The famous actor and racer Paul Newman loved modified Volvo wagons and one of his cars is soon going on sale! It’s a 1988 Volvo 740 Turbo Wagon with an engine not made in Sweden, but Michigan, USA. It’s the really powerful turbocharged 3.8-liter V-6 from a Buick Grand National and sends power to the wheels by using a manual transmission from Pontiac Firebird.
In 1988, a company called HESCO Engineering from Alabama did an engine swap. Lee Hurley ran the company and he built engines for famous NASCAR drivers such as Bobby Allison, Darrell Waltrip, and Neil Bonnet. To improve the engine, people added a tuning chip, an electric cooling fan, a larger oil cooler, and a custom exhaust system. Another person added an air intake and a Bosch fuel pump later on.
The outside of the car has been slightly changed, which includes a body kit, 16-inch wheels and some special springs to lower it. The interior is black leather with a new Sony CD player, that was very modern in 1988, and a sound system with eight speakers.
Mr. Newman owned this Volvo car from 1988 to 1998, and the seller says that during this time he tapped out around 59,000 miles driving it. Now it has 76,000 miles. The seller also promises a clean Illinois title in their name plus a copy of the Connecticut title which bears Mr. Newman’s name as proof that he was the previous owner of the car.
Paul Newman, who was mostly known for his participation in Datsun/Nissan races, owned multiple modified Volvos. After he got a Volvo wagon, he even asked David Letterman to get another one of these cars with a supercharged Ford V-8 engine; and it appeared on an episode of Jerry Seinfeld’s “Comedian Cars Getting Coffee”.