About a week later he gave me a call to say that someone had a 1989 Volvo 440 for sale for £100, did I want to have a look? (Yes please). A still-strong engine, good tyres and a fair turn of speed made my mind up very quickly. I overlooked the flat paint, dents, scratches, torn seats, knackered stereo...
£100 later, the Tank, as it became known, was taken for a fresh MOT which it went straight through.
I decided that some gaffer tape viper stripes would be sufficient but this idea was too shelved when my daily driver stopped working just before the rally, which meant I'd be bringing the Tank back to use day to day. In the end Matt Black wheel trims and grille were all that it got.
During S2N this car performed faultlessly, if slightly thirstily, for the whole event and was faster than the other 440s taking part. 1600 miles in 4 days, followed by 1500 in 2 days straight after. A blown top hose was it's only, easily fixed, problem.
All the 440s on S2N'04 made it in one piece and without too many dramas. If you're looking for a good, safe runaround you could do a lot worse, in my opinion.