If you’ve ever sold a car on Craigslist, there’s probably an image of it somewhere in your computer. Finding them is like a weird trip down Memory Lane. I poked around in my hard-drive and found at least four cars I’ve sold over the past 15 years. I know there should be more, but here’s my rogues gallery for now.
Let’s start with my unicorn. It was a beautiful blue 1987 Volvo 240 wagon, with a 5-speed manual and roll-up windows. What a great car, probably one of my all-time favorites. Fun to drive, great in snow, and able to haul anything short of a piano. I first saw it parked along Chuckanut Drive with a red-and-black for sale sign. I bought it from a retired college professor who only drove it to the university and back. The wagon was almost 20 years old when I got it, but only had about 130K on the clock. The prof bought it new in Sweden under the “Special Delivery” program, which meant he and his wife got to drive through Europe before shipping the car to America. That must have been a great trip.
We drove the ’87 wagon for three or four years before the clutch needed replacing. It was an expensive fix (for us), but we stuck with it another couple years until the heater fan-shaft failed. This time we couldn’t afford the fix, so we ended up selling the wagon cheap on Craigslist. Soon after we sold ours, the Volvo 240 wagon started becoming an “it car” in the Pacific Northwest. Young people were spending ridiculous sums to rescue clapped-out wagons (and drive them to the Food Co-Op on weekends). Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but I really missed my payday on that one!
The ’87 wagon was only one in a long line of Swedish Steel. Around 2006 I spotted a sable brown 1981 Volvo 240 wagon in a grocery store parking lot. We called this place the “Hickey Mart,” since the main cashier always seemed have a neck full of love bites. Now it’s a Trader Joe’s. The price for the Volvo was $600 and by the end of the transaction I figured out the seller was an old classmate. Small world. “The Sable” was a placeholder until we could afford something better, but it had a 4-speed manual and was fun to drive. It leaked like a sieve, so I sold it to a bro for $500. He said he needed an alternative to maxing out the lease mileage on his huge, lifted truck. Fair enough. Good bye, Sable!
The 1992 Mazda Protege was my wife’s car before we were married in 2006. It was a good enough little people-mover, but cursed with the F-4EAT automatic transmission. This unit was also used in the Ford Escort, in case you had one of those. The beginning of the end for our Mazda was when our son started using it for an early morning paper route. All the starting and stopping played hell with the AT, which apparently started to F-4EAT itself. Even with the killer rims and tires, we sold the Protege for $500 to one of the creepiest guys I ever shook hands with. Thanks, Craigslist. Bye, Proto!
Finally, there was our super-cool 1997 Honda Accord wagon, with 5-speed manual transmission. Another low-mileage unicorn, I’ve never seen another one just like it. This car has been described elsewhere on CC, but really was the last of its breed. The guy I bought it from was an engineer who lived on a golf course. It took us three hours and a ferry ride to find the place. I paid top dollar for the wagon in 2012, but only drove it for a couple of years. Turns out the seats were torture on my back. If not for the awkward seating position, I’d probably still be driving this one.
I still check Craigslist a few times a week, but my horse-trading days are over. When I find all the other old car images on my computer, I’ll submit another rogues gallery. If I remember right, the next one should feature a Ford, a Honda, and a Jeep. Happy Motoring!
Bet you those Volvos are still knocking around somewhere.
For anyone who missed it, I penned a fun QOTD about Craigslist kooks a couple of years back. Feel free to add to it if you had some memorable experiences of your own:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/qotd/qotd-whats-the-craziest-craigslist-kook-youve-ever-encountered/
Thanks for the link, Scott. Your Van Man sounded weird, but the tiny muscular lurker who wouldn’t leave? Positively creepy. The latest CL things I noticed are people who type out their ads from their phones, with auto-fills like “Alpha David of Ownership” (for affidavit) and a guy who said his car had burn marks on it because his garage “Cough Fire.” Wow. Only on CL!
Nice rigs, all them, in fact I’ve considered buying an example of each over the years. Back then I would have preferred the blue Volvo over the brown one, now I find the brown one with the four eyes and the steelies and small center caps to look positively charming and the ’87 to have a little too much updating lipstick on it.
