Already popular in their native country, 1988 was the year Roxette released their second studio album, Look Sharp!, which propelled the Swedish pop-rock duo to international fame and success. Featuring chart-topping singles, such as “Listen to Your Heart”, “The Look”, my personal favorite of “Dangerous”, and “Dressed for Success”, the very latter of which is how I would describe this other Swedish export of 1988, this Volvo 240 DL.
Long viewed as a car bought by those looking for a premium, comfortable, and safe European car without the pretentiousness of brands such as Mercedes-Benz or Jaguar, owning a newer Volvo in and of itself signified that one had some money, as Volvos weren’t exactly the most budget-friendly cars. While less in your face about it, ownership of an “unpretentious” Volvo nonetheless showed that one was dressed for success.
With several million sold and somewhat simpler mechanics and electronics, the 200 Series is typically more commonly found on the roads today than the 1980’s era 700 Series, and often in excellent condition like this 1988 considering its vintage. While fashion trends change with the times, understated elegance (see “business casual”) is something that can always be pulled off with success.
And for those looking for some up-beat ’80s beats and glory, here’s the full music video.
Photographed in Hanover, Massachusetts – May 2018
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So, Volvo was the non-GM version of Buick or Oldsmobile. A car for those who had “made it” but did not want to “flaunt it”. These were the right car at the right point in history. As Americans moved away from US brands, this would be a great choice for the folks with the means to buy something more flashy but didn’t. Perfect for the country club, or mall, yet still better than a plebian Ford or Chevy. As to your point of dressed for success, this would be the equivalent of a Ralph Lauren Polo shirt, with the little polo player embroidered over one’s heart. Same sentiment, and of the same era. It told those “in the know” that you had made a sophisticated choice, went for the slightly more expensive version, but were not showing off. Much.
Swedish brick, Swedish Buick. Potato, potahto.
In the 80s I found the classic proportions of these cars so much nicer than much of what was coming out of Detroit, with all of their creases and angles and plastic cladding or decals. The only problem was that these were really aimed at non-car people. You got plenty of image, but not that much in the way of power or driving dynamics.
Still, as I have matured the wagon version of these appeals to me more and more. A very nice find (that is quite the contrast to what I presume to be your BMW parked right next to it.)
It’s funny you mention that as you’ve matured, the wagon appeals to you more, as it’s honestly been the same with me concerning Volvo wagons as a whole. As a kid, I never really liked Volvo wagons, because they were what many parents of friends drove, making them decidedly boring. Yet with the increased popularity of SUVS/CUVS as well as maturity, I can truly appreciate these Volvo wagons’ virtues now, and I honestly love them.
Thanks so much for sharing this. I recall when Roxette first hit the pop charts here – and became a huge fan once Joyride came out. Unfortunately their Swedish pop-rock sound became a bit passe once Nirvana and the resultant “Seattle sound” hit. Still, it was a good ride while it lasted. Kind of like the 240. Sales were steady throughout the 1980s but as the 1990s approached, there was no disguising the fact that it was waay behind the times in pretty much every metric!
Very true, and thank you for making the parallel of Roxette’s appeal and the 240’s more clear. There’s something special to be said about “optimistic simplicity” of both 🙂
Gotta say, I prefer Joe Jackson’s “Look Sharp” album from 1979.
We had an ’85 245 DL wagon that served us well. There was a shortage due to a strike at Bosch, and our dealer sent his son and a few friends over to take delivery in Sweden on some available cars, including ours. When the fourth child came along my wife passed it to me as my commuter car. Kept it a total of ten years, about 140,000 miles. Only major repair was a new steering rack; even the original clutch was still sound. It sold on the first day I listed it in the paper, for more than asking price as by noon several parties were on their way and the first guy feared a bidding war. Must not have asked enough, I guess!
Odd to think of the contrast with today’s families… with three kids and a retriever we were just fine for long trips in that wagon. That’s what roof racks are for. It seems today’s soccer moms “need” a Suburban as soon as #2 is a gleam in their husband’s eyes.
