Battery Charger & what brings us here...

[S10NPH]

Hi guys

2 totally unrelated topics rolled into one:

Can anyone recommend a good battery charger (but not too expensive)? My 345 has a small electrical drain and an alternator that doesn't fully charge, so I want to charge the battery up after it's winter slumber (assuming the battery isn't a gonner).

Secondly, I was wondering where everyone's interest/obsession with Volvo 300s started? I know that mine was borne from nostalgia. My mother had a 1987 340GL D875 VEY that we had from when I was 2 to when I was 10, when she part-exchanged it for a blue 440 M306 BCC. I just remember my childhood revolving around that car, going to visit my grandparents, going to the swimming pool, taking my brother to the nursery and so on. I just loved it - apparently I would spend hours just sitting in it in the driveway imagining where I was driving to! This photo was taken in the car park of Cemlyn beach in north Anglesey (I'm not sure when, but given my size, I would suggest about 1989):

D875 VEY.jpg (376.5 KiB) Viewed 6098 times

My uncle and aunt who took care of me after school on some days also had a 340 - a 1983 340DL in light blue HCC 692Y. I always made fun of his car because it wasn't as nice as my mother's, because it only had 4 gears and it had strange looking seat belt bucke releases! My uncle, aunt, mother and I travelled from Anglesey to my aunt's brother's house in Walton on Thames in Surrey in that car in 1989 for my first holiday when I was 4, and that's where this photo was taken:

HCC 692Y.jpg (182.8 KiB) Viewed 6098 times

It's a huge regret of mine that I didn't realise it at the time that this vintage of 340 would become my favourite! Unfortunately, when he traded it in for a maroon 460 in the late 90s I was still too young to drive, and was into Star Trek at the time rather than cars!

Sadly both cars passed away in about 2002, according to the DVLA.

My obsession with Volvos does run wider than 340s though. My mother's blue 440 was written off in February 1997 (though it's still taxed according to the DVLA!), and she then got a maroon 440 N302 NJO (which later become my car). She's also had a red V40 X497 TCC, a 1999 V70 XC, a 2004 XC70 and now a 2009 V50. My dad had a 940 H428 VFO and an 850 N472 FUD in the 1990s too. I currently own a 2005 S40 for my daily driver, and of course my 1980 345DL. I also had a 1989 340GL Blueline F691 BCP for about a year in 2008-09 before I got the 345.

So that's my story - what's yours???

[Chris_C]

Worryingly similar story here... Parents had a brand new '88 1.7 GL, Vicky (the only new car they've ever bought) and I thought it was ace.



That was the weekend they picked it up, so a day or so old.

That was swapped for a H plate 1.7 GLEi 440 in 1991, and at the time, I prefered the 400 (it had rear map lights so I could read on journeys) and all was well.

I never intended to get into 300's. I went to the garage to buy a Polo. It wasn't my fault :'(

(Life would have been so much easier if I had bought that Polo. The thing would have rotted into the ground, and I wouldn't have 3 houses full of parts from various cars.)

[griffo20022]

Not as sweet as your guys stories but admittedly my attraction to the 340 came from drifting lol.

I loved the idea of having a RWD car (watching too much Initial D at 15-16) and after having my 306 I was adament I wanted to start drifting, I genuinely wanted something oldskool too as i've always been a retro fan and the 340's summed them both up perfectly along with being affordable at my age!

Upon first buying the 16V though I instantly gained a soft spot for these cars! Thus you see me back in one today. It's the only car i've ever owned more than 1 of upto yet!

[volvosneverdie]

Worst Volvo story ever:
I bought one simply because it was very cheap and local as a run around.
I enjoyed it.
Then it went on fire.
Nobody could say why.
My dad, who was custodian at the time, carrying out maintainence, blamed kids in the night.
The firemen blamed something under the bonnet.
I blamed my dad.

Viking death by fire was the coolest way I'd ever had a car die, so I pledged to buy another.
The rest, is recent history.

[Chris_C]

Don't tell anyone (especially that drifter lot... bad crowed )

The reason I took the 300 out of the forcourt rather than the polo was that Mum had 180'd hers on a wet corner. Thats also the reason she part ex'd it for the fwd 440.

I'd grown up watching old skool top gear with Tiff putting cars sideways (non of this Initial-d until I was at uni ) and thought it would be quite fun to try!

