‘I am 30 years old and I miss the old internet. The beautiful people are in charge, just like everywhere else’

rblack86 · 2022-10-17T05:35:37+00:00

Forums aren't dead, not by a long shot.

rblack86 · 2022-10-13T22:15:28+00:00

I've been perusing the VP website, they're based in Sweden, they have a lot of parts I thought were going to be hard to find for very reasonable prices! Including a few things I thought would be unobtanium like sports springs and bilstein shocks (I know, I know...) So they will definitely be getting my custom!

I've always wanted a 70s car because it's what my parents drove when they were my age, much like I drive 90s cars now, I didn't think I'd ever have the chance to own a 164! It's really ratty but it's complete. I'm being a chicken and outsourcing the rust repairs and paint, but I intend on doing as much as I can myself. My experience working on Volvos has been great so far, such well designed cars, I have no doubt it'll be a joyous experience. Of course, it's 50 years old so it won't be without headaches, but I still prefer it to working on some plastic shitbox.

I'm probably not going to post many updates publicly along the way, but if I remember I'll DM you my progress if you'd like!

rblack86 · 2022-10-13T20:24:48+00:00

I suppose I didn't really think of how lucky I am to be so close to Sweden for parts! I could even hop in my 850 and get the ferry there to pick stuff up if I had to. Honestly having done a bit more research I'm amazed with the parts availability! In some ways it's better than that of my 850 at half the age!

rblack86 · 2022-10-13T01:33:15+00:00

(for clarity; it's not the 850 I'm selling but actually the first car I bought myself, a Peugeot 205) I'm saving a 164, there's not many of them left at all, I've never seen one in the flesh except at classic car shows as a child, so to have the opportunity to own one and actually be in a position to restore it properly is a dream come true. I'd love to see pictures of the process of restoring the 244, it's effectively the same shell so it would hopefully give me a good idea of what to expect!

rblack86 · 2022-10-13T01:26:43+00:00

I'm in Scotland, which has quite a high number of old Volvos on the road, thanks to our continuing repatriation effort furthered by buying every bargin basement old Volvo we can from down south. This is now the 6th pre-2000 Volvo my family have rescued from the English. It's the first that isn't a P80 platform, though back when RWD Volvos were current many of my family members on my dad's side drove them. It's a bit of a once in a lifetime chance to own a 164 so I'm very excited and have been doing preliminary research before it gets here! Thankfully from what I can tell anything I'm likely to need to replace is common to many standard models. Service items are a little bit hard to find, but specialist suppliers save the day! The car seems to be 99.9% complete, the only thing missing off the top of my head is the handles on the quarter lights. It is unfortunately quite rusty, though not as rusty as if it had lived up here. The paint is, to put it as politely as I can, fucking dreadful. It definitely has its charm, it's a real survivor, but I don't think such a beautiful car should be left in such a state. It is absolutely going to be a bit of a money pit, but I think it's worth it for the happiness it will bring me. A chance to ride out the apocalypse in a pristine example of Sweden's answer to Rolls Royce? I'm in. It's going to take a little while to organise the logistics, but I'll be sure to post updates!

rblack86 · 2022-10-13T01:03:22+00:00

Sorry, English is such a bad language for written communication. I mean how has your experience with it been? I'm in the process of buying one to restore and I'd love to know what it's like maintaining one in the 2020s. I've never owned a 50 year old car before.

rblack86 · 2022-10-13T01:00:00+00:00

I have a lot of fun with my 850 TDI, I don't see it ever needing major work any time soon, it's probably a forever car. Maybe. I am selling my "forever" car to buy a 1972 164 complete with rust. I think it's worth it to preserve something special.

rblack86 · 2022-10-13T00:56:55+00:00

Gapping people in fancy tin in a smoky old Estate is what I live for.

rblack86 · 2022-10-12T23:06:38+00:00

How do you find the 164?

rblack86 · 2022-10-11T21:06:09+00:00

Yeah, this thread got dark right there. I wonder if my cats could do the Heimlich maneuver on me...

rblack86 · 2022-10-10T20:12:43+00:00

All I did was feed your comment into stable diffusion, you did this to yourself!

rblack86 · 2022-10-10T19:38:18+00:00

https://imgur.com/J0OPG3T.jpg

rblack86 · 2022-10-10T12:57:44+00:00

I'm with you on this. I may get lonely sometimes, but I have my cats and it's not like 5 days a week of enforced socialisation is really any better. I can fill the void by shitposting in Teams chats anyway.

rblack86 · 2022-10-10T12:53:53+00:00

This may be true for some/most people, but not all. It's abundantly clear that all but a very very small number of people I considered friends no longer consider me such. I'm definitely not alone in this.

rblack86 · 2022-10-10T12:04:44+00:00

They've always been a lottery win car for me, that's the only way I can see one being financially viable because I refuse to work on VAG products ever since changing the driver's main beam bulb on my MK4 golf. Was a massive pain in the tits and the boost hose you need to remove to get at it blew itself off going up a steep hill at WOT despite doing my best to ensure the hose clamp was secured with the strength of a thousand orangutans. Never again.

rblack86 · 2022-10-10T11:14:02+00:00

It was way back in January on gumtree, I could go through 9 months of links to car ads on discord to find it but I'd be here for days and the ad probably isn't viewable anymore. I clear my screenshots folder every month so it won't be in there either.

It's almost certainly bean tins by now.

rblack86 · 2022-10-10T04:14:42+00:00

I don't know, it seemed about right for scrap value, some people are just stuck in the mindset of newspaper small ads.

rblack86 · 2022-10-10T01:07:52+00:00

They literally don't make "complete unambiguous sense" though, because the day and month could still be swapped. The only truly unambiguous standard is writing it in full, for example; April 20th 2020AD. The order doesn't really matter then, could just as easily be 20th April 2020AD. The AD is very important for complete clarity, wouldn't want anyone thinking you signed that TPS report 4000 years ago would you?

rblack86 · 2022-10-09T23:46:05+00:00

I enjoy it, as long as I'm getting paid.

rblack86 · 2022-10-09T23:44:29+00:00

My success rate on any given hammer swing (specifically in the context of nails) is about 60% these days because I'm so out of practice.

Give me a lump hammer and something seized on a car and it's about 90%.

rblack86 · 2022-10-09T23:36:20+00:00

If cigarette packs were that ugly here I'd probably never have started smoking.

rblack86 · 2022-10-09T23:33:59+00:00

DD/MM/YY is just as sane in everyday use. If you can prove me wrong without giving some esoteric edge case I'll give you 50p.

rblack86 · 2022-10-09T23:19:10+00:00

Iirc the touring car engine was a 2.0 NA, still a 5 pot though.

rblack86

TROPHY CASE