
So I started thinking in sleepless nights in a concoction of sleep deprivation, a general yoloness, love and the need of something that would give a lot to do about getting a Volvo 850 of my own. Of course I wanted a T5, the infamous Turbo Modell of the plain box of my childhood and so I started looking into it, then thought a test-drive wouldn’t hurt and went to look at one that was closest. And then it got me good, because as I was looking at it and test driving it, all memories were back and plus I was shocked and intoxicated by the turbo petrol engine that pulled so hard. But sadly that first one was a shed, dripping oil everywhere, little bit of rust, missing parts, clearly some trackwork in it, as it had a strut brace, slotted rotors, high performance pads and other things.. so I looked at a second one that was an automatic and it was horrible. After that I thought I found the jackpot: a rare Italien turbo with a 2 litre engine. So I travelled almost three hours south to Stuttgart just to find out that this one was an even worse shed than the first one as the entire front end felt loose and I was seriously unsure if I could make it home. So third one was a no-no. But then suddenly the first I testdrove became much cheaper as the owner seemed to understand the state of his car and so in my deranged mind a plan of fixing it up myself came together, with at that point absolutely no experience in working on cars apart from changing tires and oil.

Random Volvo Stuff
Random Volvo Stuff

So I bought it for still too much and started fixing it up piece by piece, detecting all oil leaks and so on. It seemed not to bad to fix because it was just the line of the oil cooler that was leaking and some minor other things like filters, steeringendlinks, tires and cosmetical work on rust and interior. Month went by with it of the road and me fixing and servicing all and every thing until the day it should get the feared German tech inspection called TÜV on which I first drove by an allignment shop. There the plan came to a screatching hold because the play in the front wasn’t caused by worn out endlinks, but a broken steering rack. At that point I was almost all out of money and had no idea what to do next. But as it happened to be I was pissed off and people who knew me were asking whats up and one of them said after I told my story that he knew someone that had a lot of 850 and hooked me up with him.
And it was really heaven when I first visited that guy, four 850 scattered in the big yard a shed full of parts and best of all a two post lift. The guy turned out to be so nice, that we became friends and so he helped me out my misery by offering me a twenty valve 850 that he had just got in with fresh tech inspection winter tires and everything for my more or less still worthless turbo with primer on various panels and a few hundred bucks.
At first I was kind of bummed out that I should just make due with 170 horsepower instead of 226, but then it started growing on me with its immediately throttle response and 6800 rpm redline to which it willingly reved up to (after some help to get it better breathing) and not to mention the feeling of ripping it up a hill on a small road with the windws down, just listening to the engine sing.
In the time I owned it until now I met countless other super nice people who just share the love for Volvo’s, helping each other out just because of being nice. Most impressive was apart from my friend with the great Barn a pilot I called up in Sweden during a vacation there on the lookout for a R spoiler which are really hard to come by in germany. He had one but without the mountingplates, which I really wanted because my car sees often 200+ kph, but instead of just saying no he offered to help me find one from a wrecker and sure enough delivered an address and phone number from a wrecking yard near me where a red spoiler with mounting plates was available. That is a sort of kindness that really warms my heart because it shows that there are so many good people out there that you can really be good to others and help out and not get stuffed yourself.
So that is the story my forever car. It’s a reminder of my early childhood, my now dead brother, a therapeutic tool during the hours of wrenching on and driving it and an eye-opener to the good in the world, a sympathetic car for many people, a home away from home and with its sweet sounding engine just a second gear pull away from an endorphin high. And most importantly it’s always there for me just sitting there and waiting for me to turn the key and go on another adventure or just maybe down to the shops to get food. I never want to miss it from my life.

May it give many more good memories!

P.s:
And I maybe even try to get my little nephew from my other brother on board by giving him a traffic rug and a Volvo and Porsche toycar to christmas this year, so he starts right into the world of gasoline and high-speed..

My old and a little bit broken 850 toy cars. And LOOK I even made one into a pick up way before anyone knew what a rendering was! Little bit proud of my 8 year old self..
My old and a little bit broken 850 toy cars. And LOOK I even made one into…
Remote video URL

And here the link to Moogs story of his Mini.

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Comments

(what's left of) Sir GT-R

Truly awesome writeup man, I feel sorry for your brother. May he rest in peace.

