[It looked just like this.]
This week, another hand-me-down story. This one begins with the second fuel crisis of 1979. Mother was getting tired of her 1976 Cadillac Fleetwood and its 500 cubic inches of thirst. My childhood best friend’s mother drove a 1975 Volvo 245DL, and I had become enamored of it. The car felt solid, well-built, and right sized. By this time I was 15 and already quite passionate about cars. Still, when mother actually took my suggestion to test-drive a Volvo, I was a bit taken aback that she respected my opinion enough to drive one.
I was even more surprised when she actually bought one. As it turned out, she had an aggressive driving style that worked well in the Volvo, but I’d never seen it before in the big American boats she’d driven prior to this car. Most interesting, indeed.
Mother put about 70,000 on the car, and enjoyed it. By then, my folks were experiencing some hard times, and when mother got a new car, Pop got to drive this one. He hated it. As discussed in my Cadillac tale, Pop loved big American cars, and being forced to drive the Volvo was not only distasteful to him, but it was a blow to his ego, to his inability to afford a car he truly wanted to drive. He put another 60,000 miles on the Volvo but he despised every minute of it, and he beat it like a rented mule.
Their fortunes turned, Mother would get a new car, Pop would get her old car, and I got the call to “just take the Volvo”. It’s sometime around 1994, and the Ranger isn’t doing very well at meeting my transportation needs. One torturous Greyhound ride from Michigan to New York later, the Volvo would be mine.
I named her Nora, after the character in Henrik Ibsen’s play, “A Doll’s House”. If you haven’t read it (since high school?), Nora is an independent woman at a time when that wasn’t a thing, who abandons her husband and children to go “find herself”. I was giving this Volvo a new beginning, and Nora (the character) was Norwegian, which was close enough to Swedish for me!
I learned my way around that car, fixing a number of niggling flaws that would have cost my parents a bundle to have fixed at a shop, but were neither difficult nor costly for a (very) amateur mechanic, which was me at the time.
Then the HVAC blower went out. If the casual reader knows one thing about the Volvo 240, he/she knows that the entire car is assembled around the HVAC blower. At the time, I had no idea how to change one, Internet information was scarce, and no indy shop in town wanted to touch the job.
Ouch. $600 and 7 hours at the dealer, and I had a new blower. Well, okay, the car was free, so I can swallow the big repair bill. I drove that car through the winter and the spring.
Then the transmission started taking longer and longer to engage Drive. Just like the Cadillac (which actually comes later in the chronology) Pop was always remiss in transmission maintenance. It wouldn’t take a crystal ball to see where this was going. A local Ford dealer offered me $800 in trade on Son of Ranger and I didn’t think twice. You’ll hear that story in next week’s episode…
Family member had a ’89 240. This one was a 5 speed. Her method of checking oil was to add when the red light came on, or at least within the next day or two. I added 3 quarts once and it just showed on the bottom of the dipstick after that. This was after after driving up to Washington from San Diego (1100 miles). I finally educated her on checking oil level before the light comes on. That old beast never missed a beat, engine still ran fine at 270k miles when she sold it. Only problems were oil leaks that stopped after replacing (actually drilling holes in) the flame trap. Driveshaft bolts fell out at the front and bent up the shift linkage one time, and at the end of her ownership the original clutch finally failed.
Evan, It’s odd how different people see “status” in cars. Up in nearby Connecticut one of my favorite sail boating authors (the late William F Buckley Jr.), a man of some wealth and status, drove his family around in a Volvo station wagon. He was famous for his politics, but I liked him because he qualified to sail big bareboat charters and he knew how to use a sextant.
https://www.amazon.com/Racing-Through-Paradise-Pacific-Passage/dp/0316114480
I guessed Volvos must be good if William F likes them.
Volvos always seemed to approach status from the foreign and safety end of the spectrum.
While I always was interested in them from afar, when Avis got a few in their local fleet, they were a bit of a disappointment. All-in-all, I preferred the Ford Fairmonts to the Volvos.
So, I can see where your father was coming from.