[Speedy88]

Well my mates family had one and I always remember seeing them about and thinking they didn't look like a "normal" volvo. Which is also why I like 480s. Never thought I'd get insured on a volvo so I went down the blue oval route until one day I was on placement last February. Suddenly I remembered these cars and I was in the market for something cheap and fast. I strayed onto here and learned about the valver conversions. Now, almost a year later I'm well and truly hooked. I didn't light the fire, it was always burning since the world was turning

[macplaxton]

Battery charger 12V 0.8A / 3.8A: Lidl £13. They were on offer last Thursday, but I can't find them on site. Ultimate Speed TX4 SE

Alternative link here

Smart charger, so you can leave it plugged in.

I got one, but two stores had sold out. They cost €20 over here

*found a direct link here (needs cookies, just hit continue without postcode to see the page)

[whiskeyonesix]

I've had Volvo's in the past ( taken a lot of Flak from mates for driving an old mans car!! ), then I went over to Ford for a while then over to Land-Rovers ( I had 3 of them, I loved each one despite them making me more or less bankrupt instantly )
Then went back to a Volvo - 1988 740SE saloon, I put 960 alloys on it, 740turbo grille, turbo spoiler, Half-leather turbo interior.... then I wrote it off........Ouchy.
Fast-forward a few years, bought a base-spec S40, then flogged it to a mate when I emigrated. Then I found a fairly tidy Mk3 GLT in a used car lot here, bought it, logged on here, and just over a year later I'm still here!

Tom.

[kaos]

got brought mine by my dad, so i would stop pushing his 2l turbo to the edge of its limits. then though i coudl drift all most stuffed it and started learnign the car controls ide more better, went in to auto handling etc. but then before i even passed my test my car history goes back but this volvo and the one i sold early last year are my only volvos apart from that i want a 740/940 turbo estate....

[Tom bailey]

mines rather boring always had a passion for classic cars ,i saw mine on a local car lot at the back with all the stuff which would not sell.i instantly thought "i like this" , faster than modern cars i can insure,when dropped and tuned a lot cooler than new cars, better made etc you get the idea. but i will never get rid of it, just keep improving and modifying, the only way to get it off of me is to remove it from my cold dead fingers lol

[volvosneverdie]

mines rather boring always had a passion for classic cars ,i saw mine on a local car lot at the back with all the stuff which would not sell.i instantly thought "i like this" , faster than modern cars i can insure,when dropped and tuned a lot cooler than new cars, better made etc you get the idea. but i will never get rid of it, just keep improving and modifying, the only way to get it off of me is to remove it from my cold dead fingers lol

ha ha, good plan dude.

[SteveP]

Mine is a similar story to the above... my parents got given a 345GL from my Grandad... (well, I say given - my Mum paid 1p for it so my Grandad could say he 'sold' it) Despite it being much older than other cars we had in the family at the time, we all loved the comfort and quality (first car we had to have a rear arm rest!) So not long after my Dad bought a near identical car just in a different colour.

Fast forward a few years, I pass my driving test and want something quicker than my 1.3 Skoda and start reading up about GLT's, before I knew it I'd ended up buying a black GLT off here in 2004. Then it's been a long struggle since to shake them out of my system, and it's not working

[Ronnie]

In 1995 I was a skint student - I wanted a hatchback with GTi performance for less than a grand with cheap insurance. There was no cheaper 2.0 litre injected car to insure back then. I really wanted a Mk2 Golf GTi but I couldn't afford one. Lucky escape

My dad had been driving 240's and a very nice 144 at some point and I'd passed my test in a 240 estate so I did have some brand loyalty. I also had an instinctive inclination for RWD despite pretty limited experience of the pros and cons.

So I bought I dodgy MK3 360GLT for more money than it was worth. Was a powerful car for a newly qualified driver.

[whiskeyonesix]

dodgy MK3 360GLT for more money than it was worth

I feel your pain Brother....

[340GLT]

My family have always had volvo's my grandfather was asked to be manager of a volvo dealership back in the 70's i believe. As my mum is one of 5kids they all grew up in the dealership with volvos. Then a few years later my grandfather set up on his own as a volvo specialist.
I remember my uncle having various 360GLT's over the years and so when i came to learn to drive, my parents at the time had 440's and i was going to have a 1.6 440.
Then a nice grey 340 came into my grandfathers garage with a collapsed front strut, the car belonged to the customers late wife and so he thought it was a good time to move the car on.
My uncle said it looks like Adam finally has a car and so thats how my very expensive history of 300's started with LFE, which btw i ended up getting for the pricely sum of the repair bill which was £127!!!
Adam