These even became rental car fodder. Ford owned both Volvo and Hertz in the early 90s and if one reserved a full-size sedan in Philadelphia, the car could well be a Volvo 240. I had it happen twice. Compared to the Ford Taurus or Mercury Sable, they were just about as roomy and comfortable, noisier especially with wind noise, and slower both in acceleration and in driving on twisty country roads. But…and I got both of the Volvos in winter…the Hertz Volvo 240s had heated seats, and the Hertz Fords didn’t!
Ford did not buy Volvo Cars until 1999. I could imagine Volvo selling the 240 to rental car companies, however, especially once the 9xx and 850 arrived.
Loved the tie-in between the car and the group. If only Roxette could have enjoyed as much longevity on the U.S. charts as they did in other countries – or as long as this Volvo platform.
I feel there was lots of really great pop music coming out in the early ’90s, but as you referenced, the advent of grunge and other harder-sounding forms rendered a lot of would-be hits as sounding out-of-step. I listened to my share of Alternative back then, but now a lot of it just makes me feel angry, so I really can’t enjoy all of it as much! LOL
To echo your point, these cars always seemed like a safe, modest, smart choice among the European imports. (Also, I had “Look Sharp” on cassette – those who just bought the singles missed out on the just-as-good album tracks, i.e. “Dance Away”. 🙂 )
Much agreed. As much as I do find the angrier tones of early ’90s alt-rock and mid-early ’00s alt-rock a guilty pleasure on certain days, the softer, optimistic tones of late ’80s/early ’90s pop-rock such as Roxette is truly feel-good music, that I honestly feel is just as relevant today as it was when it came out.
+1 for the Roxette reference, Brendan 🙂 their songs sound in my head for last few weeks, especially Dangerous.
I also like the car and its ‘business casual’ design. It’s a shame that their number in Slovakia is close to none. Recently I’ve been to Finland and there were still some running. But I don’t remember seeing one in Slovakia.
Though I’ve never been to either Slovakia or Finland (yet) I feel like there might be a some more local pride of Volvo in Finland as it’s next to Sweden, which might result in the more dedicated ownership of older Volvos. But just a thought. Headed to Europe this November again, so we’ll see where the road takes me.
Aggh! In 1989, I played keyboards for a year in a traveling show band criss-crossing the USA at least twice. We played the Roxette songs “The Look” and “Dressed for Success” too many times.
Too Many Times?
*’80’s song by Mental As Anything, much covered then. Great tune, actually, YouTube it, (I can’t make links work). Well worth a listen.
Oh, I see how it is around here now. MB and Jaguar are “pretentious” but BMW strangely gets a pass… 🙂 I wonder why that could be…
Roxette was a (fun) flash in the pan but more the 780 coupe equivalent, here today, gone tomorrow), but the Volvo 240 actually has/had Abba-esque staying power!
Mamma Mia, the Volvo 240’s Waterloo moment was when Volvo realized FWD was the future and the Name Of The Game was the 850 as its new Dancing Queen. It’s too bad that Volvo ran out of Money, Money, Money and had to say Thank You For The Music when they said I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do to that suitor not named Fernando but Ford (still an F!) and then eventually Gimme, Gimme, Gimme, to Geely, Geely, Geely…Knowing Me, Knowing You, we both know Volvo has been Under Attack for decades now, I wonder Does Your Mother Know what a Super Trouper the 240 was in your area?
Okay Mr. Porsche 911 owner.. 🙂
Well played, Sir, well played…
The Visitors drive BMWs…..
By the time these were last made, they were very outdated looking but they still sold well. These were very popular with the well off and were status symbols just like the Jeep Wagoneer (another vehicle that was dated by the time it was discontinued)
Besides being well built, they also screamed longevity. A person born in 1974 when these first were made would have been in their 2nd year of college in 1993 when these were discontinued.