I was at a junkyard in Wyoming last month and wandered around the back where they had just loaded a silver over black manual ’85 240 wagon into the crusher before the operator went to lunch before hitting the button. It had “crush” written on the window and I asked the guy how come it had never been in the yard (it’s a fairly low turnover yard so the cars sit for a while). He said there was zero demand for parts for the Volvo so they just crush them when they come in. This is the same place that conversely put the ’87 Pontiac LeMans out in the field, still untouched four months later… Sad to see, as down in the Denver area (100 miles south) the Volvo would have been picked clean.
I also considered a Protege at least once for my dollars, seemed like a great value compared to a Civic or Corolla and with a nicer interior.
And the Accord wagon, hard to go wrong there, just always pricey, for good reason.
That’s surprising about no demand for the Volvo parts. These 240s are being discovered now by another (3rd; 4th?) generation of young people. I keep seeing them here being driven by young women who can’t be past their mid 20s. It’s as hip as it has been since they were new, when they had the “Waldorf School Mom” stigma.
And having been a Waldorf school parent since 1987, I know what I speak of. The first one, in Northridge, was full of them, new ones, mostly. When we moved here in ’93, the parking lot was full of lightly-used ones. And on it goes… I wonder when it will end.
I was surprised as well, but I do see vastly more Volvos here in Colorado than in Cheyenne or Laramie (older, RWD ones anyway, plenty of AWDs up there too).
It could be that they are out of touch but their yard does consist of at least a 3:1 ratio domestics vs imports whereas the Denver area yards generally have larger import than domestic sections nowadays.
I missed the part about it being in Wyoming. My bad.
If I remember right, the girl who bought our ’87 wagon was a Montessori school teacher, in her mid-20s, and earnest as all get-out. Totally fit the description. Hope she’s still driving it.
I find junkyard operators do not care for imports of any kind beyond maybe Honda Civics.
Come to Denver and I shall show you fields of gold(en imports), my son.
Thanks Jim. I’m with you on the ’81 over the ’87 on looks. Those TV headlights were in constant need of replacement from rock chips (which made them fill up with dirty water). As for the Accord wagon, it was a straight-up bank vault, totally overbuilt and solid as a rock. A kid from Eastern Washington bought that one, so it’s probably still tootling around the Methow Valley…
A volvo like that top one was for sale in my neighborhood when my oldest son was looking for his first car. I tried to tell him how great they were, but all he could see was “Dad Wagon”. So he ended up with a “Grand-Pa Marquis”. Go figure.
And I love the Accord wagon. A friend of my mother’s bought one new and may still have it, for all I know. I always kind of wanted one of those, and a 5 speed would seal the deal. I would like to avoid the Heather Mist paint, but that is almost impossible. It’s like looking for a Chrysler Newport that’s not olive green or a Miata that’s not red. They are out there, but about half the cars you find will not make your cut.
Funny, we had a ’71 Mercury Marquis when I was high school, and it WAS a grandpa-mobile! And as for the Honda Accords, we see a lot of them around here in that pale “rosewood” color. Either that or the ubiquitous teal from the early ’90s…
I have been searching Craigslist daily for the past 6 years (it’s part of my daily routine now) for an Accord Wagon with a 5 speed manual transmission. I’ve only found 2 in that time. One was a 1992 priced at $15,000 because it had “over $10,000 in speakers” in it. Hard pass on that one. The other was 94 I think and it was already sold when I called about it. The hunt continues.
I have a busy thru road at the end of my street which has proved an effective place to dispose of cars and there are always cars for sale parked along there so listing online hasnt been needed, facebook has some interesting car disposal pages here a mate of mine admins one called buy it b4 I wreck it, quite incredible how much people think their end of life junk is worth, mostly well worn ex JDM imports drawing their last breath before the rebar pile.
I remember an article in the LA Times a few years ago that included the 240 wagons on a list of “cool” cars for young people. But here in Santa Cruz they mostly seem to be driven by their now elderly first or second owners. Though usually with a surfboard or ladders and tools inside. The local Waldorf School parking lot has Subaru’s and CRV’s.
