This Strange Volvo 340 Is The QUIRKIEST And COOLEST One I've Ever Seen

I got to check out and ride in a Vovlo 340. A car that was NEVER brought to the US. It's weird and super cool.
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[@shiftinglanesgarage]

Have you ever seen one of these things in the US before?

[@panagiotis_mps4156]

The 300 series never sold in the US.There is also the 360 model and has 2.0 Litre engine red block. The same engine Like volvo 240 available in carb and injection with A/C power steering,electric windows and more.

[@fretlessfender]

Owned 3 of them... Dutch descendent...

[@adampowell5376]

Why do Americans dismiss European cars as weird or quirky? The Volvo 3 series with CVT transmission was a big achievement. The Volvo-DAF marriage saved both companies.

[@billmilligan1705]

There are many reasons chief being that the average sized American cannot fit comfortably in a European car as the average sized American weighs 650lbs, 2) Manual transmissions are not a thing in the USA, 3) small engines are not a thing either as most American cars have a very simple transmission connected to a low power V8 and only do 8 mpg. The worst offender being the Chevy Lairdbutt which not only can sit 4 Americans weighing up to 1500lbs each in comfort but has a toilet at every seat and a food and drink dispenser and on the GT model it even wipes your butt and feeds you burgers. Though an early software release got the ends of the person wrong

[@danielberma]

My grandmother had one of these in green. Brings back some memories!

[@herroldvanderweide-fvd5954]

It's a Dutch fabric. We designed it originally as a Daf 77 in the seventies, but then Volvo bought Daf in the mid/late 70's and branded it Volvo. so originally It's a Daf and Dutch...

[@Naebothernosey]

From Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 and I have two of these little Volvos, a 340 (1.4 Renault engine) and a 360 (2.0 redblock). They're such fun little cars to drive, getting quite rare here now. They were popular family cars in the 70s, 80s and early 90s in Europe.

[@shadysierra]

Same here but i live in Finland

[@janzelf]

Probably your steering rack is in need of an overhaul, the 340 actually steers very tight. Shits'n'giggles is fun, but too bad you didn't even show how extremely small the turning radius is, you can just turn in 1 try on a two way road without driving outside the edges of the asphalt, on a EU road. This car deserves a cult following, but we only have the racers and drifters using these cars for said purpose. And still spot on. But probably because it's a Dutch designed car, which weren't even that popular (look at Spijker, etc.) The little 300-series or as I liked to call them #babyvolvo, were kind of Volvo's salvation in the 80's. Atleast sold over a million times until 1991. And it was originally designed as the Dutch DAF 77, but Volvo bought the DAF Company in the mid-1970s and so it became a rebadged Volvo 343 and later a 340 and 360. The latter is a radical little racer, a real GTI-killer, a wolf in sheep's clothing. In America there is a DAF club, founded by John de Bruin, DAF Club of America, he also had a museum, that man used to be the first in America with an original Volvo 340, probably a few decades ago. Anyway, you should contact him for more info, he has shitloads of info on them. Greetings!

[@HONDAVFRV4]

This was my first make/model car. Only difference is that it was the 5 door. It was a Volvo 345DL in red. It was bomb proof, never let me down and for a 17 year old, a lot of fun to drive.

[@adrianday8678]

It was originally designed by Daf that's why it has a variomatic transmission..the Daf company was brought out by Volvo. The 360 GLT had a rear mounted manual transmission and handled brilliant. Buy one these if you can find one.

[@zachyohe157]

The 340 was wild! Didn’t even know it existed, especially as a foreign police car in some cases. Was great chatting with you and seeing the V60 Polestar in person!

[@shiftinglanesgarage]

Same back atcha! Super cool to see a P* with that many miles in the flesh. That 340 was something else. I kinda want to import one now.

[@zachyohe157]

@@shiftinglanesgarage I smell a new project in the works for the new channel!!

[@Czechbound]

I had a 1988 one. It was surprisingly quick. Handled like a dream. A boot for days. Very fun to drive. You'd scrub down the rear tyres in no time. Surprisingly revvy engine. I loved it. I only changed car as I got a company car. But I still kept the Volvo. And so, so comfortable.

[@adamstern7839]

Really cool!!! I always wanted to import a 460GLE to the states - saw one abroad in the early 90s - just loved the mini-box style. Also thought the 480 was one weird looking Volvo.

[@charlie225]

Hey Gregson, thanks for the Volvo content, this little red car is so cool cant believe this guy drove 600 miles in it for the show!🤨

[@christophermercon3277]

I can't believe I made it.

[@shiftinglanesgarage]

😂

[@Mr.K01]

I have a 1989 340 as a daily. Pretty much exactly the same as this except its the facelift version with a 5 speed manual gearbox and a factory rear spoiler and it's more reliable than most modern cars.

[@ogfromutube9649]

We also came from VT and were there!! Southern VT here... Took my manual 98 S70 t5 and my buddies 94 850 turbo manual swapped.

