Murilee Martin used to post Down At The Junkyard at Jalopnik. Here’s a discovery from 2010, a 1989 Volvo 780 ES. Alas, there’s no commentary, which is puzzling.
The 780 ES was presented the 1985 Geneva motorshow, and went on sale in 1986. That means this is its 30th anniversary year. Skol!
There is a nice collection of photos here plus a little bit of history. What I didn’t know is that the 780 ES was not only sold with the 6-cylinder PRV engine. One could also have a 2.0 L turbo I4, a 2.0 L turbo dohc I4 ,2.3 L turbo I4 and 2.4 L I6 turbodiesel. They only made about 6000 of the things so some of those must have been made in very small numbers indeed.
There is a little more history here, again at Jalopnik and some commentary: “These cars were originally made available with a 150-bhp B280F V6, known to most as the PRV. With a healthy 3,400 pounds to cart around the experience with that mill was of it being wheezy and overtaxed, and there’s nothing sexy about that. Someone at Volvo must have driven one of the V6-equipped cars and realized what a dog it was, as the company soon started offering the turbo four cylinder B230FT+ which, while giving up two pots, managed initially 175-bhp, and on later cars, a healthy 188.”
Are there any for sale in Europe? Yes, as of today, there are two. This is a nice, brown interior and it´s your for €6950. It’s in Nordhorn, on the Dutch-German border between Bremen and Duisburg.
Just two. Now that is rare.
There are no less than three examples in Swiss Autoscout24. More than in the rest of Europe? Unbelievable. They are priced CHF 16’900 to 30’000 (!), the latter figure being the equivalent of about € 28’000 or £ 20’000. So it seems to be a rather pricey car around here. It’s apparently already recognised as a collector’s item.
By the way, the most expensive example also has the most kilometres (144’000), but it really looks like new, a beautiful blue with tan leather.
I feel vindicated in liking it now! The German price seems like a steal.
Actually, there was a fourth example for sale this week, for only about 6’000 CHF. It wasn’t as immaculate as the blue one, though. Obviously, for this price, it sold easily. Was that you, Richard?
Alas, I didn’t quite have the time to swoop down to collect it.