I was looking at old Volvos on Ebay, which I had not done in a while, and was shocked at the asking prices for the 240's. They are asking $4,000-$9,000 for well kept examples, which to me seems unreasonable, especially when they are the 4 door sedans. What is your take on all of this, are people actually paying those prices or are the owners out of touch.

 

240 are becoming a "cult" car... Even stranger, 7/900 are cheaper and better.

 

reminds me, I need to clean up our high miler 240 and flip it. owned it 27 years, I think thats long enough. It /was/ a very reliable and robust car until it spent last winter in Portland, OR.. the moisture got the better of it and it became very hard to start after sitting a few days in wet weather, but once started and warmed up, it will run fine all day long including stop/restarts.... it also needs brakes and shock absorbers and front lower control arm bushings, otherwise its in pretty decent shape. interior is pretty ratty, however, with well worn IPD fabric seat covers over totally shot factory leather, and a lot of the beige plastic trim bits on the sides have cracked/broken. There's a few missing and/or funky trim strips on the exterior, I was gonna strip them all off and replace them with black rubber glue-on molding strips.

odometer reads 256263 or something, but its read that for 15+ years, it likely has closer to 500K miles. transmission was rebuilt once, and is still quite solid. lots of maintained new stuff under the hood. all rear suspension bushings were done about 10 years ago.

 

I've been watching Ebay, and have seen at least 4 or 5 "low mileage" (150,000-200,000) 240s sell for $4000-5000.


I've seen several more bid that high but not meet the minimum. Highest I've seen is a very nice 1978 245, asking $13,900 but it hasn't sold after multiple auctions.


I've also been watching Craigslist in Northern California and prices are much more reasonable, asking prices about 1/2 what I'm seeing on ebay. Less than that if they have issues.

 

yeah. this one is on the high side, but it looks like a pretty decent car and is likely completely maintained and sorted out, that shop is a long time volvo specialist...
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/scz/ctd/4717203136.html
and lots of this
http://sacramento.craigslist.org/cto/4749354501.html

 

Ebay seems to me the place to buy if you want to pay top dollar for any car. I see deals on CL all the time that are in the $1200 - $2000 range for 240s. CL has higher priced ones as well but they don't sell. There is currently a 940 on CL that has a LS1 conversion. This will sit for a long time without selling:

1992 volvo 740 wagon LS1 ULTIMATE SLEEPER

 

I could never see the point of dropping a GM or Ford drivetrain in a Volvo... What's the point? Just get a Mustang or a Camaro, or a Crown Vic already! You spend all that money for a trouble prone hack job you'll never get any return on. Well, if "smoking" other dudes at the stop light is your thing, OK! But I should think once you are old enough to vote that wouldn't be such a high priority...

 

I don't get it either. I've got a Toyota Landcruiser and don't understand those who put a small block Chevy in them. That big slow turning 6 is what gives the Landcruiser it's amazing ability to creep over anything. If I wanted a V-8 powered 4x4 I'd get a Blazer or Bronco.


If I wanted a faster Volvo I'd get a turbo model and work it over. Seems like cramming a Corvette under the hood would seriously reduce your neener neener rights at the finish line.

 

well, I do suspect a tuner smallblock puts in WAY in another league than you can get by tweaking the Volvo motor, and the chassis is quite up to the task. having a old Volvo box wagon that could **** off most Mustang owners has a certain perverse attraction even at my 60 y.o. supposed maturity level.

but reality intervenes. my 740T goes plenty fast as-is, and its quite reliable. while 160HP is a joke downdays, 200 ft-lbs of torque still gets the beast hustling down the road quick enough to annoy people in modern go'faster plastic cars.

 

It seems 240 have turned a corner and the asking price is going up. Of course, a seller can list any price they want, what someone is willing to pay is another matter. Yeah, it can be fun to have a sleeper. One thing I will say is that the 240, 740 and especially 940 chassis are better than the Mustang and Camaro chassis. At least the older ones. Horsepower is so available nowadays in new cars too.

It seems that 240 are counter culture and somewhat desirable to certain people.

Wait, nothing has changed, that's how it always has been, only there are less good ones out there now.

 

You could go this route, not OE but at least keeping it in the Volvo family.

 

Are the sellers on Ebay out of touch? I don't know. The market will tell them if a willing Ebay seller will be able to find a willing buyer. Up here in snowland, Volvos that are more than 10-15 years old tend to be rusted out completely. Prices usually depend on which part of the state you live in. I get comments all the time on mine because it doesn't have any rust, a lot of them showing interest in buying it should I decide to sell, even thought the clearcoat has worn off. Of course, there aren't as many per capita here as in the western states.

 

I seriously doubt that would be street legal around here, or even that practical as a daily driver regardless of the legality of it all