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
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26 responses to “Dumpy Weekend Edition: The Volvo 300-series is a different box on wheels”
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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.
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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.
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The 244 had a camshaft-driven fuel pump? I am surprised, but why not.
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Electric pump at the tank.
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Thought so, but looks like I misunderstood Desmo.
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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.
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A “Trampdrift” favorite.
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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?
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I have no clue – the one time I have read about it before was in a book a decade or more ago.
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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
…out of a Thunderbird.
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Quarter-assed: for when half-assed is just too much effort.
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BRB, searching CL for a black beater Odyssey to make into an A-team tribute van.
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The A-team prefers a Mercedes A-class, obviously! The C-pillar even slants the right way.
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Variomatic FTW.
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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!
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What’s the term for sheepishly accepting a compliment for something one didn’t do consciously?
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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
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The 300 Series is easily among the top two DAF-based Volvo passenger cars.
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Easily.
And let me guess the other?-
I’m feeling generous, so I’ll give you sixty-six guesses.
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