If you have never had the joy of romping an old car for what it’s worth, you are seriously missing out. I’m sure I’ll catch all sorts of hell for saying so, but you will be pleasantly surprised to learn just how robust a car can actually be once you do something incredibly stupid with it…like, say, catch enough air that the Duke boys become jealous. Volvos, in particular the older box types, are particularly durable. Some of my best memories growing up involved a mustard-yellow Volvo 242DL power sliding through grassy fields in the Northwest as part of my “driver’s training”. And I got pretty damn good at it, too. I did a lot with that car but compared to these guys, I was amateur hour and not worth mentioning. You can see from the upgrades that they were somewhat serious about how this old Swedish brick was going to die: they hacked out the wheel wells, fitted some larger wheels and tires on, and added a “baja bar” (whatever that might be…skid plate? Tube bumper?) and because someone really wanted to have some fun, a 75 horsepower nitrous kit was plumbed in. Weld up the spider gears, point the Volvo at a dirt berm that doubles as a launching point, and be grateful that Volvo has always stood for automotive safety…because you are gonna need it. Just one question: before the car hits the jump, are you required to play eleven notes from “Dancing Queen” via the horn?
