1977 Volvo 245 DL station wagon; dark blue

Bought new and delivered ~May 21, 1977 to Paul / Hisako Terasaki in Los Angeles; purchase price was $8,511.80. Used primarily by H. Terasaki for 10 years, after which the mileage was approximately 52,110 (from auto repair slip in California just before shipping). That is to say, it was driven about 5,211 miles per year.

Transferred to M. Terasaki in 1987 - shipped from LA to Woods Hole, July 2, 1987 for $995.
Some adventures - various breakdowns on the trip between Bethesda, MD and Woods Hole
re-engineered engine block; Mr. Kaplan 8951 Brookville Rd, Silver Spring

M. Terasaki drove it until March 8, 2002 (i.e. for ~15 years), when his new Subaru arrived.
It was then driven by R. Nuccitelli until April 25 or 26, 2003, when the muffler / exhaust broke and required repair. Mileage at this point was 143,615.
It sat in the driveway for 3.5 years without being started. During this time, the muffler tail pipe rusted and fell off, and the car was parked underneath a pine tree and accumulated a lot of pine needles.

October 21, 2006
Re-started by Crandall - 1 - 2 - 3 (with Katie Ratzan, ex next door neighbor) - the idea is to get it to New Hampshire, get it back in condition, then convert it to bio-diesel!
We couldn't jump start it after many tries, but then we got a new battery from Sears, and it started right up! Too bad we didn't have a camcorder going - the muffler wasn't working at all, and the whole neighborhood heard when the car started. The car wouldn't move for a while, but after trying to go reverse then forward a few times, it finally was able to move

October 22, 2006
as it has looked for 3.5 years
front part -- front part after a car wash -- note: M. Terasaki didn't wash the car the whole 19 years that he had it until this day!
top of car before and after
Crandall manages to open the passenger door and the rear door! later, drives to gas station and fills tires with air.
Homemade speakers that M. Terasaki made for his previous VW beetle, taken out of the volvo.

Sometime in 2007 - Crandall drove the car to the Ratzans (in nearby Avon) where he intended to work on it. He did some preliminary work, like removing the torn up driver's seat and replacing it with the front passenger seat. But he found that the undercarriage of the car had rusted and other repairs would require several thousands of dollars and he just didn't have the money or time (as a medical school student at Dartmouth) to work on the car.

December 6, 2008
The Volvo - in the Ratzan garage - close up - inside looks pretty old. First attempt to donate the car failed, because the tow truck was unable to back down the small hill to the garage.
Soon after these pictures were taken, the car was moved up the hill by 3 people from Steben Motors.

December 12, 2008 (Friday) - The Volvo was towed away to the charity Kars-4-Kids (31.5 years after first delivered!).