Junkyard Find: 1968 Volvo 140 Sedan
How is it that there are still sufficient Volvo 140 s left, more than 40 years after production of the original Swedish brick ceased, that you’ll still find plenty of them in American wrecking yards? Not in the quantities you’ll find of their 240 descendants, of course, but anybody driving a 140 today should have no problem getting parts.
I don’t photograph every 140 that I encounter in the junkyard, but I shoot enough that we have a pretty good selection of scrapped Swedes. In this series prior to today, we have seen this ’68 142, this ’68 144, this ’69 145, this ’71 144, this ’71 142, this ’72 145 wagon (plus this 140-based Volvo 164).
I found this 144 in a San Francisco Bay Area self-service wrecking yard, but it spent some time in Los Angeles in the early 1970s.
Not many US-market cars had four-wheel disc brakes in 1968. In fact, even front discs were considered fairly sporty back then.
I can’t recall ever seeing another Volvo 140 with a vinyl roof. In California, where the sun is harsh, the smog is corrosive, and the winters are rainy, vinyl roofs on cars of this era tend to cause rust problems.
The rust under the vinyl appears to be the stuff of nightmares.
The car was quite rough all over by the time its final owner decided to give up.
Air conditioning! Such luxury!
Here’s a pretty good selection of Volvo 140 ads from around the world.
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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Late '60's to mid 70's, I always remember Volvos, Darts and Valiants as the automobile of choice for teachers.
so much boxy goodness. Is anyone so far ahead of the competition now? I guess if the market goes that way, the Leaf or Prius or Model S may look this good in hindsight. Crumple zones, disk brakes and longevity in the 60's.