TheJoyOfSix
Grumpy old git
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2004
<HR style="COLOR: #d1d1e1" SIZE=1> Yes, that's right, a GLT! Hang on I hear you thinking, Volvo never made 760 GLT's - what on earth is he on about? Well, this is the story of how a perfectly sensible luxury family saloon from the late 80's was slowly changed from the daily driver into a 'might have been' 4 seat grand tourer.
It all started back in 1999 when I bought what was then a standard 760 GLE with the B280E V6 engine and the AW71 auto box as an interim car while my 760 Turbo was having some major surgery. The car was immediately pressed into service by taking me on a 1500mile tour of the Highlands a week after purchase. It impressed me so much that on return I decided to get rid of the Turbo and keep the V6.
Car one week after purchase at a B&B near Crainlarich.
Over the next few years it saw faithfull service as the family car with only a few changes, namely the fitment of a rear spoiler, a sunroof spoiler and a set of 'Draco' alloys from a 740 Turbo. Here's another pic (again in Scotland) of the first few changes.
I decided that the sunroof spoiler, whilst useful, had to go as it looked awful. Again a couple of years passed with nothing remarkable happening apart from an off-road excursion to avoid a Combine Harvester that had a proprietorial view of the road resulting in a buckled Draco. Luckily a set of 'Sirius' alloys from an early 760 came available at the right price and were fitted, improving the looks immensely. Apart from regular servicing and the replacement of the fuel pressure regulator, the car continued faultlesslyuntil the day the entire exhaust system decided it had had enough and fell off! Much scratching of head and many phone calls later it was decided to have a custom stainless steel system fitted as it would cost only slightly more than the standard system. A 2.25" system with 2 straight through silencers was specced and duly fitted. On driving the car home it sounded absolutely gorgeous and the exhaust note changed from a V8 at idle, through a V6 when pulling away, a straight six in the midrange and progressing to a flat 12 at redline! However, it was ridiculously loud, so I returned it to have another silencer fitted which improved things no end.
Thus ended the first 5 years of ownership with the only further modification being a 960 centre armrest/cupholder and the painting of the grille black.
After 5 years.
The new characteristics of the car given by the exhaust started me down the slippery slope of thinking that is was more of a sporting saloon than a luxury one. This led to musings about more serious modifications..............
More in part 2.
It all started back in 1999 when I bought what was then a standard 760 GLE with the B280E V6 engine and the AW71 auto box as an interim car while my 760 Turbo was having some major surgery. The car was immediately pressed into service by taking me on a 1500mile tour of the Highlands a week after purchase. It impressed me so much that on return I decided to get rid of the Turbo and keep the V6.
Car one week after purchase at a B&B near Crainlarich.
Over the next few years it saw faithfull service as the family car with only a few changes, namely the fitment of a rear spoiler, a sunroof spoiler and a set of 'Draco' alloys from a 740 Turbo. Here's another pic (again in Scotland) of the first few changes.
I decided that the sunroof spoiler, whilst useful, had to go as it looked awful. Again a couple of years passed with nothing remarkable happening apart from an off-road excursion to avoid a Combine Harvester that had a proprietorial view of the road resulting in a buckled Draco. Luckily a set of 'Sirius' alloys from an early 760 came available at the right price and were fitted, improving the looks immensely. Apart from regular servicing and the replacement of the fuel pressure regulator, the car continued faultlesslyuntil the day the entire exhaust system decided it had had enough and fell off! Much scratching of head and many phone calls later it was decided to have a custom stainless steel system fitted as it would cost only slightly more than the standard system. A 2.25" system with 2 straight through silencers was specced and duly fitted. On driving the car home it sounded absolutely gorgeous and the exhaust note changed from a V8 at idle, through a V6 when pulling away, a straight six in the midrange and progressing to a flat 12 at redline! However, it was ridiculously loud, so I returned it to have another silencer fitted which improved things no end.
Thus ended the first 5 years of ownership with the only further modification being a 960 centre armrest/cupholder and the painting of the grille black.
After 5 years.
The new characteristics of the car given by the exhaust started me down the slippery slope of thinking that is was more of a sporting saloon than a luxury one. This led to musings about more serious modifications..............
More in part 2.
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