Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Volvo is described by its seller as a street-legal rally car, and does have a lot of lights on its grille to support that notion. That’s all really intriguing, but will you find that to be enough to make its price seem like a Hella good deal?


Along with Jumbo Shrimp, living dead, and guest host, you can add yesterday’s 1985 LWB Suzuki Samurai to the list of oxymora. You can also add that odd bodkin to the list of Crack Pipe awardees as it fell in a decisive 70% loss.


When you think of both Sweden and rally racing the first thing that comes to mind is the Swedish Bikini team right? I mean, that’s my thought process. Of course you can mention Ikea or the Stockholm Syndrome and I’ll start thinking about the Swedish Bikini Team. Perhaps I need help.

Totally here to help is this 1973 Volvo 142, that’s been modded to be what its builder envisions as a rally car that hasn’t lost its street cred. Volvo has a rich history of rally racing, going all the way back to the PV544. This one doesn’t have its own racing pedigree, but it certainly does seem to look the part.

Those visual clues include over-sized Centerlines carrying big meats, a total lack of a front bumper, and to balance that out a set of four Hella driving lights making the car ready for the next night stage. The back bumper is still intact, and looks overly big for a ’73, but then, I’m not sure when exactly Volvo went bumper crazy on these cars.


The rest of the bodywork looks suitably straight, with reasonably new white paint everywhere but the hood which is reasonably new blue. The fenders have been cut, so as to fit the big-ass wheels and tires, and the interior has been gutted and post-gutting fitted with aluminum panels on the doors, dash and back. A pair of Sparco sport seats with 4-points fill that space, and a Momo wheel gives you someplace nice to put your hands.


Mechanically, things are just as interesting. The ad notes a 2-year fresh B20 with a Weber carb and IPD hot cam. Behind that is an M40 4-speed (an M400 would be better) and the suspension is said to have been rebuilt little more than a year ago. The odometer apparently gave up the ghost at 120K, but this being a Volvo 100-series, mileage is perhaps not the most accurate indicator of longevity.

The present owner says that much of the work done to the car was undertaken by the previous owner, who had to give it up owing to health issues. It presently comes with a bunch of extra parts - including the absent front bumper and door cards - and is still a work in process as we speak. The ad notes a rebuilt carb is in the works, or perhaps done by now, and it apparently could stand new U-joints for the driveshaft, among some other minor issues.


Those will likely have to wait for the next owner to sort out, and that next owner will need to come up with $3,850 to do so. Let’s help them out by deciding if that’s a deal or not. What do you think, is this Volvo worth rallying $3,850 for? Or, is this a pretend racer that’s just not worth that much real cash?


You decide!


Tallahassee Lassie Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T to Its-Not-A-Wreck-Its-My-Project for the hookup!

Help me out with NPOCP. Click here to send a me a fixed-price tip, and remember to include your Kinja handle.