MEET THE OWNER – GRAEME AITKEN AND HIS VOLVO 940 CELEBRATION

We have previously featured Graeme’s two very splendid Volvos from the 1970s – his 66 and his 265 GLE. However, a move from the South Coast to Cumbria meant a change in his classic car fleet. As Graeme explains:

The 265 and the 66 both went back in 2019 as the move to Cumbria meant no storage and no time for shows, etc, as summer weekends are busy now! I've had the 940 for nearly 10 years, so that became the daily driver for a while. Now, it is for just summer use only. It's an end-of-the-line Celebration from 1998 with all the ‘toys’ of the time, including such excitements as a dog guard... essential for any Volvo estate, of course!

Volvo introduced the Celebration in the autumn of 1997 to mark the end of its long tradition of rear-wheel-drive estate cars, starting with the 1953 Duett. Nine years later, the Amazon became Volvo’s first station wagon with four side doors, followed by the 1967 145, the 1974 245, the 1985 760 Estate, and the 900 series wagons of 1990.  

The styling of the 2.3-litre four-cylinder 940, and its six-cylinder 960 stablemate, reflected Volvo’s need to appeal to US buyers in the Buick income bracket. When Car and Driver tested the 940 saloon, they memorably wrote:

We had the opportunity to drive the new car back to back at Volvo's high-speed track in Sweden on the kind of cold, rainy day that doubtless inspired Ingmar Bergman to create the many laugh-riot films he made.

In such weather, “you might say the 940 both pleased and comforted us”, and Car and Driver thought the new Volvos “pillars of establishment cars” - an image many owners sought. Across the Atlantic, Sue Baker noted in The Observer on the 9th of September 1990 that the UK was Volvo’s most important export market after the USA. She further pointed out that “One in ten new cars sold in Britain is an estate, a percentage nowhere else in Europe can match”.

In other words, the 940 Estate had to succeed in the ‘Barbour jacket and green wellington boots’ market sector – which it certainly did. However, Volvo introduced the slightly smaller 850 in 1991, underscoring its commitment to FWD, and it was clear the 900 range marked the end of a chapter for the company.

Graeme remarks that by 1998, only two 940 versions were available – the Celebration, “which had all the toys, and the Torslanda, which had none”. The latter even featured manual winding windows, while the former was to end the marque’s rear-wheel-drive estate cars in style. The proud owner gained ABS, headlamp washers, leather upholstery, air conditioning, an RDS radio-cassette player, heated and electric front seats and electric windows front and rear.  

To further induce envy in your neighbours, the Celebration sported a metallic ‘Blackberry Wine’ paint finish, alloy wheels and even a leather-covered steering wheel, all for £18,425. A Volvo spokesperson told Fleet News that the 940 was being dropped “as there was no 'significant overlap' between the current 940 range and the remainder of Volvo's line-up"

Today, Graeme finds his Celebration - “Fantastic. It really is a modern car (without all the stupid driver aids!!!), just silky smooth and comfortable. I still love just hopping in and driving it, and it is still a fantastic, practical load lugger!”.

And who could want more from their Volvo estate?

With thanks to Graeme Aitken for his time.

With thanks to Graeme Aitken for the permission to use the images in this blog.