It’s easy to forget that Mercedes wasn’t yet building station wagons in 1976. That long overdue body style would arrive a few years later, so in 1976, when Volvo built their first six cylinder wagon, and priced it at $9900 (as tested), it was a big deal, as the ten grand barrier was rather huge at the time. Of course, that was then; that’s $44,000 in today’s money, and nobody thinks twice about paying that for a Ford F-Series or a Volvo wagon, or so many other cars in that price bracket.
The 265 was something of a let-down, and as best as I can tell, it didn’t sell very well either. The 164 looked decidedly more distinctive and prestigious, with its longer and completely different front end. The only was to tell a 260 series from a 24o series was the slightly different front end. It was now just a 240 series with the PRV 90 degree V6, which tends to be maligned more than it deserves, but was also never a soul-stirring engine. It might as well have been built by Buick.
But with its fuel injection, it started and ran cleanly, not a given in those times. And performance was considered decent, although 13.5 seconds from 0-60 was nothing to get excited about. The old 164 did that in 9.5 seconds, and that car was praised for its lusty big inline six.
The 245 wagon was of course a perennial favorite, as it did the job adequately enough with its four cylinder engine and substantially lower cost. And it was probbaly every bit as fast or faster than the Mercedes 300TD wagon when it finally arrived in 1979. And it made the 265 look like a steal: the 300TD was priced at a breathtaking $23,900 (that’s either a ’79 or ’80 price). And it had no problem finding plenty of buyers. These upscale wagons were the equivalent of today’s Cayenne and such.
The test car is probably still on the road somewhere…
The barrier I remember most is when the Acura Legend was the first Japanese car to break the $25k barrier. That was a big deal too and I still find myself thinking of it for a second when I see a Japanese car priced higher. So, yeah, I think about it a lot 🙂 Of course, for some reason in my mind the $25k remains a constant and doesn’t adjust for inflation. I suppose part of that is due to there still being plenty of Japanese cars under the “barrier”, and many of them are as well or better equipped than that Legend was.
The test car is probably still on the road somewhere…
Not likely. Eugene is crawling with 240 series Volvos, but I haven’t seen a 260 series in a while. The V6 really wasn’t up to Volvo levels of durability and reliability, plus it’s just more complicated to deal with. I think our local Volvo specialists don’t even work on them anymore, or discourage it. They’re just not practical long-term keepers like the 240.
Thanks a lot for these scans, Paul. I was all of 11 years old when I read this issue (my big brother spent much of his allowance on them), and remember both our longing for even a simple 144, and how strange it was an American version with a manual transmission.
More than my interest in the car, which is still great, it brought a nostalgic pang.
Overpriced Fairmont wagon, lol!
As a teenager in our church youth group, I remember we went to some event, and one the kids accidentally broke some small plastic part. I don’t remember what it was. The driving mom was not pleased and said nothing, but her 13-yr old daughter unloaded on the guy…”….you broke our $10,000 car!”. This happened before 1980 (when my family still had only one car, so my mom did not chauffer any of us kids). I, being the car geek, doubted it was $10,000. It was only a 240! It was NOT new–it was a 76 or 77.
I managed to stay on good terms with everyone involved. Mrs. K and I got along nicely, and I liked that her wagon had a ‘stick shift’. White with blue interior—in fact, nice VELOUR seats! Definitely classier than the vinyl (or cloth and vinyl) in my other rides!
Wow. Those prices were kinda high. $10k for a V6 Volvo wagon back then? I have to remember that back then Volvo was a “luxury” brand; it still is, but as the model line-up has expanded, particularly downward, its easier to acquire one nowadays. I had no idea a 300TD retailed for $23k back then, either. Yikes. I used to prowl the lots on my Schwinn back then, but the only foreign-make lots available to me as a 13 year old were Toyota/Datsun/Volkswagen. But I distinctly remember looking at a new ‘74 Lincoln Mark IV with a Maronie sticker of just over $10k and thinking, “Holy Cow…”.
Thanks for the conversion to today’s dollars of $10k=$44k. That does put things in perspective as far as current auto prices are concerned.
I remember the $10K barrier quite well. It took a Continental Mark IV to crack it in 1972-73. I remember finding the original window sticker in the 5 year old 77 New Yorker Brougham my mother bought – I suddenly realized that we had a $10 K 1977 car (which she bought for something like $3500 in 1982.
