I relayed to Jesse and Josh tonight some sad news: my faithful daily driver, a 1995 BMW M3, was no more. It had been growing a bit tired and a premature thermostat failure led to an overheating episode that caused my headgasket to blow; my cheap daily driver was no more. However, according to the seller of this 1967 Volvo Laplander here on eBay, this rig served as the previous owner’s daily driver – do I smell a replacement?
I’m not sure how one would drive this on a daily basis, but I suppose there wouldn’t be much standing in your way. Admittedly, I took the weak way out – I opted to replace my hard-riding M3 with a cushier daily driver, even forgoing a manual transmission for the first time in years (don’t worry, I have four other cars with three pedals). This Volvo is a manual transmission rescue vehicle, equipped with a plow and a matching trailer.
Condition-wise, it looks quite good for a workhorse. More officially known as the L3314, the Volvo is powered by the four-cylinder B18 engine, with only 42,399 miles on the clock. The seller doesn’t explain whether this Volvo was recently restored or just carefully used, but it does come with $3,000 in recent maintenance; no details offered on what that work included.
The Volvo shares showroom space with some unusual counterparts, as a Stingray is not what you’d expect to see next to a Volvo Laplander in the service bay. The seller has listed the Volvo for $20,500 as part of a classifieds listing but is accepting best offers. Special thanks to Barn Finds reader Joe in NH for flagging this find!
Don’t know anything about this vehicle but it’s AWESOME but as a DD I think it would get tiring quickly. Used as a workhorse in the woods or country fine but no where near city life IMHO.
This vehicle is so cool and just once I’d love to drive down Interstate I-75 with the trailer in tow and watch other drivers gawk at it. I would imagine the driver’s of small sports cars would get fidgety with that beast sitting behind them at a traffic light revving its engine.
Sorry to hear about the M3, Jeff!
Obviously built for off-road. It would likely ride like a lumber wagon under normal driving conditions. I don’t think there would be too many adverse weather conditions that would prevent from venturing out with this unit…
This is very much like a unimog. I had the pleasure of working on a 1995 model it had a 6 cyl. diesel. That thing was amazing in both design and capability. It had 8 forward gears and 6 reverse gears and it still only had a top speed of 55 mph. It could pull a building down but not fast.
Try hanging a food tray on this at your local A&W !! Parallel park at the beach? Turn that trailer into a rolling BBQ! Hey Chip Foose, it need a bigger engine! If only you had unlimited funds!
Hmm… my wife has been pushing for a mini-van. Perhaps I can talk her into this? Would need to install some seats…
Seats shmeats, the kids get the trailer. SO Much quieter bringing ’em home from school.
I like the idea of the kids in the trailer, you sure would get a lot of fans of that ride at the local school soccer/football game!
Jeff, I am also sorry to hear about your M3. :(
Was that the White one or the Phoenix Yellow?
Hopefully you get a nice replacement.
I just had to do some work on my e46, hopefully it lasts as much as my expectations.
Boxy but safe err slow
These cars (nicknamed “Puppy”) were constructed in the late fifties for the Swedish Army to replace the Volvo 915 (nicknamed “Sow”) and the surplus Willys Jeep and Dodge WC that were bought in after WW2.