Don’t forget another famous guy from Connecticut, Paul Newman, and his modified Volvo wagon:
http://jalopnik.com/5540957/the-ford-powered-volvo-wagon-paul-newman-built
http://www.dailyturismo.com/2013/11/found-paul-newmans-1995-volvo-960-v8.html
Jersey, Good point. Paul Newman did so many cool things. He was a Renaissance man and a Mensch.
I still buy Newman’s Own products (especially the pasta sauces), the profits of which go to charity.
He owned a Volvo dealership in Milford, CT known as “Connecticut’s Own” Volvo. When you bought a car there you got a basket of Newman’s Own products!
I thought P.L. Newman was a Nissan man, for he drove Zs in Trans-Am racing.
He was decidedly a fan of the good old VW Beetle (with modifications).
http://www.oldbug.com/newmanvw.htm
OMG…that Beetle! Not quite like the one featured in your COAL series is it?
Katherine Hepburn usually had Volvo wagons at her place in Old Saybrook as well.
My grandparents drove a silver ’83 “GL” (no number) until about 5 years ago, when it was sold (and still looking and running great)! It looked just like the car above but had alloy wheels, black leather interior, automatic, etc. Was that a “real” model or had the number been removed?
Yes it was a real model. For a short period of time in the early 1980’s Volvo just used the trim level (i.e. DL, GL etc) before going back to the 240 and trim level letters (240DL etc) in 1986.
I remember “A Doll’s House;” one of the few pieces of knowledge I’ve managed to retain from the jokes that were non-honors/AP classes in my high school education.
I actually think a RWD Volvo is a fitting substitute for many big American cars of the era; compared to the Japanese sedans my parents always chose (barring the fabulous, fabulously unreliable typ44 Audi my dad briefly had), the Swedish sedans were always so well isolated from road and wind noise, didn’t crash over bumps and had very well padded seats. I guess it’s all relative.
As a kid, I more than once heard or read Brits describe 200 & 700 series Volvos as “Americanized”. They were big, bluff, and thought of as not being “drivers’ cars”. Possibly in contrast to the US, they were seen as traditional, gas guzzlers (!) and were driven by conservatives. (in every sense)
I totally relate to the different driving style in different vehicles thing. In Scotland, I want a manual car that handles well, and I tend to corner relatively quickly even if I’m not in any rush – ie I drive enthusiastically.
From time to time I drive in Minnesota, often in a Suburban, and I’m so laid back my wife berates me for driving like an old woman. I have been known to borrow a Mini Cooper S out there, which I do drive more quickly, but I get tired of it pretty soon due to the nature of the roads. The American friend from whom I borrow the Mini disdains big American cars, but I reckon when we move there I’ll be in the market for a wallowy cocoon. Horses for courses.
When I bought my 89 wagon the used-lot dealer offered to buy the parts for the blower motor replacement if I would install it. I went around and looked at various doubtful replacements on parts counters before buying the OEM (by Electrolux) from the local Volvo dealer. It wasn’t about sticking the seller, but installing the best one.
Plain bearings in any case… I considered retrofitting some sealed-balls in the housing first, but just greased it well, put it back together carefully (last time I saw it), and put ‘er in.
Not hard, just remove everything inside the windshield, then installing the motor is easy. Or there are various ways to cut into the box and sideload it with reduced air movement.
I sourced an uncracked dashpad as well, perfect time to replace that.
I had the orgasmic pleasure of replacing the heater blower in my 245 Volvo…that was..ahem…fun.
It’s the embodiment ‘of Huey Lewis’s ‘Hip to br Square.”
A friend had a 240DL. Ran forever. I loved the overdrive switch in the shift knob. That and International Loadstar trucks had the smoothest clutches I ever put a foot on.
These era Volvos and Mercedes W123s of all stripes are Hipster halo cars around here, extra points for diesels!
Personally, nothing from Volvo has interested me until they announced this new S90. That I’m seriously interested in!
Agreed on the new Volvo S90, wonderful executive sedan. As an aside, I certainly don’t see the sedan-style disappear in the E- and F-segment in the upcoming years. A luxury car still means a big 4-door sedan in my book.
Nice looking car, but it doesn’t really look like a Volvo. Geely may have more influence on design than Volvo management would like to admit.