As for the PRV V6, I remember in around 1987-88 discussing Swedish cars with Lars, my flight instructor. He had been an auto mechanic before coming to the US to become a pilot. “Forgetabout Saabs, stick to Volvos. But not the six. The six is no good.”
I think it is about perspective. Swedes (and Americans) compare the PRV to things like the Volvo redblock and the Buick 3.8. To the French it looks like the most reliable thing ever. 🙂
I sure don’t. I did buy my first sports car in 1972, a bugeye Sprite for $400. Sold my ’63 Chevy for $300 to help pay for it.
I seem to recall the DeTomaso Pantera was list priced at just under $10K when launched here in ‘71/72. That price may have been a bargain for an Italian exotic, but higher volume than say a Ferrari, not to mention the fact it was sold at Lincoln/Mercury dealers, made that price seem out of this world.
PRV = POS
The price barrier break.
This would be an interesting read. But I think it should be based on base prices before any options. For example, I’m sure it was possible to option-up a late 1970s Monte Carlo to exceed the price of an entry-level Caprice Estate, but the Caprice still has a higher base price.
It should start with maybe $5,000 and go through maybe $50,000 and be separate for domestics and imports.
I think the Caprice Estate would come close, especially a few years later. Forty years ago, my Father bought probably was the most optioned up car he ever bought then (never owned a true luxury car like Cadillac nor Mercedes) when he bought a ’78 Caprice Classic Wagon at Shearer Chevrolet in South Burlington, Vermont, to replace our ’73 Ford Country Sedan, which would turn out to be the last wagon he ever owned (started with a ’61 Rambler Wagon, always owned a wagon until the Caprice was traded in after an accident in 1984).
It was the only car I remember actually being in the showroom before he bought it…it had vinyl seats but they were pretty plush, air conditioning (this was our 2nd car to have it, and every “primary” car we had from ’73 on would have it….even in Vermont). It had the “deluxe” instrument panel with some sort of fuel economy gauge (vacuum gauge), AM/FM radio (don’t think it had cassette though), trailer towing package, and the 305 V8. I think it stickered around $9200. Of course inflation was rampant especially in the late 70’s and early 80’s, I don’t think the previous wagon stickered for half that price (maybe I’m remembering wrong…even though it was lower line Ford and lacked some options like power windows, it was pretty much similar, and had the larger 400 2v V8).
My Dad did buy a lot of imports (even back then) but they were his second cars, never any Swedish cars, but French, German, and Japanese cars were normal for him even in the 60’s (his first “second” car was a ’59 Beetle)…but all of them were inexpensive cars. He passed away 2 years ago, owning a 2006 Impala which my Mother drives now.
In the Volvo dealership where I worked in the Seventies, the Douvrin V-6 engine, called the B27, was regarded with disdain by the mechanics and service writers. Their view was that it offered nothing but additional complexity over the B21 four. While I didn’t think it worth the hefty premium over the 245, I had opportunities to drive B27s many times, and I rather liked them. They were smooth, leather lined rocketships that would soar up and down I-95 with ease, with the A/C blowing and the stereo pulsing the tunes. Of course, I drove a nasty VW Dasher at the time, which may be why I was so impressed!
When I was a Volvo dealer tech in the 1980’s, we had the same opinion of the B27. They were prone to coolant leaks and it was a bit annoying to try and get the odd-firing things to idle well. Oh, yeah…that top end oiling issue that didn’t jibe well with anything other than full compliance with oil change intervals. Once you could get the GL trim in a 244, why would you bother with the additional cost, complexity and additional fuel usage?
In the late ’80’s, when they made it an even-firer and added the MAF-style fuel injection (760’s and 780 coupes), things were vastly improved. Alas, it was too late because the B230FT (inter-cooled turbo 4-cyl.) made the B280 almost instantly obsolete.
It’s food for thought that just five years before, a new 145 wagon was a $3600 car at MSRP. It’s amazing to see what the crashing dollar did to import vehicle prices.
Look at the curb weight of that car!
3320 lbs. Plenty of room.
I remember, as a 10 year old in 1976, going to the local Ford dealer with my brother, to price out a new F-250 4×4. $8200. He just about had a heart attack.
And nine years later the nice but not extravagantly nice 85 Crown Victoria that my mother bought stickered at $14K. I couldn’t believe it! $14K for a stupid Ford LTD?!?!?!
