Junkyard Find: 1971 Volvo 144 S
While Volvo 240s continue to be crushed in alarming quantities, I also see quite a few Volvo 140s during my wrecking-yard trips. Prior to today, we’d seen this ’68 142, this ’69 145, this ’71 144 and this ’71 142, and now another non-rusty, solid-looking 140 is going to be eaten by The Crusher.
Years before American and Japanese car companies went to six-digit odometers, Volvo had enough optimism to go past 99,999 miles on theirs. This car averaged just over 3,000 miles per year during its life.
The 140 was very advanced for its day, with four-wheel disc brakes as standard equipment.
Some might say that a pushrod engine with SU carburetors wasn’t so advanced, but the B18 got the job done.
The combination of a rear defroster and a manual choke is one you don’t see every day.
Sometimes I miss my hooptie 144, but not quite enough to try to rescue a car like today’s Junkyard Find. Still, a 142 with 16-valve B230 engine might be fun.
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.
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My '70 142S(bought new),would simply stop if a couple hundred miles over the tune-up interval. Needed a valve job! at 24K Camshaft @ 60K Water pump, alternator and every other non-drivetrain part needed well before 100k. Always saw dealer service, too. The seats, vault-like solidity and gutsy performance(w/stick) sucked me in.
Looks modern enough that I would be down to drive it today! Always had a soft spot for Volvo's though....