Having always been a Volvo enthusiast, a passion that started with a 95 turbo wagon, I jumped on the opportunity to pick up a 96 850r sedan that got discreetly listed down the coast from me. The listing simply said, "hasn't been started in three years, cracked oil pan, make offer". I tossed what I assumed to be a lowball offer out, being a full-time college student doesn't lend itself to making realistic offers, and to my surprise, he agreed. I made my arrangements to drag it out of its resting place for the last three years so that I could get started on it as soon as possible. My first step was obviously to check out the oil pan and the extent of the damage. Unfortunately, what the seller regarded as a crack was more of a hole than anything else. The explanation was the tine of a forklift or tractor had pierced it, and while clearly obvious the hole had been made by an external force I was worried the car had been run deprived of oil. After popping the pan off it was reassuring to see no shavings in the filter or pan itself, and the rod caps had no up and down play, just as they should be. Need to find a junkyard pan to slap on to move on to the next step, but that requires a pan being somewhere remotely close. I was really interested to see that the car had a litany of service records and perhaps the coolest thing was the original delivery receipt. The car was conveniently challenge priced so hopefully, it'll make the journey down for my first time competeing 
