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My Volvo 850

Help, Advice and DIY Tutorials on Volvo's P80 platform cars -- Volvo's 1990s "bread and butter" cars -- powered by the ubiquitous and durable Volvo inline 5-cylinder engine.

1992 - 1997 850, including 850 R, 850 T-5R, 850 T-5, 850 GLT
1997 - 2000 S70, S70 AWD
1997 - 2000 V70, V70 AWD
1997 - 2000 V70-XC
1997 - 2004 C70

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Msuperbauer
Posts: 26
Joined: 27 February 2012
Year and Model: 850 GLT, 1995
Location: Cedar Rapids, IA

My Volvo 850

Post by Msuperbauer »

I figured since this forum is so full of problems and "help me" posts, I wanted to post something positive.

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So This is my First Volvo. Aside from the color, This things pretty great. Its a 95, GLT. 5 Speed with 119k miles. Was a one owner and I picked it up for $1100 (Hence the purple OR Amethysist Metallic as Volvo calls it). I had to initially replace the fuel pump and cam shaft position sensor and it could use wheel bearings in the front, but other than that These old things are solid as a rock! I got rid of my 09 Subaru legacy to get out of the car payment and have a VW VR6 Corrado that is my fun car, just wasnt fitting the bill for hauling my daughters around, lol.. This does it (and has earned the name "The Grape" from my daughters) I did a detail transormation on this thing and wish I had before pictures! the interior went through 3 extra duty magic erasers, interior paint for the carpet (cant have a purple car with pink carpet, lol) The seats were soaked with leather cleaner and conditioner every day for a week to soften the leather (felt like cardboard) . Exterior took a good wash with claybar, a few buffer passes (compound, clean, polish) and a couple coats of carnuaba wax finialized with Ultima Paint Guard plus! Walla! The shiniest 95 purple Volvo around, lol. Impressive cars these Volvo's. They age VERY well.. Even the body style is cool to me..

jblackburn
MVS Moderator
Posts: 14043
Joined: 8 June 2008
Year and Model: 1998 S70 T5
Location: Alexandria, VA
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Post by jblackburn »

Huh. Well first of all, welcome to the site! I've seen one purple Volvo ever - I didn't know it was actually a stock color.

Reminds me of the early 90's. My aunt used to have a purple F150 and a purple Del Sol Civic after that.

But it looks great! And a 5-speed - nice!
'98 S70 T5
2016 Chevy Cruze Premier


A learning experience is one of those things that says, "You know that thing you just did? Don't do that."

mercuic: Long live the tractor motor!

boosted5cyl
Posts: 1100
Joined: 29 January 2010
Year and Model: '98 V70 T5, '99 S80
Location: St. Paul, MN
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Post by boosted5cyl »

Welcome. What leather conditioner did you use? My V70 leather could do with a softening too!
'04 XC90 2.5T AWD (Angus) 134K.
'99 S80 T6 (Medusa) 214k. On borrowed time LOL
'98 V70 T5 (Vivienne). RIP @ 228K. Spun rod bearings.

Msuperbauer
Posts: 26
Joined: 27 February 2012
Year and Model: 850 GLT, 1995
Location: Cedar Rapids, IA

Post by Msuperbauer »

I used "Lexol" Leather Conditioner. After cleaning the seats with a 50:1 woollight mixture I (literally) soaked the seats and left the car (windows shut) sit in the sun all day (while working) then repeated every day.. At the end of each day, I took a regular towel then sprayed it with a little water and wiped them down, then used a seperate dry towel to completely dry. Car smells like new leather too..

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erikv11
Posts: 11800
Joined: 25 July 2009
Year and Model: 850, V70, S60R, XC70
Location: Iowa
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Post by erikv11 »

Nice car, great detail job!

Well I am not far from Cedar Rapids ... next time you see one of these for $1100, please PM me!
'95 854 T-5R, Motronic 4.4, 185k
'98 V70, T5 tune-injectors-turbo, LPT engine, 304k, daily driver
'06 S60 R, 197k
'07 XC70, black, 205k
'07 XC70, willow green, 212k
'99 Camry V6 :shock: 153k
gone: '96 NA 850 210k, '98 NA V70 182k, '98 S70 NA 225k, '96 855 NA 169k

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matthew1
Site Admin
Posts: 14472
Joined: 14 September 2002
Year and Model: 850 T5, 1997
Location: Denver, Colorado, US
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Contact:

Post by matthew1 »

Msuperbauer wrote:I figured since this forum is so full of problems and "help me" posts, I wanted to post something positive.
:-)

I like that color, very rare*. Five speed? $1100? 120k? Deal City™. You did great. The car looks magnificent.


* things like this make Volvos interesting
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1998 V70, no dash lights on

1997 850 T5 [gone] w/ MSD ignition coil, Hallman manual boost controller, injectors, R bumper, OMP strut brace

2004 V70 R [gone]

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Volvo4251
Posts: 153
Joined: 6 November 2009
Year and Model: 98 S90
Location: Louisville, Kentucky

Post by Volvo4251 »

Great car for the money! That color is "Amethyst Metallic" code number 420, probably my favorite color behind Pearl White of course... :wink:
Drive Safely.
2007 Volvo XC70 Adventure Series
1998 Volvo S90
Previous Volvos:
96 Volvo 850 Platinum
11 Volvo C30 T5
07 Volvo XC90 3.2 AWD
98 Volvo V70 2.5 SE
95 Volvo 850 Turbo
94 Volvo 850
91 Volvo 240 Wagon
90 Volvo 240
89 Volvo 740 GL

zero10998
Posts: 6
Joined: 10 September 2010
Year and Model: 1995 855 GLT N/A
Location: Shelton Ct, Usa

Post by zero10998 »

THAT CAR IS BEAUTIFUL!!! :!: 8) im in all caps because my mouth is literally to the floor in jealousy and awe!! you have an absolute gem right there! treat it right and it will treat you right! i am in love with that color! i have a rare color myself, its the only wagon i have seen in person with its dark grey with Black leather, but man :o , i cant express so much how much i would love to find one just like it!
good luck with her!!

Johnny
1996 AE-102 Toyota Corolla 1.8 M/T DX 170k
1995 855 N/A GLT Auto 250k (sold)
1997 854 Base N/A Auto(moms- Crushed)
1995 855 Turbo Auto 143k (Sold)

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850 LPT
Posts: 1961
Joined: 27 May 2011
Year and Model: 96' 850
Location: CT
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Post by 850 LPT »

Congrats to your incredible find. What a beautiful 850, and what a combination of options. I wish you lots of fun with it.
98' S70, base, 5-speed manual, pewter/ tan, 145k miles
99' S70, base, 5-speed manual, nautic blue/ tan, 225k miles, currently inop
06' V70, auto, willow green/ charcoal, 147k miles
79' Ford Capri S, Euro Spec 2.8 V6, T9 5-speed manual, owned since 1986
58' Porsche Diesel Junior
13' Honda Odyssey :oops:
84' Mercedes 300 D, gold/ tan, 420k miles (retirement project :D )

Msuperbauer
Posts: 26
Joined: 27 February 2012
Year and Model: 850 GLT, 1995
Location: Cedar Rapids, IA

Post by Msuperbauer »

Thanks for all the kind words, The color is slowly (and I mean slowly) growing on me. The rarity of it attracts me as does the metallic "pop" of it when its all clean. I had a nearly impossible time even finding ANY photos of another one and all I found was newer s60's.. If anyone knows where I can see other ones, I'd appreciate it. Heres a picture of My Corrado (the bastard child of VW much like this color 850 is to volvo, lol)

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