But what does a Volvo “look like”, objectively? Is there a Platonic form of “Volvo” out there? It’s like the folks that say, for instance, a CTS isn’t a “real” Cadillac. As much as I would rather have a Fleetwood Brougham look alike, a Cadillac is whatever GM slaps a Caddy crest on.
Same with this car.
It looks like a modern and “real” 2016-and beyond Volvo to me. The days of the 20th century bricks are gone, and Volvo -just like everything else- has moved on.
I kind of agree with you. While a company can’t sustain one design language forever, this one takes most of the cues that have defined “Volvoness” since the first S80 (like the strong shoulder line) and tosses them for a clean-sheet look. It’s attractive but if it weren’t for the emblem and vertical bars on the grille I’d have no clue what I was looking at.
Time moves on though and a manufacturer can’t continue one design language for all time (as Jaguar learned and I think Cadillac is starting to see as well.) But the also all-new XC90 manages to look fresh and attractive while maintaining some cues of the older car.
I saw one of these towing a 16′ tandem trailer on I-45 just north of Houston. Had a farm tractor (type unknown but large) and was moving right along. Now the load was probably unsafe but the sight of this thing and that big load was pretty impressive.
My hand-me-down when I got my licence was Dad’s 145DL. Perfect learner car for an idiot driver. My grandfather had two 164s and Mum’s favourite ever car was her fire-engine red 1984 240 sedan. They’re in my blood.
Loved it, Evan. Looking forward to the next instalment.
I had a friend with a gold 164. Interestingly, his had a TE badge on the back, but it sure looked like a regular 164.
You got me curious – wiki:
A limited edition of the 164, the 164TE was made only in 1974 and only for 3 markets, Great Britain, Germany and Australia. The 164TE had extra accessories fitted as standard, being air conditioning, 4 speaker 8 track player with radio, headlight wipe/wash system, rear head rests and rear reading lamps and a fully carpeted boot with lighting. This more upmarket version was only available in 3 colours, being metallic light blue (colour 111), metallic copper (colour 105) and metallic teal (colour 115).
Dad’s 145 was a 1974 ‘runout’ model with the heavier bumpers. Grampa’s second had the heavier bumpers which I think was 74 only, but his was white so looks like not a TE.
Thanks for all the comments, folks!
Yes, Volvo did odd things with the naming conventions throughout the run of the 240 (18 years of the same model!)
At it’s most basic, it was
2=second series (after the 140/160)
4=number of cylinders (4 or 6)
5=number of doors (2-door, 4-door, wagon)
DL/GL/GLE= trim level
After ’79, they played fast and loose with the badging. From ’80-85, the only badges were for the trim level, from 86+ they were badged “240 (trim level) regardless of the number of doors.
But all throughout the run, the vehicles were known internally (and by enthusiasts) by the full name. In the case of Nora I, the only badge she wore was “GL”, but insiders would refer to her as a 244GL.
I’ve done the Volvo 240 heater fan swap. Not hard but very lengthy. Not sure I’d want to do another. I did enjoy owning the Volvo though.
I had a 68 140 series briefly in the early 90’s. It had over 300k miles on a rebuilt motor and would start right up without being plugged in at -30. Never got stuck in the snow and shifted like a tractor with the long throws on the gear change. Had to let it go due to front end problems.
I went to that California once. When I saw all the parking spots with outlets, I was mighty puzzled, on account of it don’t snow much there. Turns out, some of them city cars is E-lectric!
As a driver of a hand-me-down car myself, it’s nice when something falls into your lap for the bargain price of $0 and then provides reliable service, even if for a relatively short time. I’ve heard the horror stories of that blower fan replacement and even though $700 was a lot of money in 1994 (it’s still kind of a lot of money in my opinion) having the dealership do it might have been a good idea.
Once I have the time to get back to working on it, my own Volvo is providing some of the same kind of learning experiences in fixing problems that I’ve not had to deal with on other cars I’ve owned. Though a V6 780 is a bit more complex than the venerable 244…
If I could find a nice lightly used 240DL, I’d buy it in a minute.