[@ogfromutube9649]

And yes I saw it!! Have seen them before online so was aware of the 340 but never in person. There's a guy who twin charged one and actually has f1 parts on it. But all original is also very cool and a part of history..

[@ColumbusII]

Being from the Netherlands🇳🇱 and the fact these cute "Volvo" 300's were build here, some extra information. Bear in mind that the 300 series, should came of the line as the DAF 77, after Volvo took over they of course stept in the project (which started late '60's!!! ) and released the 343 in 1976. Bodywise not a great deal changed until the last ones were build in the early nineties! (1.14 million were build) First as a 3-door, later a 5door and sedan. 1.4 / 1.7 Renault petrol engine's, a Renault 1.6 Diesel, and of course the mighty Swedish 2.0 Volvo engine in the Volvo 360. Only the 1.4 had the Variomatic (CVT). OK, maybe not the best looking car, certainly not the fastest, it was outdated very quickly, but for many fellow Dutchman a memorable car, everyone knew someone who had one. From the police😂, to a schoolteacher (fact), a neighbor with one leg, grandmother's for driving to church and back, students when they were cheap to buy. It has a place in my heart ❤. Good to see at least one made it to the US,. (I know there are a few more). Have a great weekend 😄👍🏻 Automotive greetings from the Netherlands

[@tangfors]

They are almost more of a DAF (they only make trucks today) than a Volvo, Volvo bought up 75% of DAF and they had a car that Vovlvo became interested in. It was redesigned by Volvo before it was launched, but was newer manufactured in Sweden as far as I know, what made the car unique was that it had a belt drive ( Variomatic automatic ) instead of a gearbox, Volvo thought this was something that would be quite revolutionary, unfortunately it turned out it was very complicated/unreliable with the belt drive, so these were soon replaced with Volvo's regular gearboxes, but if you want a collector's item, you should try to get hold of one with a belt drive. Later, Volvo engines were also installed, which made the car significantly faster, the most common being one that almost doubled the horsepower. Unfortunately, the car was marred by quite a lot of faults, but they got better, so a car from the late 80s is significantly more reliable than a car from the late 70s, but Volvo probably wasn't really that happy with the car because Volvo's brand is very much associated with quality and at least in the beginning, this car brought Volvo's reputation down a bit. But still did sell quite a few of them.

[@koenielinux3131]

You forget about one quirky switch; the LOW RATIO can be find backside the shifter. It revs the engine when going down the hill

[@Faullc10]

Great 1980s car I had a 1.7 manual, big point you missed saying is the gearbox in both Manual and Auto was over the back axle this helped the weight distribution, it did mean however the prop shaft was revolving at the engine speed. You had to keep the front tyres inflated correctly otherwise the steering got very heavy. The CVT is a throwback to the DAF cars really weird drive as car revs up then without moving foot any further the car takes off and gets faster. Had mine for six years very reliable and a good solid car, and a great place to keep the spare wheel I notice this one was upside down like I did with mine then became a great place to store some tools and a socket set. Great vid.

[@michaellogrande8609]

I was also at Carlisle this weekend. As you were walking up to the 340, I saw my 240 in the background. I was amazed to see a 340 since it was only distributed in Europe. This model is definitely a weird car and doesn't look like anything Volvo produced at the time.

[@Czechbound]

It turns out it was originally an idea from DAF !

[@CreRay]

For an early 80s european small family car, it has 2 facts that are super quirky- and you missed BOTH! BTW a Corvette from the same age has leaf springs on the rear axle too....

[@geoffreycarter3981]

What are they??

[@klaspeppar5619]

My mom’s First car was a White 360, Red block, manual (Transaxle). The 300-series came with ether Renault engines or Red Blocks with ether a “varimatic” CVT which had “belts” running underneath it instead of a Prop shaft or a manual transmission which was rear mounted like in a Chevrolet Corvette. The 66, 300 series, 400 series and S40/V40 were built in the Netherlands, the S40/V40 along with Mitsubishi and the others with DAF. Edit: Also it is theoretically possible to drive the Automatic Volvo 66/300 series with the variamatic just as fast in reverse as it goes in drive.

[@panagiotis_mps4156]

The 300 series never sold in the US.There is also the 360 model and has 2.0 Litre engine red block. The same engine Like volvo 240 available in carb and injection with A/C power steering,electric windows and more.

[@TonyBanks21]

What a lovely little car-I remember seeing these,here in the U.K. back in the day

[@bomcabedal]

We have one of these, a 1990 1.7L 5-speed manual in metallic mint green (we're staying out of Alabama!). The 1.7 is surprisingly torquey, and I've pulled away faster than some Teslas. The first ten feet, that is. After that, it's not that quick. Dutch-built car originally designed by the firm DAF, that got taken over by Volvo. And the Dutch used them as cop cars, too. Worked quite well off the motorway because you could drift them.

[@ogfromutube9649]

I was there too all the way from VT!! My 98 s70t5 manual and my buddies 94 850 turbo manual swapped. Mine is rn swapped fbo billet hybrid on wmi made around 340 to the wheel. And also recently aquired a 90 240 LS swapped with a z32 5spd and ford 8.8

[@humfyb2544]

360 were used as police cars in Malaysia back in the day too! Probably linked to the fact that Volvo has a factory here.