Got a ’84 Volvo Wagon & I know it’s a goodie (surf city here we come)
It’s got a 5 speed and a hook to hang my hoodie (surf city here we come)
There’s a red block four sitting under the hood
And there no rust so I know I got it goodd…
And I’m going to Surf City where my ‘Net is free
Going to Surf City, the brew of the day’s from Italy
Going to Surf City, ’cause the barristas are fine
Going to Surf City cause I’ll have a good time
Wi-Fi for everyone…
I used to think Volvo 240s were awkwardly styled cars, as they get older they seem to look better.
Is the “heater fan-shaft” on a 240 buried somehow? On a lot of cars back then (full size GM and Omnirizon, both with AC, to mention two I am familiar with) the fan/motor was right there on the outside of the HVAC unit under the dashboard and easily removable without taking anything off, so very little labor and easily done by anyone.
I had a 1990 TransSport that needed its second heater core about ten years ago. The dealer wanted $900. One AC specialist place wouldn’t work on it but referred me to a one man plus helper place that they said worked on old stuff. He had pigeons in cages in the office and took no doubt not reported cash in round numbers: $300. On those the heater core was actually easily accessible and being a minivan there was lots of space without needing the painful human contortions a regular sedan might require.
Honda seats back then: I once rode on a couple hour trip in the passenger seat of one of those first gen two door Acuras. The pain increased in my then much younger lower back until I had to sit sideways. Never had this same pain experience before or since. I had an also Japanese top trim model 1981 Mazda GLC once and the front seats in that were pretty terrible also, although without the pain feature.
The fan for the heater was seriously buried beneath all the electronic switches in the center console, which had to be totally disassembled to get at it. Also, there was talk of a “short-cut” that involved drilling out the shaft with a hole saw bit. Only for the bravest of DIYers.
My father braved that repair on our 1985 240 wagon. I remember that the reason the fans always go is because the fans never really shut off. It always runs on “1” every time the ignition is on.
The fan repair took the better half of two days. One day to extract it and another day to put it back together. It took two trips to the dealer. 1 to buy the fan motor and a second to buy replacement plastic clips (for all the ones that dad broke!).
Great car. Very reliable. Horrible air conditioning. It had 176k on the clock with the original engine and transmission completely unmolested when dad finally got rid of it in 2015 ish.
It’s one of those cars where they start with the fan motor and build the car around it. Failure is quite common on the 240 and it’s a notoriously involved job stripping most of the dash out
Sounds like the A-10 and it’s GAU-8 Gun. First plane where the designers started with the weapons and built around it.
The ’73-’93 Volvo 140-164-240-260 cars are built around the blower motor. Replacement is a long, arduous, bloody task with a vicious learning curve, but those who persist (Evan, I’m looking in your direction) eventually get it down to shockingly fast times.
We’d be damning the Volvo 240 as being a deadly sin with the persistent heater shaft issues if it was an American car. I can see the comments now:
“Volvo sucked for never fixing it! They should have known better!”
“They deserved to be bought by the chinese”
“This guy I met over pool once said his friend has one and it’s a piece of junk”
The Volvo heater is certainly a deadly sin, although overshadowed by transgressions by all manufacturers. We loved our 1978 240, but sold it because of this expensive heater/fan repair. My notion was that Volvo assembly started with a heater part on a string. Not as original as I thought, though. A Volvo deadly sin for sure.
Not by any definition of “deadly sin” I can reasonably think of, no, it wasn’t. An automotive deadly sin is something that is highly injurious to its maker’s sales, success, or reputation. The Volvo 140-164-240-260 cars were so well liked (and bought) that Volvo kept them in production for twenty-seven years using the same body shell—the last twenty of which with the blower motor we’re talking about here.
Great collection of wagons! I also had a ’97 Accord wagon with a 5-speed. It was the last car I owned before only having company cars. Here it is pictured in Platoro, CO.
Wow, what a beautiful spot. You could car camp in the wagon if you folded down the seats and laid diagonally…