The venerable Volvo 240-series has been dealt with often here on CC (here, here, and most recently here –among other posts), but I hope readers will permit me to take yet another extended look at Gothenburg’s evergreen family sedans and wagons.
Starring in mid-1976, my own Volvo career encompassed most of the 240’s lifecycle (and then some). As a close observer, I became fascinated by the 240’s long-lived appeal, and so began to chronicle the model’s development over the years, primarily for my own amusement. Although this isn’t intended to be a down-in-the-weeds technical treatise, I do hope to shed some light on not only the 240’s model year-by-model year changes but also on the larger U.S. auto market environment in which these cars successfully competed, against all odds, for nearly two decades.
The competitive models mentioned, with a few exceptions, are the ones we paid the most attention to in our day-to-day product planning and marketing efforts at Volvo. Sales data is sourced from Volvo records and various issues of the annual Automotive News Data Book.
So let’s buckle up those three-point seat belts and enjoy the ride!
Model Year 1975
Volvo introduces the new 240 series. In two-door, four-door, and station wagon (five-door) body-styles, it replaces the 140 series and features a newly-designed sloping front end reminiscent of the Volvo Experimental Safety Car (VESC), several of which had been built during 1972 to evaluate future automotive safety features.
An early Swedish-spec Volvo 244 DL. (Source: media.volvocars.com)
The 240 introduces rack-and-pinion steering and MacPherson strut front suspension; its cast-iron B20F four-cylinder engine is carried over from the 140.
In addition to a variety of body-styles, the 240 is available in “DL” and “GL” models.
In 1975, Car and Driver magazine named the Volvo 240 “the best family car in all categories,” after its February road test of a 242 GL referred to the car as “the family sedan of the future- and it works.”
Car and Driver’s test car carried a sticker price of $6,845.
Cadillac introduces the Seville, a smaller “international size” sedan more in tune with the times. Compared to the “standard size” Cadillac, it is still nearly a foot longer and over 750 pounds heavier than a Volvo 244.
The ’76 Seville was Bill Mitchell’s first “sheer look” production car. Many more followed. (Source: eBay.com)
Fiat sold a record 100,511 cars in the U.S. during calendar year 1975, part of the total of 1,577,000 imported cars that found buyers that year, up 12% from the previous year’s total. In 1975, Toyota became the best-selling imported make in the U.S., overtaking perennial leader Volkswagen.
These early Corolla SR-5 coupes seemed to be everywhere in SoCal during my Art Center days. (Source: Bring a Trailer)
Domestic car sales added up to 7,050,120, a drop of about 5% from the 1974 total.
After several false starts, Volkswagen introduced the car that would ultimately replace its long-lived Beetle, the Giugiaro-designed, front wheel drive Rabbit.
This pre-Westmoreland VW Rabbit was a complete break from its Beetle predecessor. (Source: www.vw.com)
Chrysler Corporation hires former baseball player Joe Garagiola as its television spokesman, and it inaugurates manufacturer-to-customer cash incentives of between $200 and $500 on selected vehicles, as he encouraged viewers to “buy a car- get a check”.
Former major-league catcher turned pitchman Joe Garagiola offers the first modern new-car cash rebate in this TV ad. Dig the straw hat! The rest is history. (Source: Osborn Tramain)
Calendar year 1975 Volvo sales in the U.S. reached 60,336 units, a new record, and 14% over the previous year’s result. Of this total, 43,411 sales are recorded by the new 240 series and leftover 140 series models.
Model Year 1976
The 240 series receives the new B21F engine, a modern SOHC design with an aluminum cylinder head, replacing the B20F.
The bulletproof Volvo “Redblock” four-cylinder engine.(Source: www.auto-brochures.com)
Non-sunroof 240s are available in two-door, four-door, and station wagon form with four-speed manual transmissions or three-speed automatic gearboxes.
Sunroof-equipped 242s and 244s are available with a choice of a four-speed manual with electric overdrive, effectively a five-speed, or the three-speed automatic. The 245 station wagon is offered with either the four-speed manual with overdrive or the three-speed automatic.
Catalytic converters are now used on 240s destined for sale in California.
240 GL variants are dropped, a consequence of the introduction of the B27F V6-powered 260 series, which replaces the previous 164 sedan. A V6 station wagon, the 265, is added, which has the distinction of being the world’s most expensive series-production station wagon, with its base suggested retail price of $9,495.
The Volvo 265 broke the $10,000 barrier. (Source: media.volvocars.com)
Both 260s are offered in “DL” and “GL” trim levels.
In May 1976, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) called Volvo’s new Lambda-Sond system with its oxygen sensor and three-way catalyst “the most significant breakthrough ever achieved” in progress towards lower exhaust emission levels.
Also in 1976, the safety cage construction of the Volvo 244 was rated best among compact sedans barrier-tested at 45-MPH by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). As a result, the Volvo 244 was chosen as the “benchmark” vehicle used by the agency to conduct a series of advanced passive restraint systems tests.
