5k: 1969 Volvo 144 Racer

Maybe it was hanging out at the racetrack for the past weekend, or perhaps years of sitting in SoCal traffic – but we had a hankering for some racing junk and found this prime example on the racingjunk.com website.  This 1969 Volvo 144 racer is for sale for $7,500 in Roseburg, OR.

The 140 series was large family sedan from the Swedes in Gothenburg, originally designed as a replacement for the aging 50s design throwback Amazon.  The 140 started Volvo’s reputation for building rock solid and reliable transportation, but it wasn’t even remotely speedy in stock trim.  Stock handling is knarr-like and the B20 engine sounds/drives like a tractor.

 This longship has had its original B20 worked over with a considerable amount of machining and aftermarket parts.  Expect something closer to 200 horsepower (double stock output) in this 2.0 liter inline 4, now mated to a manual transmission.  It should be considerably more fun to drive – especially given the amount of customization of the suspension as described by the seller.

This Volvo has been stripped to bare metal, racing seat installed and it even has fiberglass front fenders.  Its not entirely clear to what set of rules or race class this car has been prepped to, often times people build race cars without a series in mind and then find that they are outclassed whenever they race by cars build specifically to the rule-set.  The photo shows the car racing in an SCCA autocross with the OSPU (Over Street Prepared less than 2.5 liter category), and without a cage it won’t see too much competitive track time wheel-to-wheel.

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