I ordered a new 3/4T 4X4 Suburban for a customer with literally every option available at the time in late 1976. The dealer required a $5,000 non-refundable deposit, because he was afraid of what would happen if it wasn’t picked up after it arrived. Sticker price was just over $10K.
Thanks for posting this, Paul. I note that you have been very kind to the infamous
PRV-V-6. A true Rube Goldberg device, that had over-engineering where it didn’t need it (like the huge block and heads) and head-scratching where it was needed (like oil supply to the overhead cam bearings). Every single iteration in which I have seen this reciprocating disaster was a total failure. It sucked in Volvo. It sucked in Peugeot. It sucked in Volvo. It sucked in Dodge.
Vancouver Island Volvo Guru Chapman Motors made a brisk business converting them to B23’s in the 1980’s.
As for the rest of the car, well, if one wanted a commercial vehicle for the rest of one’s life, it is pretty hard to beat a Red Block Volvo. For personal transportation they are bit ponderous in my experience.
Dodge? What Dodge-badged products was this in?
In the late 80’s Dodge Monaco / Eagle Premier twins.
When Chrysler bought AMC/Renault, part of the deal was that Chrysler would buy xxxxx of the PRV/POS engine.
Chrysler couldn’t sell the required number & paid some penalty.
It was worth it.
The first expensive, nice new car I bought was a 1973 Volvo 145 four speed manual wagon. This was in November of 1972. I wanted an old stock ’72 145 and shopped Madison/Milwaukee/Chicago/Rockford area for one. The best deal I could find was on a new ’73 at a dealer on the south side of Chicago. I took the train to Chicago and then rode the CTA to within a block or two of the dealer. I paid $4,200 or $4,300.
The same body wagon, with a V-6, three model years later for $10,000 is a stretch! I knew about and liked the straight six in the earlier 164 and I liked the front clip looks too. A 165 wagon would have been very desirable.
When Volvo tainted its fine name with an engine from Peugeot/Renault . . . well that was the end. Volvo was a greatly admired name and brand. I was a proud owner. The other two names? Well, no. That 145 was the last and only Volvo I owned. The stink from a French engine was just too much of an insult for me to consider another one. From Volvo I went German.
We had a ’74 Volvo 145 wagon and it was an absolute turd. I missed a bunch of Little League games and at least one aborted family vacation because of that steaming pile of a car. Thankfully my Dad had a ridiculously reliable ’71 Satellite that was often called upon to stand in for the Volvo.
Speaking of the $10K barrier, my Mom went to trade in the Volvo for a new Cutlass in the summer of 1982 and the dealer upsold her into a Delta 88 coupe. When I saw the $12K window sticker on the Delta, I figured we were rich.
We had a ’74 Volvo 145 wagon and it was a 15 year trooper. Wish we had a ’71 Satellite though.
Pretty much my experience with a ’74 145. I was seduced by the burnt orange paint, but anything that could break on that damn car did. Drove it cross town to my local repair shop one Saturday — carefully — using the parking break in transit.
On another time, I remarked to my then-wife, “Gee the car is running great!” and the oil pump promptly failed, resulting in the metal timing gear neatly routing a half-circle in the phenolic gear. Then there was the time we made it home on nine quarts of ATF in 35-miles.
Yeah, and I thought that pile of repair records from the previous owner meant there was nothing left to break…
But the orange paint sure looked good.
The aside about the breathtaking price of the Mercedes wagons grabbed my attention, as my dad bought my mom a 1979 300TD brand new and paid cash, and then replaced it with a brand new 1981 300TD (turbo) for which he also paid cash. The inflation calculator tells me that each one was around $85,000 in today’s dollars! That sure is a lot to pay for a 5 cylinder with vinyl!
Remember when thinking about price inflation: real incomes are more than double today what they were in 1980. Back then, far fewer people had the money to buy an inflation-adjusted $45,000 car than today. This Volvo was a pricier machine back then than it’s inflation adjust price suggests today. (And the $23,000 Benz wagon . . . wow.)
To better put this into perspective, our first house in suburban Portland (4 br, 2 ba ranch, upscale neighborhood, cul de sac, greenspace behind) sold for $75000 in 1983. Today. $400K wouldn’t buy it back.
I think I made about $40K that year- and that was good money at the time.