Anybody own a Volvo 240?

[stevewl1164]

I saw a silver 1983 Volvo 240 on the road today...looked like new. It reminded me that my mom's best friend bought a silver GL with a blue velour/cordorouy interior. Best I can remember it had slotted wheel covers. When I saw it for the first time I was amazed. It had the most beautiful interior I had ever seen. It was the first year for the new smaller bumpers and it had the quad headlights still. I still think that was the prettiest Volvo I ever saw. Here is the closest LOOKING one I found on the web.
http://newhaven.craigslist.org/cto/1393248497.html

[stevewl1164]

Nobody? Wow..a boxy car Festiva owners should love! Well, was curious what you guys thought of the one in the link...isn't that interior BEAUTIFUL?!

[perucho]

Until about six months ago I had a 1972 Volvo 142 Type R. Loved that car! Definitely boxy and was the precursor of the 2 series. The Type R meant that it had the GT dash gauges and overdrive. It was a very comfortable ride and had a fairly reliable Bosch D-jetronic fuel injection.

[stevewl1164]

The 142 was a two door 140? I know the 240 came in 1975..with the new nose and rear design. The 1978 240 GT was a beauty too. Never big into the P1800 coupe/hatch. To me a Volvo isn't a Volvo if it is not the original box car.

[chrisofna]

I've always wanted a Manual Wagon 240, I was trying to find one before I bought my MR2 as my first car.

[Banana Bonanza]

I've owned several Volvos. The diesel engine was 6cyl made by VW, made for a delivery van in Europe. If you find one in really good shape WITH a manual transmission, WITH a turbo, then may be ok. Expensive to work on. Also RUN from the V6 gas engine, it was made by Peugeot/Renault, so-so gas mileage and again rare VERY EXPENSIVE parts. Actually same engine that was used in DeLorean, just without turbo.

The traditional number system on Volvos was if number ended in 2, it was 2 door, if ended in 4, it was a 4 door sedan, if ended in 5, then it was a wagon. The 140/240 series was 4 cylinder, the 160/260 series was 6 cylinder. Thus a 245 would be a 4 cyl wagon. They got away from this in 80 and just called them 240/260.

My favorite Volvo was the old Amazon, the 120 series (it was 4cyl, not 2 cyl, so numbering system not always consistant), looked like a mini version of 1940s American car. They were from 50s and 60s so had rust problems. The 140 series probably most practical. Lighter weight and little more compact than the 240 series, but lot more modern than 120 series. Also had the old bulletproof B18/B20 pushrod engine (the 160 had B30, a straight six cylinder version of the B20). The only weakness to those engines was some had soft factory cam. Lobes on cam will wear down to where valves barely open. It is amazing how related the 120/140/240 series cars are, model developement at Volvo was evolutionary, both engines and bodies.

[CharlieZ]

Had some fun experiences with a PV444 in the mid 50s. Blue just like this on.

[stevewl1164]

Looks like a 3/4 scale 1941 Ford!

[HappyMom]

When I was at university, my dream car was a silver 240 wagon. One of my first cars was a 91 Jetta. Part of the reason I chose the Jetta is because it looked volvoish

[Safety Guy]

I love old boxy Volvos, plus the 1800 series, plus the 120 series!

Gotta have round headlights 'cause I hate the rectangular ones.

Here you go, pretty boxy blue...linked since the "file was too large":

http://www.vintagegarage.net/images/car_volvo3a.jpg

Oh, and have any of you seen one of these in the U.S? Ever?

It's a Volvo 343, with a CVT. Back in the mid or late eighties, OSU had one parked in back of the old Engineering building. Evidently, they were studying it. OSU's was silver and I don't recall ever seeing it driving. To the best of my knowledge, it was about VW Dasher sized--maybe a bit smaller.

Karl

[perucho]

^ The Volvo in your link is a 142. Best looking "modern" Volvo in my opinion but I'm heavily biased Mine was yellow.

[shortystowing]

I had a 240 wagon that ran like a top and pulled my 16' trailer everywhere I wanted to go... Ended up giving to my dad after having it for 3 trouble free yrs... he had a few yrs and gave it away to someone else. Dang good car.

[stevewl1164]

A body shop I go to had a silver 85 240 that looked just like my link...including the beautiful blue interior. 254k and a bad trannie. That interior STILL looks nice.