To be able to go back in time and buy a new T-5R

[matthew1]

What I wouldn't give.

t-5r ad.jpg (246.5 KiB) Viewed 240 times

[matthew1]

IIRC they were $42k back then, which is almost $87k today, so they were not giving them away.

[Sveedy]

That kind of $$$ for only 2 color choices, would be a "no go" for me. It almost strikes me as a bit arrogant -
" If you want to buy our car, fine. But we're only going to give you 2 colors to pick from. And one is yellow. "
I know that some high-end cars do that, but we are talking about a mass production line of cars with models that come in many colors.
Bet they would have sold more...

[454cid]

That kind of $$$ for only 2 color choices, would be a "no go" for me. It almost strikes me as a bit arrogant -
" If you want to buy our car, fine. But we're only going to give you 2 colors to pick from. And one is yellow. "
I know that some high-end cars do that, but we are talking about a mass production line of cars with models that come in many colors.
Bet they would have sold more...

Yeah, neither would be my choice, and I own 2 black cars. I understand the decision, sorta, with only 1000 made for the US market. What was world wide production? More options could quickly add more cost, that would be distributed to a handful of cars, relatively speaking.

[abscate]

I remember looking at it and they told me…in 1999 you can buy more power in a Nautic Blue T5 with more poweR and 5 geaRs

[matthew1]

This is conservatively a half-million dollars in Yellows. That's 16*$30k. The pedestrian, but otherwise very nice, T5 wagon converted to manual just sold close to $20k on Bring a Trailer, mentioned here yesterday... so I think $30k for a Yellow is conservative these days.

364 sedans imported to the United States, that’s it.
49 wagons imported to the United States, that’s it.

https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/cream ... aint-code/

Scarcity drives price, and Yellows are possibly the rarest factory Volvos made in my lifetime*. I'm not counting options combinations on other models, because that's splitting hairs, and you could counter that simply by then saying you have a 1/1 Yellow wagon in the US because it has some obscure factory option.

It's not difficult to be 1 of 49 in a field of 49 USA Yellow wagons, for instance. On the flip side it is very difficult to be 1/n where n=1000 or n=10,000, which is a typical number for other Volvo models.


* maybe the 242 GT is more rare? I can't think of other examples...

[454cid]

The yellow isn't quite a pastel, but isn't as vibrant as what I'd expect. I'd rather have Saffron if I were to have a bold color....although, I have not seen a Saffron car in person and I admit seeing something in person can make a difference.

[abscate]

If you don’t have a heated rear third seat, it’s bbq black, not rare …

[Vova585]

IIRC they were $42k back then, which is almost $87k today, so they were not giving them away.

87K? Wow...for a 4 door yellow sedan?
I doubt i would spend that much money, since i doubt that i would ever buy 2025 v60 II(look up the sales report for the year). 87k...I would probably buy Crown Signia and camry and for left over money take family on 2 vocations. I like Volvos, but not for 87k.

[abscate]

$500 and a new friend for the past 10 years in NJ
Got my last daughter through Smith college and her first two jobs, still running.
No gull yellow car is worth 176 Evitas!

Volvos were never cheap. Evita was 32k list in 1999, and my loaded T5 was almost 40k