Across from my watchmaker’s place there is a home that has a new Subaru Forester sitting beside a well maintained 86-93 Volvo 240 wagon. I think this is fitting as Subaru seems to be the spiritual successor of the Volvo 240/740
They were comfy to ride in and came with features that not a lot of cars had back then (like an Airbag and heated front seats)
That said these were no rockets and were very tractor like when driving. There were also little quirks that the car had (such as having two fuel pumps) and I always had to keep a spare fuel pump relay in the glove box along with a bunch of fuses
I miss my 1990 wagon
I looked for one of these in decent condition last time I needed to get another car.
Perhaps most Volvo owners wasn’t enthusiasts, but there definitely was some enthusiasts at Volvo headquarters.
In fact, Volvo was notorious for approving, and supplying paperwork to the dmv, to install chevy smallblock V8’s in any 240 series vehicle.
And this in european countries, were almost any engine swap to a more powerful one, would be denied, even just from say a standard to a gti version.
But with Volvo, “No just go right ahead, we built this car to handle a V8 to begin with, no upgrades necessary for DMV approvement. Where can we send the paperwork?”
Are you saying an engine swap would be illegal in Europe?
I don’t know why that would be surprising- In the US, many engine swaps are technically “illegal.” I refer you to a passage from the EPA’s “Engine Switching Fact Sheet:”
“It should be noted that while EPA’s policy allows engine switches as long as the resulting vehicle matches exactly to anv certified configuration of the same or newer model year as the chassis, there are some substantial practical limitations to performing such a replacement.
Vehicle chassis and engine designs of one vehicle manufacturer are very distinct from those of another, such that it is generally not possible to put an engine into a chassis of a different manufacturer and have it match up to a certified configuration.
Therefore, practical considerations will generally limit engine switches to installation of another engine which was certified to be used in that same make and model (or a “twin” of that make and model, e.g., Pontiac Grand Am and Oldsmobile Calais). In addition, converting a vehicle into a different certified configuration is likely to be very difficult, and the cost may prove prohibitive.”
It goes on from there, but the bottom line is unless you can establish that the engine and emissions package installed in the vehicle was certified at some point for that platform, it must be certified using a lengthy and costly FTP test.
Of course, we can all point to registered vehicles that don’t conform to EPA guidelines, but that’s a failure of enforcement, not regulation.
These vehicles may be registered outside an emissions testing area, where no one inspects or identifies non-compliant vehicles. Within emissions testing areas, any vehicle that passes a visual inspection and the local tailpipe test gets an pass even if it does not conform to the EPA policy as written.
Legal if its an 100% equal replacement. Illegal if its a “Hotrod” upgrade.
This for many reasons, emissions being one, tax brackets based on engine size and horsepower being another. Safety and handling being a wildcard.
Unless one have a willing manufacturer who will stand behind the modifications, like Volvo.
I don’t find your statements about Volvo authorizing/standing behind engine swaps as being credible. It strikes me as an urban legend. You would have to show me some citations/proof before I believe this. There’s no way you’re going to get the TUV in Germany to approve a Chevy small-block V8 in a 240. Unless you convince me otherwise.
This being many years ago, I no longer have any copy of said paperwork. But I recieved, in person, the paperwork to approve my own car, after the dmv confiscated the car, citing illegal engine swap.
This was from 1.9 litre to 2.3 litre out of a 740.
My buddy however, who I bought this Volvo from, did a V8 swap in his next one, to a 305 Tpi out of a camaro. The paperwork was typically supplied along with an smallblock engine mount kit for these cars. They could be had seperately aswell.
In Norway, the dmw either require Tuv approval, or manufacturer approval. It was my understanding that 1 car had gone through the tuv process of acquiring approval for this modification, and all similar subsequently modified vehicles would use a copy of this paperwork at the dmv. It could also be had at the volvo dealer.
I believe this was shut down later, but was still avaliable around 1990-1995 or so.
Its no urban legend, 240’s in Scandinavia in essentially the -69 camaro of europe. The pictured 2 door, is a 768 hp turbo car.
