Ask any 10 automobile enthusiasts, and you’re likely to get 12 opinions. Yet for some reason, enthusiasts seem to be in complete agreement on the desire for one car: a brown, RWD, Diesel station wagon with a manual transmission. At least in the USA, this is a rare beast. I may be one of the few Americans who has ever owned one. As the Packard ads used to say, “Ask the man who owns one.” Well, I don’t anymore, but I used to, and here’s the story…
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, I had a fairly successful side business of buying junk Volvos, mostly 240s, and parting them out for sale on eBay and some of online Volvo forums. At one point, I had listed on eBay a set of immaculate door cards from a 1980 244GL, in blue.
A fellow from the next town over contacted me, asking if I would be willing to deliver, if he won the auction. I was happy to, as I was not particularly excited about boxing up door cards. That’s how I met Bob.
Bob was an anachronism. At the time, he was a 25-year certified ASE Master Mechanic, working at what must have been one of the last remaining Service Stations in America. Yes, they sold gas and had 3 service bays. You could drive across the hose that made the bell go “ding” inside, and an apprentice mechanic would run out, pump your gas, air up your tires, and wash your windshield! in 2002!
Being that Bob had done every common auto-repair task hundreds, if not thousands, of times, Bob made a hobby of buying obscure vehicles and restoring them. This was his way of taking on new challenges.
Bob had done a mechanical restoration of a 1985 Volvo 245DL Diesel. The body was pretty rotten though, so he had found a 1984 Volvo 245GL Diesel with a dead engine, and was in the midst of a re-body.
He was using the blue interior from the donor car, but it had holes in the door cards for window cranks. The new body had power windows, and that’s why he needed my door cards.
The new body was brown (of course!) Volvo never sold a brown over blue 240, so Bob’s creation was a one-of-a-kind. I found the color combination quite fetching.
Bob and I became good friends, and still are. He’s now past 40 years on his ASE certifications, and he runs his own one-man shop.
Fast-forward to 2006. I was driving another mythical beast, a 1992 Plymouth Voyager minivan with a five-speed manual. I was already planning my relocation from Michigan to Las Vegas and although the van was running decently enough, the air conditioning was totally inop, and I knew I would want A/C in the desert.
I brought the van to Bob to assess the viability of a full rehab of the A/C system. His estimate was 150% of my purchase price of the van. I asked Bob if he had any better ideas.
“Well,” said Bob, “The guy I sold my Diesel wagon to is looking to get rid of it. Last I saw it, the A/C still worked.” I called the guy and bought it immediately for $1000.
I spent about another $500 for Bob to do some neglected maintenance and minor repair. Since the whole car was Bob’s work, I knew it was good. I trusted and respected Bob more than any other mechanic I have ever met.
The gasoline-powered Volvo 240 was no speed demon, and the Diesel was worse. Even on a fresh rebuild, the 0-60 time could be measured on an hourglass. I was no stranger to slow cars, having previously owned a Mercedes 240D (stickshift, naturally), so I re-taught myself how to drive a slow car and had a blast driving my “new” wagon!
Still, I was planning on driving this 22-year-old car on a cross-country relocation, so it needed a good shakedown. A couple of months after purchase, I took my wagon to a family function, round-trip from Michigan to DC.
With the exception of a loose alternator belt, the trip went flawlessly. I discovered that the D24/M46 was happiest at 100 km/h, or 62 mph, so I kept to the right lane and let the cruise control do the work. At that speed, even on the rolling hills of that trip, I got 36mpg. It made me happy, and all it took was some patience.
[Vanity plate amused me. Prancing moose decal from davebarton.com]
By February of 2007, my divorce was final, my house was sold, and the wagon was packed to the gills with all my worldly possessions. I even mounted a cargo carrier to a trailer hitch that I had installed, loaded with even more stuff.
