Visit to a Volvo 343 GLS R-Sport

[trabitom99]

Yesterday, I went to look at an R-Sport while I was at the DAF service day. On the phone the guy said he had two 300s to sell, the R-Sport and a GLT. The R-Sport had been standing since 1991, but in a dry place. The windscreen was cracked.

An idea began forming in my head - after standing for nearly 20 years, presumeably every gasket and hose would have perished, oil will have turned into sludge, but I vaguely thought I could use engine, gearbox and other parts from the DLS to get it going again while getting the twin carbs overhauled and possibly the cylinder head (with cam) from the original car once I had the pennies together. How hard can it be? It would have been a great shame for the DLS, but an original R-Sport is something else indeed ...

Some pics:





The wide stripes don't suit this car for some reason, and it didn't seem to have the usual R-Sport livery bar the "R" Logo. Note the Zender rear spoiler:










Looks like the front spoiler is missing from the pics (I forgot to check )








... and the knackered 360:


Anyway, I'm glad the decision was taken for me Maybe the car is perfectly saveable, but it'd take more talent and funds than I possess. I was surprised at how rusty a car can get, after only being on the road for ten years, but maybe it makes a difference if it isn't actually inside, (dew, frost etc) or perhaps the chap wasn't telling the whole truth and it really had been parked in the rain for a while.

And when he said he'd had an offer for 2800 Euros for the R-Sport and the 360 (which turned out to be a GL, not a GLT) well, I didn't even bother to haggle

What do guys reckon, have I just passed up a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity or have I been sensible? I can imagine the wife's face, if I'd arrived with that car on the back of a flat-bed truck

Tom

[SteveP]

Wow... a rare car indeed!

Shame about the condition. Personally your DLS looks soooo much nicer, it'd be a shame to rip that apart for this car. The originality would be nice, but I can't help thinking you'd be better off giving your DLS the R-Spor treatment. Whilst not necessarily original, it'd cost a heck of a lot less - carbs are easy as you could use dellorto or webers, inlet manifolds are fairly readily available and as far as I'm aware the cylinder head is the same, just need a 'K' cam. Wonder what happened to the R-Sport steering wheel too?

Then there's the price, 2800 euro's is incredible - that basically values the 343 R Sport at about 2300 Euros - a lot for a 300 needing so much restoration.

As for it's storage, I'm surprised too - and I'm almost sure of it having sat out in the rain/wet (leaky roof?) at some point... the dirt/rust strain running down the rear 3/4 at the end of the gutter gives it away a bit!

[volvosneverdie]

Whats the crack with the ariel positioning on that 360?
Never seen that before. Looks really cool.

[volvodspec]

it has al the right engine parts; but the body simply tells this was a stock 343 DLS with the r-sport kit fitted.
the R-sports never got that striping and the front spoiler missing is a bit too much of o coincidence imo...
http://www.volvo300.dk/images/Volvo%203 ... %20022.jpg

plundering the engine bay and leave it with that is probably what i would do.

though; if anyone got that 343-striping lying around, i'm interested

[dubweiser666]

great pics Tom!, even if it is a copy, still looks cool!, I Like that aerial on the knackered GL

[SteveP]

it has al the right engine parts; but the body simply tells this was a stock 343 DLS with the r-sport kit fitted.
the R-sports never got that striping and the front spoiler missing is a bit too much of o coincidence imo...

I thought that too - the msising spoiler, steering wheel, not the R sport stripes all seem to add up.

though; if anyone got that 343-striping lying around, i'm interested

I bought a set a few years ago which I sold to Jay, unfortunately it was incomplete but there was enough there to make full set copies from

[foggyjames]

Very nice!
...and rusty

Must....get...wing...badges...

Makes me feel a bit better about what I'm spending on my 81 343!

cheers

James

[Chris_C]

it has al the right engine parts; but the body simply tells this was a stock 343 DLS with the r-sport kit fitted.
the R-sports never got that striping and the front spoiler missing is a bit too much of o coincidence imo...

I thought that too - the msising spoiler, steering wheel, not the R sport stripes all seem to add up.

Plus R-sports from that era had the inner faces of the leo's painted from memory and weren't the R Sport badges blue and yellow on a white car? I reckon someone found an tuning kit for sale and added it later, we know it was possible to buy separately. It's an aweful lot of money for a car that is rotten, every single panel is showing rot on the outside including places I've never seen it before. The thing I go by now is how sound Fake looked outside and what it was like under all the underseal and trim.

I think you did right Tom.

