BABE Rally Volvo, the Prequel!

Remember the Volvo 245 from the BABE Rally spotted by a friend of mine some time ago? Through the miracle of internet I was able to connect with the previous owner of the car, the rally participant himself. Turns out the car has a very colorful story, albeit with a bland ending.  Sean was nice enough to write me a book of an email about the car and their adventures with it during the BABE Rally. Sean has also provided a ton of pictures not only from the rally but also from the preparations and their drive back to New York.

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The sad part is that Sean actually really liked the Swedish wagon but has reluctantly, and regrettably, decided to sell it. The new owner, who is a semi-internet-famous-carguy, decided to use it in an online video show. Having seen part of the video, I found it trying to mimic one of the TopGear races but failed miserably. The show was neither entertaining nor funny.

Sean says:

2009 was the second year for Team 99 Problems But A BABE Ain’t One. In 2008 we ran a 1986 Volvo 744 4-speed and I still own that car to this day. I purchased the wagon from a nice woman in Jamaica, Queens for $200. It was a bargain. All it needed was a better battery and a simple tune-up, fluids, hoses, etc., and it was running like a top. It was a real runner too, high compression and everything. It didn’t look half bad either. Had I not already owned two Volvos I would have made it my daily driver. I bought it in November of 2008 and we began prepping it around May. We painted Swedish flags on the hood and tailgate and gave the wheels and grill a nice glossy black. The car looked pretty cool when we were done with it, and we were proud of our work.

The car seemed to have a problem with its cooling system, however. I knew of this before we set off for New Orleans, but I did not know it would get as bad as it did. We pulled into the Staten Island Hotel around 8 AM, which is the starting line for the Rally, and we had been milking the car there from Long Beach, New York (about an hour away with traffic). A good friend I’d met on the first BABE Rally I ran named Tim said, “Sean, I smell coolant.” I looked at him, told him I knew, and we were off to New Orleans…well Harrisonburg, Virginia as that was the first night’s stop. The car was running hot, even at 55 mph on the NJ Turnpike. We made it to the first night without any problems, aside from the high temps in the motor. Right when we pulled into the hotel parking lot, I saw steam and I popped the hood. I raised the flag (hood) and saw the overflow tank shaking and bubbling. I removed the cap to relieve pressure and what was left of the coolant squirted out.

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There we were on night one and I felt like if we couldn’t even keep the car cool up north, we would be toast down south in the June heat. Luckily, one of our fellow Babe-ers was running the exact same 245! He is a Volvo nut and helped us out with the problem. We didn’t tear into the car that night but rather tried to diagnose the problem. We had it down to either a shot water pump, clogged radiator, or leaking heater hoses. He let us borrow a working expansion tank cap and we bought some—well, a lot—of coolant and prepared for day two.

We departed the parking lot at 9 AM, leaving behind a pool of green stuff. This day would prove to be the worst. As you may know, during the rally there are challenges each day to earn points. Day two happened to be dress-up day, and the theme was astronauts. So my team and I got all dressed up as did the rest of the rally, which made quite a sight. The challenge for this day was to get your photo taken with your car in front of public official buildings (post office, police, fire station etc.) in certain towns. Now, some towns were close to the highway (you get less points for those), and others were much farther from the highway and the main route (more points for those).  One team got the most points for visiting a town that the least people had gone to. We decided to give it a shot and see how the car held up. We headed for Buena Vista, Virginia. We got to the small town and could not find any official buildings, so we kept driving. Before we knew it, we had started climbing up a hilly road and then that’s where it happened. The car got way too hot and was smoking, so we had to pull over on a small two-way hilly road to let it cool. We gave it a good 45 minutes and turned around. Did I mention that we broke down only a few hundred feet from a prison bus? We headed down the hill to an Advance Auto Parts we passed on the way up. Keep in mind that my team and I are all dressed like astronauts the whole day. I suspected that the water pump was the culprit of our over-heating problems, so I went to see if they had an in stock. To my surprise, the answer was no.

 

We cooled off in the air-conditioned comfort of the store, then grabbed a bunch of coolant, some high-temp sealant and went into the parking lot to tear the water pump out. Why you ask? Well because I was smart enough to bring a spare water pump that I knew worked. There were four of us, but I was the most familiar with these old Volvos and I also have the smallest frame and hands so I could really get in there. Working on a car when its 90 degrees with no shade is one thing, but working on a hot car on top of that is just maddening. Took us about an hour to get the old pump off and then took us about 2 minutes to realize that the pump I brought as a spare would not fit. I had grabbed a pump off a B-230 motor where as the motor in our car was a B-23. Only a few bolts were different but it still would not fit. Another hour of cursing went by and we got the old pump back on and made a gasket out of that sealer stuff.