(Side note: The car weighed about 3200 lbs. empty. Even with the under-powered 80hp Diesel, Volvo rated the car to tow 3300 lbs. Please don’t ever try to do that!)
The trip started off flawlessly. In the flat parts of the country, still puttering along at 62mph, I saw a couple of tanks that netted in excess of 40mpg. I can’t think of many other cars that would have taken that load and returned that mileage.
As it was winter, and I wanted to avoid the snowy mountains of Colorado, I took the southern route. Basically, I-55 south to I-44 west to I-40 west. Somewhere just west of Amarillo, Texas, the wagon flat-out died. Being no Diesel mechanic, I had it towed, to the only shop in town the driver could recommend to work on a Diesel car.
That shop changed a slightly leaky fuel line and sent me on my way. At the EXACT SAME SPOT on the highway, the car died again. By then, the shop that worked on it was closed, but I had the car towed back there again and got a room for the night.
Anyhow, they said they couldn’t get it to fail, and had it towed again to another shop. The second shop could not get it to fail either. They wanted to tow it to the closest Volvo dealer, 150 miles away. Problem was, I was sure nobody at a Volvo dealership had seen a 245 Diesel in forever, and had no faith they could solve the problem, either.
I got on the Internet and started doing some research. All my online Volvo pals pointed me to one man – the Great Guru of Volvo Diesels in the US, Tom Bryant of Maine. I got Tom on the phone, and we talked through all of the possibilities in a two-hour phone call.
The big clue was the car dying twice in the EXACT SAME SPOT. Tom knew, but I didn’t, that the D24 had an altitude-compensating device, designed to adjust the fuel mixture at elevations over 1000 meters. Some quick research indicated that Amarillo was at about 950m, and the highway went uphill as it headed west.
Now we knew the (likely) problem, but what was the solution? Tom asked me if Bob had installed a new engine wiring harness when he did the rebuild, as the Volvo wiring harnesses of that era were problem spots. I told Tom that the car did indeed have a new harness.
The light bulb went off in Tom’s head. There are 2 wires in the harness that go to the Bosch VE injection pump. One supplies 12 volts when the key is on, to open the fuel flow solenoid. The other one provides 12 volts to the altitude sensor. At low altitudes, the sensor passes the 12 volts to the fuel adjustment device, and above 1000m, the sensor cuts off the power.
When Bob had installed the new harness, some 5 years earlier, he had crossed the two wires. Because of that, any time the car got over 1000 meters of elevation, it would shut off the fuel solenoid. For the ensuing five years, nobody, including me, had ever driven the car at high altitude, so no one knew anything was wrong.
Tom told me to go look at the car, after digging up the wiring diagrams. I forget the exact facts, but it went something like this. “If there’s a gray wire on the fuel solenoid, and a blue wire on the mixture solenoid, it’s wired backwards. Switch the two wires and be on your way.”
I got a cab to the shop and, sure enough, Tom was right! I swapped the wires and was finally able to continue my journey. Just like Bob, Tom had become a fast friend, and remains so to this day.
The rest of the journey was totally uneventful in my loaded wagon, with the exception of some of the highway grades in New Mexico and Arizona. I had white knuckles up those hills, barely able to maintain 40mph in third gear, but we made it, that wagon and I!
[Not at all factory. 240 parts are seriously interchangeable]
That wagon kept me going as I got on my feet and found my way in Las Vegas. But in 2 years the alternator died. Unlike every other 240 I have ever known, my wagon had a Motorola alternator, rather than the common Bosch. Nobody knew why, and not many people even knew Motorola made alternators. No remanufactured units or rebuild kits were available anywhere, so my only choice was to convert to a Bosch unit.
As I was hunched over the right fender, trying to figure out what brackets I needed for the conversion, the car *literally* punched me in the gut. The strut bushing failed and the strut popped through, right into my stomach.
Every man has his limits, and that was mine. Through a friend of a friend, I met a mechanic who loved Diesels, and loved Volvos, but had never had the two in combination. The guy gave me $200 and hauled it off on a trailer. I never looked back.
