Volvo did well enough selling the PV444/544, Amazon and 140 in the USA, but it surely was the Volvo 200 Series that actually launched Göteborg iron into the American big time. Introduced here as a 1975 model, the 200 stayed in production for nearly two full many years and stays probably the most immediately recognizable Swedish automotive ever made. Here’s an early-production 244, present in a Denver-area automotive graveyard not way back.
The 200 Series may very well be considered an update of the late-Nineteen Sixties-vintage 140 Series, because it’s essentially the identical automotive from the A pillars back. The essential difference between the 2 is the MacPherson strut front suspension within the 200 Series.
Volvo went through several naming systems for U.S.-market 200 Series cars over the many years, with the initial one being the best to decipher: a three-digit number followed by a two-character trim-level designation. The primary digit within the number represents the series, the second represents the variety of engine cylinders and the third the variety of doors. There have been six-cylinder 262s, 264s and 265s sold in the USA from 1976 through 1981, powered by the identical PRV V6 engine that went into the DeLorean DMC-12, so it’s incorrect to consult with all 200 Series Volvos as 240s.
This automotive is the best-selling member of the 200 family, with a four-cylinder engine and 4 doors. It is a fuel-injected 2.1-liter SOHC straight-four, rated at 98 horsepower and 110 pound-feet; the 1975 240s received the two.0-liter pushrod engine from the 140.
There have been two transmissions available within the 1976 240s: a four-speed manual or a three-speed automatic. This automotive has the automated.
Even thought it is a base DL model, this automotive’s first owner paid an additional $456 for air con (about $2,580 in 2024 dollars), on top of the $500 premium for the automated transmission ($2,829 after inflation). That pushed the price for the automotive as much as $7,551, or $42,717 in today’s money. You can get a swanky latest 1976 Buick Electra Limited four-door hardtop for just $6,852, but those sensible Volvo buyers knew it was price paying a premium for real Scandinavian safety and construct quality.
European-market headlights were strictly förbjuden on American roads throughout the early Malaise Era, in response to federal safety regulations, so Volvo had to put in these unsightly sealed-beam rigs on their cars here. A couple of years later, the U.S.-market 200 Series Volvos went to somewhat better-looking quad-rectangle sealed beams, finally getting modern composite headlights for the 1986 model 12 months.
This automotive’s owner or owners took excellent care of it over its close-to-half-century life. The inside looks superb for its age.
The paint is faded but there is no rust-through anywhere.
I still find loads of 244s and 245s in Colorado and California junkyards, including quite a number of well-loved machines with greater than 300,000 miles on their odometers (and one with higher than 600,000 miles). Should you’re on the lookout for a Volvo 200 Series project automotive and you do not insist on a two-door, head west and you’ll need no problem finding a solid one which needs a perpetually home.
This automotive didn’t break any mileage records during its life, unless the speedometer cable broke many years ago and it really drove a few million miles.
That is the primary Volvo I’ve seen with “wire wheel” hubcaps.
No catalytic converter, so it ran nice on Vitamin Pb-fortified gas.
So many sensibly Swedish features, for individuals who think. 87% of Volvo buyers are college-educated … the opposite 13% are only plain smart.
This Article First Appeared At www.autoblog.com