The results of the test program, which were made available in early 1977, would be used by the Federal government to help establish future automotive safety standards.
Road & Track’s April 1976 issue carried a test of that year’s 242 DL (equipped with sunroof, manual overdrive transmission, and accessory “GT” steering wheel and instrument cluster, it listed for $7,770), and indicated that “with the new B21F four, the transformation is now complete.”
It added that “Gothenburg has finally managed to being the Volvos out of the Sixties and the total car is now as advanced and complete as we expect from Volvo. That metamorphosis hasn’t made the cars any cheaper, but it has kept them in the tradition of “The 11-Year Car” and “Drive It Like You Hate It”. That is what the public expects from Volvo and judging by the fact that 1975 was the best year Volvo has had in the U.S., the public is willing to pay for it.”
Chrysler Corporation introduces its “family cars of the future,” the Dodge Aspen and Plymouth Volare, which replace the long-running Dart/Valiant models, respectively. A station wagon bodystyle is included, Chrysler’s first compact wagons since 1966.
The title refers to the Aspen’s standard equipment, not to the number of recalls it suffered. (Source: eBay)
Renault introduces its subcompact R5 to the U.S. market. “Le Car” ends the year with 6,189 total stateside sales.
An early Renault R5 press photo noted that the car had been “redesigned for America.” It didn’t help. (Source: www.autopaper.com)
Also, in July 1976, Honda unveiled the Accord, a compact three-door hatchback with a base MSRP of $3,995. The Accord is later named Road Test magazine’s “Car of the Year” in the under-$5,000 price class.
This probably should also have been Motor Trend‘s 1976 Car of the Year, not the Aspen/Volare… (Source: hondanews.com)
In 1976, a total of 1,493,000 imported cars are sold in the U.S., down about 5% from 1975 result. However, domestic nameplate sales increased by nearly 1.5 million units over the previous year, to an 8,606,573-unit total.
Calendar year 1976 Volvo sales in the U.S. decline 27% from year-ago levels, to 43,887 units. Of this total, 33,582 are 240s. Several factors contributed to the sales decline, including significant currency-related price increases combined, it must be said, with sporadic quality issues.
What about the rest of the decade? Tune in again next week…
Terrific post!!!! I love how you weave events of the day for each model year into the story. It really gives good context to the story.
Joe Garagiola …. now there’s a blast from the past. I always found him annoying, particularly when he bellowed “BUY A CAR, GET A CHECK”. At the time I was studying for my Ph.D. in economics, and the economist side of my brain thought this was really stupid. I thought “Just lower your prices and get rid of this annoying sumbitch! You’ll save the dough you’re paying him.”
I never knew the overdrive version was only available with a sunroof. Odd marketing to pair these two IMHO.
Great changes in the automotive landscape set against the fuel crisis of 1974. My beloved neighbor, Teddy purchased a new 240 DL for his wife Connie in 1987. Deep blue metallic exterior with blue cloth interior and “euro” head lights, it was a sight! First Volvo in the neighborhood, it replaced her beat up 1971 Autostick Bug. My first impression as a newly minted mechanical engineer was that my much more experienced brethren were in charge of it’s design and engineering.
Counterpoint to my last post, my boss purchased a new 740 about the same time. Yipe! Although I’ve grown to appreciated them, it reminded me of a Series 2 Aston Martin Lagonda with the front and back lopped off, a few feet cut off the sections and reattached. Looks like an engineer who lost their french curve or a deranged CAD program laid out the body.
Great overview of early 240s, thanks!
My own Gr grandfather came from Goteborg (the actual Swedish name) so have always had affinity for Volvos and have owned 5, the last 4 240s. Volvo no longer made a car I wanted after ’93 so SAABs, with far more fwd and turbo experience, replaced them.
The appeal is easily explained: a certain % of buyers want solid, safe, durable, and functional car, style being irrelevant. The 240’s longevity is testament to that, and there is still a market for this kind of sensible car, unfortunately one that is no longer catered to at this point.
I would say that nowadays the vast majority of cars are extremely reliable, very safe and therefore no one is specifically catering to such a market as it now IS the market.
What a great article. The Volvo 240 was indeed a very high quality product but they were not cheap. That $7700 equates to almost $40,000 in today’s dollars. Back in 1977, an Chevrolet Caprice could be had for $5000 or so. Granted, the Volvo would last a lot longer than a Caprice but the Volvo was priced out of the budgets of many.
From what I understand, the 1970s was a difficult decade for many European brands, as the value of the dollar against European currencies was falling. There was a forced transition from building family cars towards building luxury cars.
