Sold the 1978 Volvo 242 a few months ago…  Sad, but time to move on to more modern cars I guess.  The new owner seems very happy with the car.

Last Septemberish I bought a 1991 Volvo 244 as a spare vehicle. I really wasn’t planning on keeping it, so I never posted it here, but I managed to get around to posting a page about it.

There were a lot of IPD parts on the 1991 that are now on my 1993 Volvo 245, including 25mm anti-sway bars, upper and lower GT braces, upper Cherry Turbo strut brace, Virgo wheels with Bridgestone Potenzas, a set of Yakima racks, and a set of snow tires on Sirius wheels (pictures on the 1991 below, now in my garage awaiting next winter).  The 1991 got the front sway bar from the 1993 and the stock wheels with Michelin Hydro Edge tires.  The snow tires saved me several times this winter during some ice storms, like the one pictured below.

• Approx 160k miles
• CD player
• Turbo front sway bar
• KYB shocks and struts
• Magnaflow exhaust
• New brake pads and rotors

Well, two bits of news here.  First off, the 1978 242 made it through the five-hour journey to go pick up the 1993 245.  This, in and of itself, was pretty amazing considering what I’ve been through on that car.  I can say this for certain – having the extra engine power going over some of the mountain passes made a huge difference compared to other times I’ve driven my B21F-powered 240s on the same road. The car also made it all the way back (10 hours total, about 600 miles of driving) with no issues! It’s been a difficult experience to get this 30-year old 242 back to reliable daily-drive status, but I think I can say that we’re nearly there. It’s been quite an expensive journey.

Here is the car that I went to go get:

I drove the 1993 245 back home without a hitch, and there are pictures from today posted here, as well as a little info about the car.

The major issues with the car are that it’s going to need a valve shim adjustment soon (I own the tools, so no big deal here) and, much more horrifyingly, it’s going to need a new heater fan soon as well. The current fan is making the ‘shriek of death’ noise, which pretty much sounds like a wailing banshee swooping out of the shadows to devour your soul. Ok, maybe not that bad, but it’s still pretty loud.

Some updates:

Selling Sold the 1985 245 Turbo! I’m selling it in-state only (no more out-of-state horrorshows, thank you) so check your local Volvo forum.  Pictures here

Buying my parent’s 1993 245 with M47 manual transmission!  More details & pictures to follow when I get the car.  This will be Volvo #11 for me in about six years of Volvo ownership.  Holy frijoles!  I think I’ll be settled for a while; the 1993 245 is so nice I can’t imagine ever selling it.  I’ve dumped so much money and time into the 1978 242 that I’ve got to hang on to it for a while, plus it gets great mileage and is a fun car to drive.  It’s also nice to have a backup car for those times when one of our other two cars is in the shop.

Also, the 1978 242 is still running strong, no major malfunctions so far.   It’s page has been given an update, but it still needs some newer pictures.

Scratch that last post, cause it’s time for another Volvo!  This one is a 1978 242 DL.  M46 manual transmission, power steering, sunroof, and around 175k miles.  Overall, it’s in pretty decent shape, and was cheap.  The main reason I got it?  It runs great, and no wiring problems to worry about with this year of car.  Click the image below to see more pictures…

Well, you’ve probably been wondering why I’ve been putting up all this diesel information. Yep, you guessed it, I bought another Volvo – a 264 diesel. I finally got around to getting pictures online, and I’ve made some other additions to the site as well. I now have all of my former cars up on the My Cars page, and have redesigned the index since there are so many of them.