By Tim Odell
In the ’00s Volvo went through an awesome phase, moving on from all FWD automatics to offering a few great vehicles in turbocharged manual transmission AWD form (see also: V70R). Alas, People in General have terrible taste in cars, so very of them were willing to plunk down Volvo’s painful asking price for three pedal turbo wagons (Three Pedal Turbo Wagon: also a great band name). That’s why the $3500 price on this ’07 V50 (T5MTAWDFTMFW) had my jaw on the floor. Then I noticed the picture set has copious amounts of snow in the background. Cars with months-old pictures usually have a back-story. In the case of this Volvo, that back-story involves a big girl named Sandy and an influx of saltwater up to about the level of the shifter.
The seller does a good job of listing what’s known and unknown in terms of electrical system corrosion, highlighting some major hurdles in the project to turn this back into a runner. Specifically, the main fuse box (which is apparently so over-engineered it needs dealer reprogramming to work again) will need replacing, along with most of the interior electronics. Based on the description, I can’t help but think this would be a great candidate for race/rally car conversion. Gut the (dried out, but suspicious) interior, replace the destroyed circuitry with something simpler, add a megasquirt or other stand-alone ECU and head for your local rallycross event.
On the other hand, why not pull the drivetrain and make the world’s most awesome Pinto Cruising Wagon? 2007 Volvo V50 T5 AWD MT for sale – eBay Motors
Jeff Glucker