My Volvo Story

In 1987, my family moved to Bergen, Norway. My father was taking a sabbatical leave from the university to do research at the University of Bergen, as well as teach. Since we were going to be there for six months, it was deemed necessary to purchase a car. I don't know how they decided on a Volvo (I was six years old at the time), but I'm sure glad they did. We picked it up new at the factory in Sweden, and drove across the mountains on our way to Norway. Flash forward 13 years. I was just out of high school, and had just returned from my first university semester studying in Estonia. My family was all there, as my father was on another research sabbatical This time, he got a 2000 V70 in the same manner. We got to tour the factory where Volvos are assembled, and another trip to the Volvo museum, where I saw cars such as the old Safety Concept Car and other classic Volvos. We also got to ride in a Volvo limo the same make as the one picured on the right. :) The only disappointing part was that I was so jet lagged that I fell asleep during the factory tour : ( In any case, we had all returned from our semester in Estonia, and since my dad had a new Volvo, I got the old one (and my brother got to drive the minivan :P).

My mother drives a '93 Saab 900 which was picked up and delivered in the same manner as the two Volvos, only that time we were living in Warsaw (Poland). If you're from the states and you ever get the chance to participate in the tourist/diplomat overseas delivery program, I highly recommend it. You and your Volvo can spend a little time driving in Europe, and you have an amazing car when you get home :)

I am currently a member of the Swedespeed forums (I post as FMonk), and I highly recommend visiting their site if you have any interest in Volvos.

Here are some pictures of my car:

I don't normally wear that front tag, but that's the Swedish export tag that we had for the car. It allowed us to drive it in Europe before we the car was shipped home. Here in Kansas there is no law saying that you must have a front tag, so I could wear it, but I don't want to have it all dinged up.

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I'm just showing off with those pictures :)

The interior is super clean, and only the driver's seat shows minor wear.

Current milage is just over 120,000! (note to self: get a tachometer! :)

This is an old picture because, as you can see, there is no stereo in the car. That has been remedied, and you can read about that on this page.

That engine is looking pretty darn stock.... Hopefully I can remedy that in the future, and when I do, I will put up the results. :) I'm looking into getting IPD sport springs and Bilsten TC shocks in the near future (the shocks on the car now are the original ones, and you can feel it!), and later on, I want to get a full set of chassis braces and anti-sway bars. I know that the B230F enigne in it will never be super fast, but I can sure as hell make it handle well! After the suspension, I've got a huge wish list of things I want from IPD :)

Just for fun, here's an image I worked up with my car