– By Eric Fantin – ANOTHER VOLVO WAGON! After selling my 1966 Volvo 122 sedan a couple months ago I ended up with another vintage Volvo project, a 1973 Volvo 145 wagon.
Although my faithful 1993 Volvo 940 turbo wagon works hard at all the summer duties, like hauling for house projects, camping and more, I always feel the need to have a more vintage Volvo in the fleet, especially a wagon.
The 140 series started in 1967 as the eventual successor of the much loved 122 /amazon cars, to keep with the time. The new model offered a roomier design with square line in the 60’s fashion with an all-wheel disk brake system and better safety features. The B18/B20 family of engine and drive train were continued and it was again offered in 2 and 4 door sedans plus the station wagon.
I have owned many 120/140 and 160 (the 6-cylinder model) series cars over the years, look wise, the 120 cars, to me, are much better looking, but the 140, although lacking in the look department, as the years go by, has that 70’s vibe, especially when bright colors were used.
This model is the last few years of the evolution of the series. It sports a different grill, dash, and more modern shifter instead of the long “truckish” shifter harking back from the days of the 444/544 series.
This car was originally fuel injected with an automatic transmission but was later fitted with a weber carburetor and a 4-speed overdrive, a better set up in my book. Although it is a somewhat running car, years of storage and neglect have taken a toll on the poor thing. It is a mostly rust-free car, but some rust was present on the driver side area, due to a window left open for too long.
So, first order of thing is to cut out the rusty stuff and patch a new section of the floor. Parts are readily available since the 140 is the ancestor of the fame 240 series, the longest production span ever for Volvo from 1975 to 1993. The picture shows the patch welded in place, some primer and paint will finish that part of the job.
The rest is mostly mechanical, check the health of the engine and make it run smoothly, the transmission needs to be gone through and the electrical part of the overdrive installed, of course the brake system will be checked and so on. I hope to make it in a decent summer cruiser and share some of the hauling duty of my 940 wagon.
Have a question or comment for Eric? He can be reached at: straigh8@gmail.com