Figuring for the use I got out of it, that car was one of the best automotive purchases of my life. But if you want to live the dream of the RWD, Diesel, stick shift, brown wagon, you had better be a patient person and know some very good mechanics. Tell Tom Bryant I sent you.
Great story! The 1000m elevation breakdown is as unique and specific as the car! Also as slow as the car was, I expect an automatic version would be truly glacial.
Just for fun I did a search for this combination, I did find a manual diesel rwd station wagon for sale (BMW 520d), but it was black. I think BMW offered brown in 2010, maybe there is one out there.
I remember riding in a Peugeot 504 diesel manual wagon too, but it was green. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were available in brown.
I also had an automotive problem diagnosed over the phone. I bought a brand new 1974 Fiat 124 Coupe from one of two local Fiat dealers. I knew everyone who worked there and helped them lock the shop before I left. They were closing early and going racing.
Halfway home the voltmeter dropped to zero. I made it home and called a guy who had owned the competing Fiat dealership. (We were all friends) He said, ” The big orange wire has fallen off the fuse box.” I looked under the dash, and there it was; curled up like a striking cobra. A little squeeze with the dykes, and it never came loose again
Great story. Many of us in the same boat with reference to starting over. You showed patience that many don’t have.
I’ll sign on to the love of the stick/brn/diesel wagon but for now I would be tickled pink if Toyota had stuck a diesel in my current ride.
Thanks for the well written yarn.
I remember this generation Volvo. I was too young at the time to drive, but I used to know some people who owned a couple of them and said that they’d buy another one. I’d buy a diesel powered model if more were available. It’s unforgivable that the diesel version never sold well here in the U.S.A.
I too, discovered the Motorola alternator, under the hood of my ’70 AMC Hornet.
Having never heard of such a beast, nor had the parts store- I chose to have mine rebuilt. Still not sure if that move was a folly, but where I live, even at the time (late 90’s) junked AMC’s weren’t easy to find.
Rambler started using Motorola alternators and solid state voltage regulators in 1963. In 140,000 miles the alternator in my ’63 was replaced only once which was pretty good in those days. Also the original battery lasted 7 years.
Old diesel wagons (GM not included) are, to my mind, the pinnacle of usable and inexpensive classic car ownership. I daily drive a 1985 Peugeot 505 wagon, and it does everything I need a car to do while getting 35mpg. Top cruising speed is an indicated 70mph, and that is fine with me.
Hey, I had a 245 in exactly that same colour, and it subsequently had exactly that same owner!
You are that guy?
““Well,” said Bob, “The guy I sold my Diesel wagon to is looking to get rid of it. Last I saw it, the A/C still worked.” I called the guy and bought it immediately for $1000.”
Nope. Same colour, same eventual owner, different car.
Yes, I lost count of the number of Volvo 240s I’ve owned. Including parts cars, there were at least 40, several of which were brown.
I really enjoy stories like this that show what true expertise is capable of doing. So much of today’s fame and fortune is collected and enjoyed by actors (in one form or another).
Tom Bryant sounds like the kind of expert that keeps the machines of the world really running. And over the phone no less. I’m glad the Volvo on-line world knew of his expertise.
I once heard a story but cannot vouch for it. The captain’s table of a cruise ship was a popular award for first class passengers. The captain was a tall handsome white haired gentleman who looked like U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger. Male passengers envied his good looks and important responsibilities and female passengers, well, they gushed over his attentions.
But he was an actor. The real captain was a pale, nervous, chain smoking guy in the radar room who constantly poured over navigation charts, weather reports, engineering reports, fuel consumption reports, shipping traffic reports, and status reports of vermin infestations in the cargo hold.
Probably just an urban legend, but sometimes expertise doesn’t look like we all think it does.
I once diagnosed a fuel pump problem on a friend’s Nissan pickup, without driving it, by consulting the internet.