12/02/2017 - 23:29 |
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MrCarGuy28

My Dad had an 850 back in the 90s when he bought new. He still remembers the first time he ever entered the cross harbour tunnel and had his parents sitting at the back to look if he’d hit the wall on not. Unfortunately the car was sold to a cousin of his and it was so broken that the guy didn’t even bother to fix it and just sent it to the scrapyard. Otherwise it’d still be in the family today. Hell I even had my first ride in that car back in 2001, thats how much it meant to us

12/03/2017 - 01:26 |
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Olivier (CT's grammar commie)

I was never lucky to have such a car from my parents. They owned a 1992 Dodge Shadow, a 2000 Hyundai Accent, a 2001 Chevy Venture, a 2005 Mitsubishi Outlander (maybe the car for which the feeling is the “strongest”, it was a stick shift, which made it quite rare), a 2002 Toyota Echo, a 2009 Honda Fit and a 2012 Toyota Sienna. I like my dad’s current Fit, it has a lot of space for its size, but I didn’t really form a bond with any car.

In fact, I’d say that the only car I’ve got a strong bond with is my grandpa’s 1984 Ford F-150. He has it since over 20 years and “customised” it his way so it could fit to his desires, and that truck has been part of my life for as long as I remember. In fact, I know I’ll do everything I can to get that truck when he won’t want it anymore.

Congrats for your car, honestly. You’re really lucky.

12/03/2017 - 02:17 |
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Tiago Maia

I’m more of a Saab guy but that story is beautiful. May your Volvo live forever, I hope the same for my Saab

12/03/2017 - 02:20 |
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Zwick

Just about six months ago or maybe even longer I was faced with a problem. I had just gotten my license(I was 17 and late to the starting line of speed and adrenaline) and I was driving my grandmothers poorly maintained ford ranger. I hated it. It was green, faded and kinda ugly but I loved driving. This actually humbled me to drive a small green machine that squeaked and squealed with even turn or uneven ground. But one day I drove it up to 100 mph down a bridge and that with my life hit a brick wall. The truck was being starved of oil and me being young an naive didn’t know better. Next day the engine was knocking, badly. I was divest sated. No more driving and it was way worst than that. Soon to come find out my grandmother had found a car she was going to start paying payments for. But she then hit me with it. She told me I was never going to be allowed to drive it because I was an 18 year old male, slapping me in the face with a stereotype while true wasn’t fair. So I went out on a limb and bought a 1998 Lexus es300 shit box. No speakers, one doors window regulator was and still is broken with rusted brakes and everything. I have since fixed the brake booster, master cylinder, front brakes, a fuel injector because cylinder six wasn’t fueling and now she runs great and I goin her whenever I want. Lexus IS a great auto company and I will continue my legacy with there’s.

12/03/2017 - 03:53 |
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Deadpool (Cam's much sexier twin) (Official Demon Fangirl)

THE FEELS. My first car was a haggard 850 turbo that was nothing but problems. But gracious I did love that little car. I can vouch 100% for the love you feel for your Volvo. I hope you get to do all the Volvo things you want with your 850. Hopefully I can catch back up and find me an R to make into a daily or project down the line.

12/03/2017 - 04:49 |
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Haha thanks and I hope you will too, Rs are awesome!

12/03/2017 - 22:12 |
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Anonymous

Nice Blog post, really inspired me to go and keep working to get my dream car, IK, its not the same as a forever car……..

12/03/2017 - 08:29 |
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MikeTheMiata (MiataSquad) (MarinerSquad)

Great story! It reminds me of how when i was just 4-5 years old, seeing my uncle pull in the driveway with his 1990 Mariner Blue Mazda Miata. Because of my age, all i thought was, “Wow that looks cool”. I remember sitting in it and him telling me where the shifter was (and what it did XD). And little did i know, is that in about 12 years i would buy that same car from my uncle and name it Mike. That one time seeing that lawnmower-engined roadster when i was a fat little 4 year old, led me to start learning, researching, and asking questions about Miatas to make me into the person that i am today.

12/03/2017 - 13:09 |
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MrLeo

Thumbs up from a regular red 850 driver (1997 2.5 20v). I love it to bits

12/03/2017 - 16:21 |
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DHLLR

In reply to by MrLeo

Thanks! Those normal 20 Valves are way underrated arent they?

12/03/2017 - 22:01 |
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Luke Woessner (G17)

This genuinely has me hyped to work on my own car. Which also so happens to be a Volvo 850 2.4 20 valve with the m56 5 speed. Never has so little speed and so much practicality been so much fun.

12/04/2017 - 03:57 |
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