Volvo 343DL

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Launched in 1976, the Volvo 300 Series hatchback came about when Volvo took over the car division of Dutch manufacturer DAF in 1973.

DAF had been working on the car, known as Project P900, since 1970 and Volvo did a lot more work to bring it up to the standard that they required, particularly the crash safety aspect which has always been the Swedish company’s top selling point. The first 343 models were powered by a 1.4 Renault Cleon-Fonte engine which produced 70bhp and drove the rear wheels through either a CVT automatic or a 4-speed manual gearbox which was mounted in unit with the rear axle for optimum weight distribution.

Despite the rather ‘geriatric’ image the 300 Series gained over the years, it was actually a surprisingly good car, a fair few being campaigned on rallies in Sweden, a specially prepared one even winning the European Rallycross Championship in 1980.

Supplied by Ring of Bells Garage of Solihull in October 1981, this Volvo 343DL manual has had just one lady owner from new and has covered only 19,143 miles in its 38 years to date, the lady taking it to Taunton when she moved there in 1983. It has an impressive service history comprising 11 stamps in the book, the last at 18,773 miles in October 2001 (equating to one service every 1,700 miles), since when it has barely gone anywhere other than annual trips to the MOT station.

In storage since 2014, it received attention to the brakes in June 2018 to get it through the MOT which it passed with no advisories and is due to have a new MOT in time for the sale. It also comes with the original handbook, a workshop manual and MOT history print-out.

Kept garaged throughout its life, it remains in exceptionally good and original condition throughout with lustrous blue paintwork and a virtually unmarked blue cloth interior. Repaint the wheels (or better still put some alloys on) and it would not look out of place in a modern Volvo showroom. Find a better one!