Junkyard Find: Volvo 440 GLT
During my recent trip to Iceland, I stopped by a few Reykjavik wrecking yards to see what kind of stuff those Norsemen send to The Crusher. We’ve seen this Lada Niva, and this Renault Megane, some Dodges, and now we’ve got a DAF-connected Volvo that was never sold in the United States.
The 440 was a front-wheel-drive hatchback, which seems so un-Volvo-like for the late-80s/early-90s.
You could get the 440 with a no-doubt-godawful continuously variable transmission (known as the Transmatic), but this one has a 5-speed.
Here’s the likely reason it is no longer on the street.
It’s telling that most of the results I found for a search for Volvo 440 videos were of the “let’s kill this terrible car” variety. Here’s a fiery, smoky brick-on-the-gas-pedal example.
Throw that rulebook out the window!
Is there a safer way to lose your heart?
The 1980s were still going strong in 1993 Germany.
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.
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Thanks for the memories. I remember seeing these advertised at the Stockholm airport back when i arrived for my yearly sales tour. Did not notice as many on the roads mostly larger Volvo's and Saab's. Quite a few American cars and a few Asian cars. I remember going thru Norway in the winter in a Toyota Corolla that had frozen water on the front floor every morning. By the end of the day it was a 2 inch thick puddle. Every Friday we went to a local gas station to have the under side of the car sprayed with used motor oil to keep the car from rusting. We always left a trail of oil behind us when we left the gas station. That had to be the coldest car i ever rode in. The following year my agent had a Ford station wagon (He was 6'4" tall) and finally found some heat. Good memories.
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