[CHASING CARS Quentin Willson’s hot tips]

Strong result for box-ticking rapid Volvo acts as a beacon in a glum market

At Classic Cars we’ve always been passionate admirers of hot Volvo 850s and tipped them as clever buys many times over the years, so it’s reassuring to see that in the current declining market the right car can still attract strong bids. In Mathewsons’ October auction a very fine 1996 850R in the imaginatively named Bright Red with black leather and the desirable heavy duty M59 manual gearbox – available through 1996 only – made an impressive £16,400. With 37,500 miles, 11 stamps in the service book, a detailed service file an inch thick and an owner who had clearly cherished it for the last 22 years, it was a very special thing. Even Mathewson’s pre-auction video was wildly enthusiastic, and the presenter even remembered seeing this 850 driving around Yorkshire as a teenager. To put that into context,

Collecting Cars took £5100 for a 205,320- mile 1996 850R manual estate back in 2021. The mileage, service history and condition put Mathewsons’ example in another league altogether.

Looking time-warp perfect with its factory alloys, roof rack and mint interior, this Volvo made its money for several reasons. The market for fast Nineties Volvo estates doesn’t seem to be overly affected by the prevailing market gloom and if anything, their allure has blossomed as a certified Generation-Z classic with a cerebral vibe.

They’re also enormously rare. DVLA numbers suggest there are only 150 of all types of 850Rs registered on the Swansea mainframe and the manual estate is the rarest of all. The specification was also to die for – red, black leather, manual gearbox – totally stock and unmolested with a huge mountain of invoices and old bills.And where do you find an 850R with just 37,500 miles? Like Porsche 911s, they were bought new to be driven fast over long distances, so it’s rare to see an 850 – never mind the estate version – with much under 100,000 miles these days.

The presentation was cracking too. Shiny, valeted, detailed and mint under the bonnet and in the rear cargo area. This was a once in a decade offering that will, as the auctioneer remarked, probably disappear into a private collection for another 20 years. Even at the upper end of the price curve for 850s, this one was very well bought indeed.

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