These cars were also homologated to the different rally classifications, among them Group A Rally, and as such, had requirements if avaliability of factory over the counter hopup parts, such as chassis kits, camshafts, cylinderheads, turbo kits etc. They started out as a laughingstock, but soon left everyone in the dust. This is undeniable history.
I had the complete chassis kit on mine, bilstein dampers, stiff springs,thicker swaybars, harder bushings, a man did that ever make a huge difference, along with the pirrelli P-zero’s.
All avaliable from your local Volvo dealer, displayed in the pretty thick volvo catalogue.
A little poking around would reveal all of this to be fact. No need to take my word for it.
As for Germany, I have no clue, I never lived there.
Here’s one for sale, use google translate. https://www.dinside.no/autofil/na-selges-norges-artigste-volvo-240/66605147
I’ll take Paul’s word for it that such a swap wouldn’t be approved in Germany, but last I checked in the UK, all you had to do was inform the DVLA that the engine capacity had changed – I’m sure most people don’t even bother to do that.
The ones who I have talked to who have acquired tuv approval for “hotrod engine swaps”, have usually stated that aslong as the manufacturer isnt explicitly against it, tuv approval can be had.
And I personally talked to a Tuv engineer, by phone to a German Tuv station, about the possibility of a VW V8 swap, and which if any details he could give me a heads-up on. This was entirely possible according to him, aslong as everything was balanced, and not completely hairy and way over the top in one way or another.
And I believe this was the case with Volvo and their 240. The development history of the 240 model though, was to market it as a V8 equipped vehicle. But later in the development process, the V8 option was dismissed,either for cost reasons to develop such an engine, or for marketing reasons, or perhaps a combination of several factors. Its undeniable that the 240 seems rather over engineered, beefier than it has to be, in most regards.
I would think such engine swaps would ve even easier in Germany though, afterall, they put porsche 3.2 litres in Vanagons, the B32. And then there is the 6 cylinder WBX-6 3.7 litre Oettinger vanagons, all street legal hopup kits.
I cant see why a volvo 240 with a V8 would be an issue in Germany. But I don’t have first hand knowledge with that country. I did see tuv approved 4.0 Opel manta’s at the time though, either a six or small v8.
Under P.G Gyllenhammar’s lead, the intention for a V8 240 was planned as early as 1966, but was put to rest by 1973 after the oil crisis. The 240 was by then mostly finished in developement, and launched as a -75.
http://www.rennelch.de/volvo_240/volvo_240.htm
Because of my age and the places that I have lived, I consider these, and the GL, to be the last “real” Volvos. The GLE’s V6 was garbage.
GLT’s was the sporty ones, in addition to the turbo version.
Everyone knows my thoughts on these cars. Mrs. Bear had a GL wagon, our families third Volvo. Next stop for us was a series of Suburbans and Expeditions that spanned almost two decades.
i like these Volvo’s i was actually looking for one here in NYC but the one’s i found either needed lots of work or were priced out of what i wanted to spend. i found an 88 Deville and bought that instead.
I would tend to think of Volvo 240’s as some clumpenhoofer alpenhorn faceslapping ensemble – and yes, I understand Sweden is not Switzerland – because they’re so frumpy and didn’t age and came back year after year for what seemed like a fairly painful eternity, rather than associating them with flashy pop music emphemera. (Music I possibly may or may not have teeny-bopped along to, even if I did think the lyric was “I’m gonna get fresh”. Until, well, now. Ahem. Never was good with lyrics).
The film industry agrees with me. Has anyone else noticed just how ubiquitous these are across ’80’s and ’90’s US movies, usually without any apparent thematic reason? It grew such that I knew I was watching a good old Hollywood flick once I’d spied the Swede. I presume it had to do with serious prosaic concerns like reliability and sturdiness. For the directors, these cars were dressed to serve.
Nice post, Brendan. Even if I think they’re dressed more for the commune than anything else.
Trolling the local YMCA lot will yield surprises there eh Brendan?