Norwich mechanic takes 50-year-old Volvo back home

Keith Morgan bought the estate car from the former Holden Motors in Westwick Street, Norwich, on August 1, 1974. 

And 50 years and 105,000 miles later, Keith is taking it back to where it all started.

"I just hope the car does better than when it was new," he said this morning before making the five-mile trip from his garage in Drayton. 

Keith bought the estate car on this day in 1974 (Image: Denise Bradley)

Costing £2,650 - equivalent to £24,350 today - Keith, 76, bought the vehicle to share with his dad and immediately took it on a road trip to Scotland's most northerly point. 

But disaster struck on the way back when oil got into the water coolant and it needed to be recovered back to the city. 

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Keith took it back to Holden Motors and asked for a refund but they said no, and just two weeks later the Volvo 240 was released, an updated version of his car. 

"Even though it had a bumpy start, it's been nothing but a hard worker since," Keith previously said. 

Holden Motors used to have a garage in Westwick Street which is now the site of Pure Lettings (Image: Denise Bradley)

"It's had concrete beams in the back and been through all sorts of abuse in its long life but it still looks like a tidy car."

The Volvo 145 was produced between 1967 and 1974, with the 140 series evolving into the 240 series for the 1975 model year, making Keith's one of the last off the line. 

Arriving at the Westwick Street location, now Pure Lettings at around 10am to awaiting snappers, Keith said: "It's just as well I shaved."

As well as his Volvo, Keith - the owner of Morgan's Motor Engineers in Drayton - owns a 1966 Vauxhall Cresta and opened the NDR in a Bentley Continental in 2017.