From reading this, I’ve decided my dream wagon will have a manual transmission but either a gas engine or a modern turbo – diesel. Also, I think dark brown would be my last color choice.
I actually have seen 1, maybe 2 of these diesel Volvo wagons….but they (?) were white with blue.
Turbo diesels were around in the 50s in trucks dont get too modern but I agree, I daily a turbo diesel Citroen nearly old enough for a COAL feature.
Despite having lived in two of the Volvo capitals of California (Berkeley and Santa Cruz) I’ve never known anyone with a 240 diesel, only 740. And I have known at least two people with stick shift Voyagers. Great story!! BTW, my fantasy car is a brown (well maybe tan) stick shift diesel wagon, but with AWD.
riplaut, I seem to recall reading a story somewhere about certain ships having a “social captain” to play the role, such as it is, and a real captain to run the vessel. Can’t vouch for where and when I read it, or its veracity.
You might be thinking of the Staff Captain, who is usually second in command. He or she answers to the Captain, but is often equal in officer rank to the Captain.
The Staff Captain is in charge of anything or anyone related to the passenger accommodations, but as second in command also acts in the traditional Executive Officer role – the Captain’s “enforcer”.
Great story, with troubleshooting worthy of Gus Wilson!
Whoa… Gus Wilson
Think they’ll ever release a collection of “Tales from the model garage”?
Already exists here and here.
Nope, not me! After living with the family’s “chocolate” brown on brown ’78 Ford LTD thru much of the ’80s, I never wanted to see another brown car ever again. Also no stick shift for me either, it’s auto or forget it.
I do like the lines of this Volvo however.
Neat story. Wasn’t the Volvo diesel six an inline 6 version of the Volkswagon/Audi family of four and five cylinder engines. If I have that right, diesel and gas inline sixes could perhaps have been done for the Audi 5000 and maybe the 924 Porsche.
That engine was indeed a VW unit and they did not have a particularly good rep here in Europe (they were notorious for connecting rod and head failures). A better option (for a 240 Volvo) would be to fit the later Audi 5 cyl. turbo diesel – or one of Volvo’s own fives. I don’t know about the 924, you may have to modify the bell housing, hood and find place for that lump up front. Again, if you must, the five is a better option.
Perhaps Volvo should’ve looked to Mercedes-Benz for its diesel engines?
Or to its own truck division. Never understood this.
There’s another source. Except I don’t know whether a Volvo truck diesel engine would fit under the hood of a 240.
Volvo Truck never did anything small enough for a car, from memory they did a 4 litre 4 pot in the fl4 7.5 tonner but that’s still
overkill, the divisions were entirely seperate anyway. The car division would have still needed to buy in the engines from the truck division.
Nice trouble shooting, if it has fuel a diesel will run if you can crank it so it actually makes diagnosis easier it must be the fuel system, had that issue last year on my daily drive Citroen it turned out to be the immobilizer failing to recognize the key so out with the injector pump and delete the immobilizer, install new shut off solenoid and it still runs great, For reliability diesels are hard to beat with certain exceptions of the American variety, every European and nearly every Japanese car had an optional diesel until recently.
Tom Bryant: A gentleman and a scholar par excellence!
Luv the “Prancing Moose” sticker next to the license plate.
Volvo and Saab drivers were always slightly skewed??????????????
…for skewed values of “slightly”.
I’ll also add: “COAL” is appropriate in more ways than one here, as can be attested by whoever (else) ever had the misfortune to be stuck behind one of these—or any other diesel of its era—up a hill at high altitude. »koff«
My grandmother bought a 1986 Volvo 740 GLE wagon brand new and drove it to 375k miles. Sometime in the mid 90’s the passenger side strut bushing failed and punched a nice dent in the hood. She finally got a 2002 Toyota Camery in 2005 and gave me the wagon. It still had the window sticker in the glove box and had the dealership stamps in the back of the owners manual where every time it was services they stamped it. The same dealership she bought it new from services it until 325k miles! I should have kept the car. The paint was still good and it didn’t have a spot of rust.