We got back on the highway and decided that if we were going to make it down to New Orleans we would have to skip all the fun challenges. So we took it easy on the highways and kept it at 55-60 mph with the heater on high and our fingers crossed. We made it to Newport, Tennessee around 10pm. We were one of the last teams to check in but it felt good when we got there. There are 45-60 cars on the rally and when one is missing everyone knows it so when you do show up you get a nice round of applause for making it! We hung out for a little then called it a night.

The third day rolls around and we feel good but the car does not. We strip the front-end of the car; we remove the grille and headlight bezels to try and let more air in. We stack up on coolant and top her off. Windows open, heater on high and sweat pouring down our backs. This day’s drive was kind of better than we expected. We had little trouble from the car – I think we were learning what we could and couldn’t do with it. We kept the coolant flowing and wheels rolling. We drove through the pretty Appalachian Mountains and made it to our hotel in North Carolina. Since we were skipping the challenges we got there pretty early. Sadly, we also decided to skip Deals Gap. Once we got to the hotel, I headed to Advance Auto Parts to start parts tag. I knew they would not have the water pump in stock so I’d have to get it shipped to them. Luckily Advance Auto Parts are amazing in this way. At 6pm and I order one water pump. The nice woman told me it would be at that very store by the time they opened the next day. The next day rolls around and sure enough there is the water pump waiting for me. I was amazed. Since I was there and still not sure if the water pump was our problem I gathered up some cash and ordered a new radiator to be ready for us when we got into Birmingham, Alabama.

We set off for Alabama and into the heat. It was hot hot hot, but we made it and the car did. It was actually running a little better. I guess the constant loss of coolant was also getting rid of gunk in the cooling system. In Alabama and pulled into the scariest hotel ever. We refer to it as the Medical Waste Inn. It was in a very urban part of town and there had been police there all day because there was a stabbing in one of the rooms. It was a place where you could watch drug deals go down. Some of the cars on the rally were way nicer then some of the people’s cars staying at the motel. None the less I pulled the spark plug wires from our car just in case anyone wanted a Volvo with flags on it. Once we got all settled we headed down to the local Advance Auto parts where our new radiator was waiting for us. Part tag is fun! By the time we got back it was getting dark and scary so we decided to wake up early to change the water pump and radiator. It was 6am and I was out there dumping coolant on the ground, and beside me was a team repairing the brakes on their 85′ Mercury Grand Marquis – it was kind of nice and relaxing. I pulled the old radiator out and it was gross inside and seemed to be the main cause of our overheating problems. Once I got a good look at the old radiator I decided to hold off on the water pump because I felt it would be unnecessary. I put the new one in and stocked up on coolant, got my team together and we headed out on the last leg!

Off to New Orleans we go! This is the longest run of the whole rally, and it’s a pretty boring drive. The car seemed to be holding up a little better. We had it down to a science now. We would drive around 200 miles and stop to check on the coolant levels, and we would keep this up, letting it cool down when it needed to. We got closer and closer to New Orleans and headed over a very long bridge (the name escapes me now) into New Orleans. Not to sound too corny, but that drive over the bridge seems to put it all into perspective of how far you have come and what you have done. At least for me it does. I seem to tune every noise out and just play back the whole trip in my head as I drive over this bridge. We made it into New Orleans and to our hotel! We had done it, and the old Volvo had done it too! We were happy and ready to have some fun on Bourbon Street!

We had our fun night and when the morning came and we were faced with a decision. Do we ditch the car and rent a new car to go home in? Do we fly? Or do we drive this car back to New York? Well, we crunched the numbers and decided that it would be cheaper, even with all the coolant, to drive back…or at least try to. I was happy about this because I love Volvos–I currently own three—and would have been sad to leave this one down there. I also have a thing for older cars. I just get attached to them and I want to know their story and how they got to me, so I was happy to try and drag this one home with us.

We headed back home over two days at a brisk 55-60 mph. The car started to level out. We still did our stops to check on it but it seemed to run cooler and not drink coolant. It was amazing. We played it safe and didn’t push it. We took two days and made it back home to NY. We had done it! A little over 3,000 miles in a car that was overheating and could do no more than 65 mph. We did it, we did it!

About a month or so after the June rally, I had to sell the car. I had no use for it anymore and I needed the space. I sold it to someone on CraigsList – it was a few guys and they seemed way into the car. They sent a big hauler to pick it up. It read “Gotham Dream Cars” on the side. I thought it was fitting to have my little old pile of crap taken away in a truck that usually hauls GT40s and Enzos. I kept in touch with the buyers and they sent me a few photos of what they did to the car. I’m not going to lie, my heart kind of hurt. I never want to see that done to any old car. It seems like such a waste to me. But what can you do. I still regret selling it to this day. But I do think it’s cool that Matt Farah, of Garage419 and now The Smoking Tire fame drove around in it and even had it as his Twitter and Facebook pic. I thought it was going to be crushed after they were done with it, but I’m glad I was wrong.”