Murilee Martin had a junkyard piece the other day about the Volvo 240’s demise in California. Oddly, it almost seems like there’s more of them here than ever; escaping the cruel California crusher apparently. But seeing this perfectly matched set of identical twins was a bit startling. I can’t account for it, and they were only there that one day. Volvoniconvergence beats 240pocalypse any day, even if it is borderline surreal.
Both with roof racks even. Bizarre.
I know these were solid cars for their day but this is the real reason that I’m interested when I see one. http://www.jagsthatrun.com/Pages/Volvo_200_V-8.html God forbid I ever come to Oregon and find a clean solid example with a bad engine for dirt cheap.
I wish I had known, I would have sold you my wife’s 1984 760 Turbo. After 272k miles, head gasket blew and also caused the turbo to fail (gunked up). Had some electrical issues.
I was tempted to do a V8 swap, but then I’d still be daily driving a 27 year old car with electrical issues, no thanks. Transmission (I believe a turbohydromatic design) and Nivomat suspension were still good, as was most of the interior (dash cracked within the first 2 years).
Sold the car to a Volvo-SAAB mechanic for $500. He is still deciding between rebuilding and scrapping…both will net about the same outcome.
Send him the link. If you see your Volvo back on the road and the rear tires engulfed in white smoke you’ll know he found a wrecked Chevy truck or something to donate it’s drive line.
Yup, Newman used to do 5.0 swaps in the 7-series.
Last I saw the car, everything behind it was engulfed in white smoke.
Only pic I have left when I brought home the Outback:
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_ccYZBIOq82o/S5f6n5dHqpI/AAAAAAAAAng/IoPS089vxZQ/s800/Outback2.jpg
Chances are the couple that owns these have a matching wardrobe of North Face and Birkenstocks too…
Indeed. Go to REI or any Trader Joe’s in town and it would be rare to NOT see (nearly) identical Volvos. Or Subarus.
Paul,
This is what a Volvo 480 looks like! According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volvo_480 it was originally planned for the North American market but ended up being sold in Europe only.
That’s why we have to put two 240s together to make a 480!
Aha, now I get it. I immediately thought of the 480 hatchback too!
My Mum had 2 of these… consecutive, not concurrent though, otherwise we could have had a Volvo 960 as well!
😀
I have two ’92 Saab 900s that are nearly matching…was gonna use one for parts but I don’t have the heart to hack it up, and can’t decide which one is worse off..maybe that’s whats goin on here?…but you said it was just that one day. hmm….Those Volvos look about 1000% cooler with roof racks!
The borg warner transmissions were rock crushers other than rear main seal leaks which were usually caused by not changing a breather in the PCV system. Engines also lasted forever. It was the plastics both interior and exterior (rear taillamps) that would disintegrate and cost a bundle to replace. It belongs with the high maintenance cars such as BMW and Mercedes, but it was not really a “break down” car. Other than the lack of power, I would have given my 88 240 wagen with 209,000 miles to my daughter.