Valp! 1963 Volvo L3304
If you are going to drive off road, there are a few options available; The first is you can just drive your 87 Pontiac Grand Prix you normally take on the road onto a dirt road and just man-up, but you could also get into something like a light SUV/CUV crossover that gives some more dirt confidence…or you can go full Jeep. But if you want to go even MORE into the woods, you’ll need to search out something like this 1963 Volvo L3304 offered for $11,500 in San Rafael, CA via craigslist. Tip from Erik202.
From the seller:
1963 Volvo Jeep L3304
condition: good
cylinders: 4 cylinders
drive: 4wd
fuel: gas
odometer: 5626
paint color: green
size: full-size
title status: clean
transmission: manual
type: other
1963 Volvo military type Jeep L3304. Ideal for rugged off road, registered and street legal. This is a must see!
See a better way to Valp? tips@dailyturismo.com
Back in November they were asking $14K.
Am I the only 1 who at first thought it was a big catapult on the front?
Did they design this and forget to add the steering until the day production began? How else do you explain the bizarre external 2-piece steering shaft? That's not going to fare well in a frontal collision. All I can assume is that it was designed for easier access and repair when out in the field.
This truck is as ugly as it is cool (a lot of both). I like it. First thing I'd do is remove the US Army stars and markings on it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the US military never used Volvos during the Vietnam war era (or ever). This needs an authentic European military (preferably Swedish) or United Nations livery. That would be a huge improvement and move this away from appearing as a home-built Jeep.
So a bit of googling tells me a lot about these and recoilless rifles and problems that suggest that taking one of these offroad in anything deviating from a plane might be a bad idea, but there is nothing about why the steering column snakes over the hood, way out front and presumably back to some sort of steering box. Did these have some sort of steerable trailer tongue? What's the purpose of all that?
Deja-vu: bringatrailer.com/2018/11/08/swedish-recon-4×4-in-california-1963-volvo-l3304/
I managed to find a picture of the front suspension that shows part of the steering linkage:
[image src=" milweb.co.uk/webvert_images/81870/img_4.jpg" width="400px"/]
These were based on the L3314, which was a cab-forward design with a VW Microbus-like driving position. So my guess is that this was some sort of hasty effort at relocating the controls backward to accommodate a center drive, low profile bodywork setup.
best off road machine i ever owned was an 81 rx7. used to bomb through the fields passing all the trucks on the trail to the kegger.