Where it all began....

A lot of people ask me (and a lot more mock me) about where my passion for Volvo, specifically the Volvo 480 came from. I mean who else falls in love with a car that looks like a block of cheese on wheels?!


My Original 480 was purchased for the measly sum of £295, for the purpose of driving across Europe in the Sutdent Gumball Rally (now known as the student brakeaway) Bought with 12months MOT, some broken popup lights, and non functioning electric windows, and a lovely amount of brown rust to blemish its wonderful white paintwork. I'd never really worked on a car before, and with my first car being a boring (but reliable) Ford focus I'd never got my hands dirtier than opening the bonnet, seeing nothing was wrong, and closing it again.

I obtained the necessary parts to get the popups and windows working again, and me and my library borrowed haynes manual set out to get things back to the way Volvo had intended them to be, my summer break from uni was dedicated to bringing this Swedish icon back to its former glory. Without going into to much detail, Id eventually fixed what was broken, and even managed to find a local paint shop to match the faded white paintwork. The car was now ready for the gumball

Some more photos of the white one here White 480 over at flickr

However all this work was to be in vain......

It still brings a tear to my eye, but after some unfortunate mistakes by my co-driver (Jon I will eventually forgive you), The 480 didnt break down, but was broken, unrepairable, it was eventually enviromentally disposed of (dumped in forest) in the Czech Republic, and our journey across europe was no more.


However my 480 passion was now only just beginning, and eventually thanks to the wonderfuly generosity of the Student Loans Company, I bought another one and after that a second! Ill post about those, when i find some spare time!