So... First off, hello there, my Volvo Forum friends! I haven't been on for a long time, I know. I've been dealing with some depression and a number of other personal issues, and just haven't been on here. But that's another story. You clicked here because of the title!

I was at a local salvage yard to get a couple A/C lines for my 940 wagon- it's getting hot, and I want the A/C working- and as I went out to the yard, I noticed a black 1995 850 sitting in the sale lot for $999. It said "Runs, clear title" on the windshield. I kind of glanced at it, and saw the Titan wheels on it. My immediate thought was that they were reproductions, and I pointed this out to my friend who was with me. But now that I had given the car more than a glance, I looked in the window and saw the velour trim on the seats. Then I saw the black walnut. Then the front bumper... etc, etc. Holy Crap! It's a T-5R! I started looking the car over more carefully, and noticed a couple guys looking it over from a distance saying "Aw, dude! That would look SWEET with spinners and a sweet paint job! You should buy it..." At that point, I knew what I had to do. This car was either going to be sold to some doofus who has no idea what it is, or it was going to end up in the yard. Either way, I couldn't leave it there. So I went inside and bought it. $950+ tax and title. For a running T-5R. Now, it's a bit rough- the roof needs repainted, there's some dents and dings in it, the dash pad is garbage, it's only running on 4 cylinders (but compression seems to be okay) however, all the relevant bits- the front bumper, the Titans, the spoiler, the seats, the steering wheel, etc. are present and in good condition. I drove it to my dad's house temporarily while I find somewhere to put it at my place. But the important thing is... it's safe with someone who knows what it is and will bring it back to life. After it's done, I do plan to sell it, so if anyone wants a T-5R, watch this space! As I said the car needs help. It has all the usual 850 issues- odometer, PCV, suspension, etc. as well as being in dire need of a tune- up and some tires. The title, while it IS clear, is branded "Replacement VIN." Apparently, the car had been stolen, and the VIN plate on the dash is gone. But the VIN stamped on the firewall is correct, and all the other ones match. Anyhow, I'll keep you guys posted.

 

Nice.

Good to see you back. I was looking for you when I went to Ohio in April.

 

Awesome and May the force be with you!!! How many miles what is the build date?

 

congrats, it looks great especially for that price.

 

rspi- shoot. I wish we'd been able to meet up! I was in Greece for the first half of April for my mother's memorial service (her death contributed to my depression, among other things) but otherwise was around. Anyhow:
The car! Mileage: Odometer says 71,000 miles, but it clearly doesn't work. I haven't checked in the computer yet, but I'm guessing it's a lot more than that. Unfortunately, the title is branded as odometer discrepancy. I'm still going to find out what the computer says, and set the odometer to that mileage when I fix it. As for production date, I haven't looked. I was just too darn excited after having seen the car there! I'll look when I go back to my dad's house to get it and bring it home so I can start working on it. The paint on the car is in somewhat bad shape, mainly the roof and decklid, but there's damage in a few other spots. There's a strange rust spot on the right rear quarter, and there's a crack in a repaired spot on the hood. However, all of that can be repaired. The front bumper is correct and looks to be in great shape, surprisingly. The "Volvo" emblems on the fenders have been replaced with the side markers. The Titans are in excellent condition- no curb rash or anything, the spoiler is in good shape, the seats, with the exception of the driver's seat, are great, and there's an upholstery shop that will make an identical replacement cover for around $200 or so. The steering wheel leather is in fair condition, I might be able to do something with it, since I know it was unique to this car, and the dash wood trim is missing on the dash itself. It's there on the console, and that is in excellent shape. I hope I can find the one for the dash. What sucks is that about 4 months ago this same yard had a badly wrecked '97 850R that had a perfect steering wheel and perfect dash trim, and those were the same as the T-5R. I thought about grabbing them at the time, but didn't. Now I REALLY wish I had! I have a nice regular 850 leather steering wheel, but those don't have the gray on the bottom.

Anyhow, I'll post updates on the car as I start to dig into it. And I'll try to come around here more often again, too! Getting this car has made me happy again!

 

l need to start hanging around the junk yard alot from now on.lol. wooow what a lucky find.

 

Nice score! Congrats, and kudos on saving it!

 

Thanks for saving it.

 

Why does this remind me of that 80's movie Corvette Summer? Nice find. Look forward to seeing the progress. BTW, I understand where you are coming from....my Volvo makes me happy again too!

 

Oh, yeah... just to clear up something in my OP. The car was stolen at some point in its history, then recovered! I didn't take possession of stolen property! The only thing that bugs me here is that the dashboard VIN plate is missing, and the title is branded "Replacement VIN," even though it shows an original Volvo VIN, and that matches the stamp on the firewall and the sticker on the door. Any idea if there's a process by which one can get a replacement dash VIN plate from Volvo? Or what the missing plate does to the value? I plan to go over to my dad's today to get a better idea of what the car needs, and maybe even bring it home if I can sort out the misfire.

 

Great to see you back Carrots!! And nice rescue too.

So you haven't blown up that S70 GLT yet? Or have you been babying it?

 

Gdog- heh, no, I haven't blown the S70 up yet. And I don't really baby it, either.I do make sure to only run premium in it, and I use good synthetic oil. The turbo is leaking oil internally right now, so I need to get that rebuilt, but otherwise, it's doing fine with the T5 parts on it. I have an actual T5 engine off to the side, though, in case the 2.4 ever pops. As for the new acquisition,I haven't had a chance yet to go and assess what it needs yet- My wife, aka St. Erica, and I had a talk yesterday about how many irons one should have in the fire at once. I'll get over there this week, though, and maybe post a couple more pics after I wash it

 

Sorry to hear about you mom.

My daughter moved to Cincy last month so I will likely be there a couple of times per year to visit her.

Sounds great to have a T-5R to tinker with. I hope to run across a decent 850 for my mom. Need to replace the Saturn she has. I would need to rebuild the suspension before I give it to her because she lives in Pittsburgh.

 

Saturn ??? Say it ain't so !

 

eh, Saturns are actually not bad cars. They're boring, to be sure, and certainly not for the enthusiast, but generally they're well made and reliable- Great for older folks. At least before GM started selling rebadged "other things" as Saturns instead of having the separate engineering group. The S- series and L- series are good cars. I actually have had a few from time to time as "fix them up and sell them" cars, and in addition to being a European car mechanic, for some strange reason, I have a group of customers with Saturns that bring them to me. It's odd, actually.

 

So... Updates! I finally got over to my dad's house and looked at the car a bit more closely. Actual mileage is 94,784! a lot less than I thought it would be. The misfire was a loose injector connector, and the lack of boost was due to the wastegate arm being detached from the wastegate, as well as broken vacuum lines to- from the control valve. Fixed those... and holy crap- the car screams now! I still have a lot to do- it needs a wheel bearing, spring seats, PCV, timing parts, etc, and the body of course needs help. But it's in better shape than I originally thought it was!

Oh, yeah- someone asked. The build date is 3/95.