Volvo 740 GLE Estate in black with tan interior, first registered in March 1990. The car still has its original 2.3 litre petrol engine and automatic gearbox.

The car has belonged to my parents from new. It was originally my father's company car, that he bought from the company at the end of the lease period. My father recently passed away, so it's time to find the car a new home.

The car has a fresh MOT which runs through to 26 February 2027 and I've included a video of the engine running. The car is 'running and driving' and can be driven away.

The car has always been well maintained and comes with a large file of paperwork as well as the original Volvo booklets. The paperwork is over an inch thick and goes back to 1990 including services, invoices and MOTs.

I think the car will be a great base for someone to bring back to its former glory with some TLC, and I'll try and list everything I know about it here for you.

I'll start with the good aspects:

- The body panels are remarkably sound with no bubbling around the wheel arches or door frames. The bodywork is straight and the door bottoms are all very sound. I've included photos to show these areas. The body on this car is a real survivor considering its age. I haven't found any holes in any of the body panels. 

- The seats are in lovely condition and the tan fabric shows no obvious signs of wear or damage.

- The dashboard and dashtop have no cracks or damage.

- The car last had a full major service in 2022 and it has covered less than a hundred miles since then. As part of that service, it had a new timing belt fitted plus fluids, filters, distributor cap and rotor, and a full set of new spark plugs and leads. The brakes were stripped, checked and cleaned with all six brake hoses replaced and new back plates were fitted to the front hubs on both sides. New inner steering rack rod ends and tie rod ends were also fitted on both sides of the car and the tracking was reset afterwards.   

- In 2023 a new fuel pump was fitted and a new brake servo was fitted.

- In 2024 the in-line fuel pump was also replaced.

- For the 2026 MOT, both anti roll bar links were replaced.

- The car is currently running and driving with a fresh MOT.

I'll also list all the things that I am aware of that would benefit from some attention, although nothing here has stopped the car from getting its fresh MOT:

- The bonnet was repainted some years ago due to stone chipping. This must have been done in a slightly damp environment as the paint on the bonnet has now micro-blistered and would benefit from being done again.

- The headlining dropped in the rear of the car and has been cut away to prevent it blocking the rear view. You can see this in the photos.

- The sunroof was sealed up many years ago as it started leaking, and I think the sealant could now do with being replaced.

- There is some water present in the front left footwell. I think this is either from the sunroof needing to be resealed or possibly the passenger door seal.

- It looks like there is also some water entering the rear of the car, possibly around the top of the tailgate seal as I've seen water on the inside of the rear window.

- The central locking no longer works.

- The tailgate lock was replaced at some point so this in unlocked with a different key to the door locks.

- The rear compartment cover is sagging as the spring tensioner has failed in the roll-up cassette.

- The power steering system is working, but you can get a 'pulsing' feel through the steering wheel at full lock. The power steering pump and rack were replaced in 2005, and I remember my father telling me that a non-OEM pump was fitted at the time which led to that pulsing sensation at full lock ever since. 

The mileage of the car is currently showing as 129,124, although the actual figure is higher. You can see on the GOV.UK MOT history check website that the original odometer reached 159,865 miles and got stuck at that figure for the 2006 and 2007 MOT tests. The speedo then failed so my father fitted a complete second-hand dash cluster in 2008 that showed 122,138 miles at the 2008 MOT. The car has been used very little since then. I think the replacement odometer has also got a bit stuck from time to time in recent years, but I know the car has only done about 30 miles a year in recent times, if that. 

To complete the description, there were a number of advisory items noted when the new MOT was done. I'll include these here for full transparency:

Items noted from the MOT as 'Repair as soon as possible (minor defects)':

- Offside Front Lower Suspension component ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (5.3.4 (b) (i))

- Nearside Front Suspension component ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (5.3.4 (b) (i))

Items noted from the MOT as 'Monitor and repair if necessary (advisories)':

- Oil leak, but not excessive (8.4.1 (a) (i))

- Power steering pipe/hose has slight seepage (2.1.5 (a))

- Nearside Front Anti-roll bar linkage pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement (5.3.4 (a) (i))

- Exhaust has a minor leak of exhaust gases centre joint (6.1.2 (a))

- Offside Rear Suspension component mounting prescribed area is corroded but not considered excessive (5.3.6 (a) (i))

- Nearside Front Suspension rod pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement (5.3.4 (a) (i))

- Offside Front Suspension rod pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement (5.3.4 (a) (i))

- Tyre slightly damaged/cracking or perishing all four badly cracked on tread (5.2.3 (d) (ii))

- Nearside Front Tyre worn close to legal limit/worn on edge (5.2.3 (e))

I've tried to cover everything I can in this description, and I hope someone will take on this long-standing member of our family and look after it. It's a lovely thing and it's been with us for 36 years. 

Final thing that may be of interest is that the car has never been smoked in and it has never had any pets in it. I'm just adding this for those who have allergies.

Please message me with any questions if I've missed anything that you'd like to know. 

Collection from Chichester, West Sussex.

Inspections welcome.