Mijn 343

Hallo allemaal,

Mijn naam is Fran?ois en ik kocht een Volvo 343 uit 1978. Ik spreek geen Nederlands, maar ik heb uw advies.

Do you mind if I write in English ?

Here are some pictures of my new baby. I am a fan of DAF cars and I wanted a more "modern" DAF.

Vriendelijk

That's a nice car. You can talk also here in Englisch.

No problem, I'm sure most people here speak English well enough.

Your 343 looks really nice! Very early model with the brown interior, DAF seats and short bumpers. Looks like it's in good shape too!

looks like a modelyear 77 with the chrome locks, brown dash etc.

nice car! but please do something to those wheel covers, like using them as frisbees or something:D

Thank you very much for your welcome !

The upper body is in very good shape indeed, but the lower parts have much rust. It comes from a snowy northern region of France, and the salt has made some damages.

The engine runs very well. I will get the car in 2 weeks. I have to drive it from the north to the south west of France by the road ! The technical inspection is almost OK, except of the rust.

Removing the wheel covers will be my first job !

Welcome to the site.

That sure is a nice car !

What parts of the underbody are rusted? It seems not to bad from your pics, the sills look in decent (better than average) condition.

And looks like the original steel wheels are under the covers. Frisbeeing the covers far far away seems a good option.

The sills are not as good as they look. I didn't take pictures from the lower parts, but I saw a big rust hole near the back left wheel.

The lower part of the body also seems to be covered with a special painting, to avoid shocks from the gravel. Never seen that before. I don't know if it is possible to remove it.

In few words : a lot of bodywork to do on it. And I am not a bodybuilder !:uh-uhh:

The sills and every bodypart on the same height (rear valance, front valance) are painted in a thick durable coating to prevent paint damage from gravel. If it's higher up than the sills (on the doors etc) it's not original. And it should be painted in bodycolor, otherwise it's been worked on and resprayed (black most of the times).

If you know what you're doing single holes in the sill are easily repaired. A body shop can do that for you.

yeah but due to the region where the car was located and driven there's a big possibility the sills arent the only areas the rustdevel attacked. espescially the early models were notorious for rusting underneath as coatings etc weren't that great in the early years, you can expect some more work if you put the car on a lift for a further/closer inspection but overall it looks like it's worth the effort!