Junkyard Gem: 1976 Volvo 244 DL

Volvo did nicely sufficient promoting the PV444/544, Amazon and 140 in the USA, however it was the Volvo 200 Collection that actually launched Göteborg iron into the American huge time. Launched right here as a 1975 mannequin, the 200 stayed in manufacturing for practically two full a long time and stays essentially the most immediately recognizable Swedish automobile ever made. This is an early-production 244, present in a Denver-area automobile graveyard not way back.

The 200 Collection could possibly be thought-about an replace of the late-Nineteen Sixties-vintage 140 Collection, because it’s basically the identical automobile from the A pillars again. The principle distinction between the 2 is the MacPherson strut entrance suspension within the 200 Collection.

Volvo went by means of a number of naming programs for U.S.-market 200 Collection automobiles over the a long time, with the preliminary one being the best to decipher: a three-digit quantity adopted by a two-character trim-level designation. The primary digit within the quantity represents the sequence, the second represents the variety of engine cylinders and the third the variety of doorways. There have been six-cylinder 262s, 264s and 265s bought in the USA from 1976 by means of 1981, powered by the identical PRV V6 engine that went into the DeLorean DMC-12, so it is incorrect to discuss with all 200 Collection Volvos as 240s.

This automobile is the best-selling member of the 200 household, with a four-cylinder engine and 4 doorways. This can be a fuel-injected 2.1-liter SOHC straight-four, rated at 98 horsepower and 110 pound-feet; the 1975 240s obtained the two.0-liter pushrod engine from the 140.

There have been two transmissions obtainable within the 1976 240s: a four-speed guide or a three-speed computerized. This automobile has the automated.

Even thought it is a base DL mannequin, this automobile’s first proprietor paid an additional $456 for air-con (about $2,580 in 2024 {dollars}), on prime of the $500 premium for the automated transmission ($2,829 after inflation). That pushed the price for the automobile as much as $7,551, or $42,717 in at the moment’s cash. You might get a swanky new 1976 Buick Electra Restricted four-door hardtop for simply $6,852, however these smart Volvo patrons knew it was value paying a premium for real Scandinavian security and construct high quality.

European-market headlights have been strictly förbjuden on American roads in the course of the early Malaise Period, in line with federal security rules, so Volvo needed to set up these unpleasant sealed-beam rigs on their automobiles right here. A couple of years later, the U.S.-market 200 Collection Volvos went to considerably better-looking quad-rectangle sealed beams, lastly getting fashionable composite headlights for the 1986 mannequin yr.

This automobile’s proprietor or homeowners took excellent care of it over its close-to-half-century life. The inside appears to be like excellent for its age.

The paint is light however there is no rust-through anyplace.

I nonetheless discover loads of 244s and 245s in Colorado and California junkyards, together with fairly just a few well-loved machines with greater than 300,000 miles on their odometers (and one with higher than 600,000 miles). For those who’re in search of a Volvo 200 Collection undertaking automobile and you do not insist on a two-door, head west and you will have no downside discovering a stable one which wants a ceaselessly house.

This automobile did not break any mileage information throughout its life, except the speedometer cable broke a long time in the past and it actually drove a few million miles.