Great recap of the mid 70s. My parents had a 164, and subscriptions to Road & Track and Consumer Reports so I was pretty plugged in for a fifth grader. My recollection is that the 75 and 76 240s had reliability issue and the 26os with the PRV V6 were disasters. A friend bought a 264 in the early 80s (the modern version of a PFC blowing a paycheck on Dodge Charger) and it was a misery. OTOH the B30 in the 164 passed the 100,000 mile mark with nothing worse than a failed fiber timing gear.
I’m mildly amused at R&T saying the 240 was out of the 60s, since the body in white was still a 140 with a nose job kind of like a 2014 Land Rover Defender that still had extensive body part interchange with the 1958 Series II.
As everyone knows, these were great cars from the get-go, esp. with the overdrive. Was the Macpherson Strut front suspension introduced for cost or some other reason?
They were not cheap when knew, but it was often possible to obtain a used one at reasonable prices for some reason.
What I will say is that of all of those contemporary 1970s cars (to the 240 series Volvos), the Volvos seem to have won by having more still standing than just about any of those other examples.
Nowadays, in my salty corner of the world, I still manage to see a 240 (usually a 245) about once a week (in addition to my own). I can’t think of the last time I saw a similar age Honda, Rabbit, Toyota, or Aspen.
And LeCar? OMG. Most of those lasted about a year or two if I recall correctly. 😉
This post really strikes a chord with me, as I remember well going to the 1976 Chicago Auto Show with my father, and seeing all the new models described here. As a 13-year old budding car guy, I reveled in all the excitement, the huge manufacturers’ displays, the mid-year model introductions (the Chicago show still serves as a primary place for these), and the full representations of all the luxury and imported car lines currently available in the U.S., including many marques and models I had never seen before in the metal. I fell hard for the Renault LeCar (and even the R12), the Accord, and, yes, the Volvo 265.
We were actually in the market for a new wagon that year, as Mom’s ’71 Coronet wagon was showing serious signs of old age and rust through, so I think Dad thought this would be an easy, low-pressure way of seeing what was on the market. He must have fit the targeted demographic for the 265, because the moment we entered the Volvo display, a salesman/host latched on and insisted on giving us an exhaustive tour of the “new” wagon. Towards the end, my dad saw the $10k sticker price and began laughing, saying nobody would ever pay that for a family wagon. From there, we went over to the Dodge stand to check out the new Aspen wagon, which was priced much more within the budget Dad had in mind.
Very interesting context.
In Australia, the 240 was poorly-reviewed upon release. In fact, it was, despite the myriad changes, considered to be mysteriously redolent of what it had just replaced, with too much roll, understeer, fuel use and too little performance. However, I believe Volvo had their peak year here in ’75, as they were sold, with success, as awfully upmarket, despite the fact that they were demonstrably not, (though I must keep in mind the low build standard of the Big Three here at the time). Btw, Mr Hansen, in a curio for you, these were all actually assembled and built here, with a high local content (due to tariffs), yet still priced very similarly upwards as in the US. Must’ve been a decent profit centre.
I’ll add that at the time, we’d got a youngish German enthusiast from Opel as head engineer in suspension at Holden, and within a couple of years, all local GMs had transformed into vastly-better handling vehicles. Their sheer competence in that field alone made things like the tippy 240 look worse than it probably was. The Volvo got new springs, gas dampers and much bigger anti-roll bars in about ’79, and the buff-opinions began to shift.
Looking forward to next story.. I have a mint 89′ and am a true volvo fan having owned many 122’s…..1800ES…..and my first. A 58′ 444…..
iPd campaigned the 1975 242 in sedan racing for many, many years, as it took quite a while for tuning knowledge of the OHC engine to catch up with the earlier pushrod Volvo engine.
It’s interesting that the Honda Accord arrived in a year when Detroit cars actually experienced something of a dead cat bounce against the imports, thanks to the dollar being devalued.
A Portland, OR performance shop, IPD and still in business, became popular for “enhancing” your Volvo, even my ’71 145. Can’t remember all I did, but it was a fun car for my daily drive. And carry hunting dogs off-road, pull my driftboat , take the kids to school, etc.
I finally sold it at 150,000+ miles to a college kid. For years, a used Volvo was the go-to car, at least in the Pacific NW, for your new, or teenage or college kid. Safe, not too fast, carries almost anything. I remember chuckling when passing a Univ. of Washington student parking lot (also a thing of the past): fully one third or more were used Volvos.
https://www.ipdusa.com/
Living in Los Angeles my college girlfriend was in nursing school and had a 240 station wagon (for her 2 large Samoyeds) either the 74 or 75 that was a newly leased by daddy. The nursing school was not on the main campus and was in a sketch area. She lived there during the week.
The 240 was very slow – couldn’t even get out of its own way – very buzzy on the highway and problematic with electrical gremlins and worst of all went through tires mysteriously many times, the wheels seem to eat into the bead. Between these two main issues the wagon was getting towed quite a few times and was leaving her in a precarious way in some bad areas. At the end of the lease she got rid of it for a 77 BMW 320i 5 speed and never looked back.