Wagonlove,
Why didn’t you keep the ’86 740 wagon? Did you find something else that you wanted?
I have a 1989 740 GL sedan with 114k miles on it. I bought it from the original owners last year. It has never been driven in the snow or salt. I don’t plan on ever parting with it.
Great story ! .
.
-Nate
As a former owner of a brown 245 4 speed o/d, I’m always happy to hear about them. On of the things I remember most was merges on to the freeway. With the pedal flat to the floor and gears rowed it would s-l-o-w-l-y creep up toward the speed of traffic. I can hardly imagine anything more sluggish, although a diesel surely would have been.
And here is one for sale in Tacoma. https://seattle.craigslist.org/tac/cto/5531613120.html
Sweet looking Volvo. And across the pond from where I live. If I didn’t already have a car, I’d gladly consider it.
I’d love a Volvo 240 Diesel if it were available with a turbocharger. I could be wrong, but I would think that a turbocharger would’ve provided the much needed boost of power needed for merging on to freeway.
You are right. 740s got the turbocharged d24 engine, a useful hike in power to 109 bhp. They were NOT a slow car. Later 940s had a turbo intercooled d24, producing 122 bhp. I’ve got one.
It doesn’t slow down on hills, once the turbo spools up it accelerates quite rapidly too.
It’s a shame Volvo didn’t sell very many diesel powered cars in the USA. I’ve always liked the Volvo 240 and the Volvo 740 series cars.
Yes, I used to lie awake at night, dreaming of owning a brown, RWD diesel station wagon with manual transmission. All my buddies did, too.
We also baked pies and held quilting bees to occupy our time.
Our motto was “Demon speed shall never tempt us! We long to accelerate from 0-60 in a couple minutes, at least!”
Minutes…? No, on this planet cars like the one featured here
accelerategather momentum from 0 to 60 mph probably sometime later this month.But it teaches you patience better than Zen (mine was a 92 Ford Escort CLX diesel 3 door hatch).
Again, friends, thanks for your comments. After some youthful indiscretions, I got the whole “speed” thing out of my system. Since that point, only a couple of the cars I’ve owned have had sub-10-second 0-60 times. I’m just not in any hurry anymore.
Great story, but the mythical interwebZ beast has zero appeal for me.
I guess the NVH from that thing would have been wonderful. I remember the petrol engine being very smooth… when it wasn’t running.
Thanks for sharing this story. I enjoyed reading it, and you write eloquently. I have only ever seen one of those brown wagons, and it was more than 30 years ago. I was also unaware that Motorola made alternators. Your story is even more enjoyable since I, too, have corresponded with / bantered with nearly everyone you mention here… and some people in the comments section!
The mythical beast indeed! Has to be one of only a handful of those ever available in this country…perhaps the Peugeot 504 or 505 might be the other?
I don’t know that I’d want to keep a car that had punched me, either, so I can see why you chose to part ways!
I agree. .I used to see plenty of Volvo 240s, but I’ve never seen a 240 Diesel.
My good friend has a diesel, manual wagon…but it is gray. It is also gray market: a turbocharged, 5 speed Mercedes 300TD.
I have owned diesels, a 4 speex wagon, and a vehicle with a Motorola alternator…but that was 3 difcerent vehicles.
I’d buy a Volvo 245 Diesel if it had a Mercedes-Benz diesel engine powering it, whether it’s a turbo diesel, or naturally aspirated. I’ve never been a fan of Volkswagen diesel.
Conversely, here in the u.k we never got the 240 with ANY kind of Diesel engine. Later 740s and 940 diesels were only ever available with turbo/turbo intercooler but were a rare car. Brand new they were very expensive, into BMW territory so you had to really, really want a diesel Volvo.