The Volvo 300-series was born from a Dutch design, the car that was supposed to become the Daf 77. The daffodil bloomed in a Swedish glasshouse, as Volvo bought a large percentage of the Dutch manufacturer’s automobile division in 1973 and brought the car to the market by 1976. It was still a very much Daf design underneath, with the Variomatic CVT system the company pioneered.
The car managed to be built until the 1990s, and in that time it matured quite a bit.
The stance in this shot is incredible, as the car seems to lean on its knocking knees. And everything has a brown hue to it.
Not forgetting the interior, of course.
Was there supposed to be a clock or a rev gauge in the place where it says Volvo in the cluster?
By the late 1980s, the car looked quite a bit heavier. The wheels were still the size of pennies, of course.
But the saloon version looked completely balanced. From this angle, I can’t say the car doesn’t look good. The 360 even had a Volvo-derived engine instead of the smaller Renault units.
Dumpy Weekend Edition: The Volvo 300-series is a different box on wheels
By Antti Kautonen
Feb 7, 2016
By Antti Kautonen
The resident Finn of Hooniverse. Owns old Peugeots and whatnot, writes long thinkpieces on unloved cars. These two facts might be related.
Bradley Brownell
I had Volvo, old 244 from the seventies.Great car , and then I needed a fuel pump. The price was more money than I had paid for the car.
You should have bought an electric replacement fuel pump.
Ye olde “Bosch 044” electric fuel pump is reason why 90% of all classic cars in Germany still do pass the TÜV (MOT) although their camshaft driven pumps have long ago passed away.
Put a Stewart-Warner electric pump and no go.Took a long time to figure out that it did not have enough pressure. Found a used pump after a search.
The 244 had a camshaft-driven fuel pump? I am surprised, but why not.
Electric pump at the tank.
Thought so, but looks like I misunderstood Desmo.
Now, inevitably, much wanted by budget drift enthusiasts thanks to RWD and All That Power.
Well, RWD and skinny tyres.
http://i403.photobucket.com/albums/pp119/Doridaan/360drift.jpg
And it was good* for racing of course:
*: YMMV
And the easy availability of Renault’s small turbo engines up to 1.7 litres.
A “Trampdrift” favorite.
One of the rarest cars made with the much-maligned PRV V6 was the Volvo 363 CS.
Alfa Romeo weren’t keen on supplying the 5 speed rear mounted transaxle other than the one fitted to the prototype.
So this interesting and quite quick car remains a unique one-off. And the only Dutch car made with an Italian gearbox and a French engine by a Swedish company. (Though there are claims that 7 were made, perhaps someone can comment/confirm?)
And it’s odd that there was only one wagon prototype made as well, given Volvo’s estate reputation. It perhaps could have been a big seller. (Though those tail-lights would have needed sorting out first.)
Volvo 363 CS
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c8/Volvo363cs.JPG/800px-Volvo363cs.JPG
Volvo 345 Estate
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a360/RandomHero1984/Others/P1000552.jpg
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d156/shimon340/300estate.jpg
images thanks to Volvo300mania.com
Volvo tried to reach young families with the 300. Just as the MB A class with the same ambition decades later, they much rather attracted pensioners whose kids had left the household and who were contempt with a smaller car of “their brand”. It was also the first Volvo with only average reliability ratings.
A couple of years ago, the ugly duckling that the 300 is could be had in ship shape for 800-1000€. Now people are asking so much more for them and I don’t know why. There’s a local guy who asks 18000NOK/2000€ for a specimen with rusting doors and I’m just left baffled. They are getting rare though.
Yes but how many V6 engined 363s are their left?
I have no clue – the one time I have read about it before was in a book a decade or more ago.
Off Topic, but there’s no Last Call on weekends.
Why would you make a replica of the Starsky and Hutch Gran Torino…
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NjAwWDgwMA==/z/BzMAAOSwKtVWt9Uh/$_27.JPG
http://www.kijiji.ca/v-cars-trucks/edmonton/1984-ford-thunderbird/1138668442?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true
…out of a Thunderbird.
Quarter-assed: for when half-assed is just too much effort.
BRB, searching CL for a black beater Odyssey to make into an A-team tribute van.
The A-team prefers a Mercedes A-class, obviously! The C-pillar even slants the right way.
Variomatic FTW.
Look what I’ve just learned: advertisement is about contrasts.
Angular car? Use round airplanes, as above.
Round car? Use angular airplanes.
http://www.autominded.net/brochure/saab/Saab96%2001.jpg
And that airplane shown here (a SAAB Viggen) is powered by a Volvo engine. Nice circular reference!
What’s the term for sheepishly accepting a compliment for something one didn’t do consciously?
My old folks used to have one 340 GL 5 speed, it had a more complete dash cluster http://myalbum.com/photo/hUSpoqzzGY5e/med.jpg
The 300 Series is easily among the top two DAF-based Volvo passenger cars.
Easily.
And let me guess the other?
I’m feeling generous, so I’ll give you sixty-six guesses.