[@davidornberg]

The Volvo 360 GLT was an awesome car

[@simonc858]

I had one of these in the 90s, it was a 4 dr but had the CVT, these were everywhere over here at one time

[@eggy1962]

Im in uk owned a few of these cars, all mine were manuals , in 1.4. 1.7 and 2.0 litre engines, the 1.4 gutless, the 2.0 quite quick my uk standards but thirsty, best compromise was the 1.7, which had enough go without the thirst

[@johnburke5759]

I live in the uk and when my mum was learning to drive, she used to have a 340. That was automatic in all and she beat a jaguar off the lights 🤣🤣 totally true story in all

[@tallys12345]

I’ve owned two 340s. I did over 100,000 miles in each no problems 👍

[@seanhershey3390]

Cripes...I forgot that was this weekend

[@haavard1989]

My first and second cars was Volvo 360's. One with a carb and the last one was fuel injected. Very good winter cars (y)

[@thedkracing]

Glad I finally got to meet you

[@shiftinglanesgarage]

Same! Was great hanging out. Love your XC overlander. Can’t wait until next year!

[@paulgraz09]

Honestly it cracks me up that you think the car is so unusual. OK, sure the beeping shifter is odd, and maybe the CVT, but everything else was pretty normal for a car of that era. Now - where are those links you promised would be here? :-)

[@shiftinglanesgarage]

Whoops! Here you go: twitter.com/bjornintheusa22?s=21&t=RnFIwllF3fCtLZjQ_B1JQQ

[@paulgraz09]

@@shiftinglanesgarage You coming to the Volvo HQ open house at the end of the month? See ya there

[@SirBeaverHUN]

I smiled for 14 minutes, crazy car indeed :D

[@Sghian]

My first car was a white 340DL 1.4L 5 speed manual. Was a decent car. Moved on to the a Peugeot 405 estate.

[@BunkocziR]

I have a '86 360GLT Special 25, its actually not that slow. I mean it has 11sec 0-100 but its quite torquey, drives really good

[@happysnapper6132]

Remember doing the recalls for the gear selector mechanism bleeper/flashing light...

[@LogiForce86]

Quirkiest feature is that due to the variomatic transmission this Volvo can go as fast in reverse as it can forward. 😏

[@sergionuno]

I had one of these.

[@leohamelinck3524]

Do not forget that this car is a Dutch design bij DAF

[@terrythomas1690]

word of the day HILARIOUS.

[@amandachurch9560]

I spy the blue turd!!

[@tonystanley5337]

They go much better with B230FT with 360 torque tube and manual gearbox. The 1.4 manual was surprisingly quick but I never pulled a burn out in it, practically impossible in an auto. People do use them for drifting, but the aluminium+rubber prop was always sensitive to bad assembly and rubber degradation.

[@FPfreddyyy]

Later version had an 110 hp volvo engine and you could choose manual transmission. My first car was a 340. I don't remember it having that loose steering. Mine had power steering though. If you like this car, you may also want to check out the 440, 460 models.

[@koenielinux3131]

Don't forget about the Volvo 480 wich was disigned for the USA market but never made it.

[@petecollins3848]

I’m in the uk I’ve had a Volvo 340 gl manual then I had the Volvo 360 gt

[@DOPERMEANS]

My mother's car, same colour too

[@DougFrantz]

Cool little machine. Needs a turbo redbock in there.

[@shiftinglanesgarage]

I want to import one and do EXACTLY that.

[@DougFrantz]

@@shiftinglanesgarage Talk about a cheap project, and lots of amazing video content opportunity!!

[@fretlessfender]

Goes to show that if you are from the U.S. and you see something you don't understand, the only thing you can do os making fun about it. You really haven't got a clue where you were looking at... The car sold 1.200.000...

[@Mr.K01]

I have a red 89' 340 1.4 manual 5 speed as my only and daily car. Its called Vinny the Brick.

[@Radfordperson]

I have a 1989 340 GL 1,4 manual , bought 11 years ago, best car I've had, named Volvosaurus. Something wrong with the steering on the car in the video, it's so bad I suspect the rubber coupling at the end of the steering column, It's in a plastic housing, often neglected.

[@Mr.K01]

@@Radfordperson 🤣 fantastic name

[@ogremgtow990]

looks like an 83or 84 doge colt

[@Ribeirasacra]

Previous history on this car. kzbin.info/www/bejne/l2iqpHSempemiLM kzbin.info/www/bejne/gKWUeX6JnMSbosk

[@wollaminfaetter]

The ONLY interesting thing about the 340/360 series is the story about Volvo purchasing Dutch DAF, and launching these cars, and you don't even mention it. They were rather popular in some European countries, but as time went by it became obvious that they wasn't the same Volvo quality - AND (that's true!) they drove like turds.

[@veldtopen2867]

8:26 americans man........