[foggyjames]

It's fair money *if* the car was in good condition. Even with the rarity value, there's no way I could justify spending more than £1000 on one that rusty, even if it was one of the original 100 cars.

cheers

James

[trabitom99]

It's hard to say what really is an "original" R-Sport special edition and what "just" has the tuning parts fitted (at the end of the day, a "real" R-Sport is also only a standard DLS/GLS with tuning parts ...).

No pics, but there was a French version merely named "Le Volvo 343 GLS 122ps" (or something along those lines) and was a car which had engine mods combined with a totally stock exterior, except for the Zender rear spoiler.

This type AFAIK was sold in the Benelux countries and in Austria:

http://www.volvo300.dk/images/Volvo%203 ... %20006.jpg
http://www.volvo300.dk/images/Volvo%203 ... %20016.jpg
http://www.volvo300.dk/images/Volvo%203 ... %20021.jpg

note, this version has no Oettinger/R-Sport type front spoiler, no leos, a MkII GLT rear spoiler and blue/yellow "RS Team X" decals ("x" standing for X of however many were made in that "run".)

The German R-Sport brochure shows it looking like this:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/179/3882 ... 452f_o.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/154/3882 ... 54e8_o.jpg

this DLS-based type has different style decals, painted Leos, mirror-writing on the spoiler and the "R" Logo on the C pillar and on the boot lid.

However the German press cars looked a little bit different:
http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc15 ... _81_06.jpg
http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc15 ... _06_2_.jpg

GLS-based, "normal" Leos, no mirror-writing.

AFAIK all the various versions had standard steering wheels.

So I'm a bit confused as to what to call a "real R-Sport". Every country seemed to get its own batch, with its own individual styling. In Germany at least, "factory " R-Sports got their own "type key number", whereas S-model cars with a tuning kit would have had the "type key number" of a standard B19-engined car, but with increased power. But who knows whether they really left the factory like that, or if the dealers just fitted the R-Sport specific parts? It would have been easy to leave out a stripe here, add another accessory there if they did.

The guy had the papers in his hand when I was there, but it was all a bit rushed and I forgot to take a look at them

Anyway, thanks for the reassurance about leaving it there ... But money-wise it would have been a no go anyway.

Cheers

Tom

[foggyjames]

My understanding is that there were only 100 "factory" cars, all of which were white 343 GLSs with the blue/yellow stripes, the barely noticeable standard GLS front spoiler (which might be an integral part of the mk1 B19 front panel...?) and a mk2 GLT rear spoiler. I think they *should* have Leos, but these might have been swapped over the years. They *should* have the steering wheel, but again this might have gone walkabout by now. These were the "numbered" ones.

Of course there were also some 1982 white "factory" cars with the blue/yellow stripes. Where they fits into "the 100", and what the split (if any) was, I don't know...

I reckon all the rest were dealer retro-fits, and hence might be seen with anything and everything, accessories-wise.

For my 1981 car, I'm going as close as I can to one of "the 100", but without changing the colour, and with a different front spoiler. I'm starting off with the standard accessory spoiler (as originally fitted to my 1981 GL), but may well swap to an R-Sport one (like the red German brochure car) later as/when I get copies made.

cheers

James

[Chris_C]

Fwiw from there too, I'm pretty certain I have a brochure here of a factory R Sport, showing a mk2 (are those the '82's you mean Foggy?)

My take is probably different to most. I don't particularly care whether a car left the factory like it, it's how it drives now comparatively and what it's used for. In my mind the spirit of the R Sport is getting involved with competition still and doing what the rallycross 343 did, surprising people. How many genuines are actually doing that? (I'd really love to be surprised and find one still is)

In that view, whether or not this one was an orig it's hardly R Sport as much as a sexy bits donor

[foggyjames]

Yeah...the "white 100" cars seem to span mk1 (1981) and mk2 (1982).

While I totally agree...the trouble is...if the Europeans are spending £2500+ on them, would you really want to go racing in it? I'd sooner take a tatty-ish shell and put go-faster bits in it...much more go-faster than just a cam and a pair of 40s. How many RS500s (which aren't already race cars) get raced? Plus, the R-Sport cars didn't have much to do with the 'real' race cars...they're more like the group-A homologated 242s (which are possibly one of the most amusingly cheeky of all homologated cars I can think of).

cheers

James

[magnumpi]

Enlighten me then. Apart from stick on bits and bobs, did the R Sports have a tweeked engine aswell, or standard?

[foggyjames]

It had a cam and a set of Solex's version of Weber DCOE 40s. Output was claimed to rise from 95bhp to 122bhp (with the optional "sports" exhaust), but mine made 140 (on a dyno known for its accuracy) with a standard exhaust.

cheers

James