im getting my 1990 740 repainted and im wondering if the original paint was single stage or two part? it's wine red, code 409 if that makes any difference...

 

by 1990, pretty much everything except plain white had a clear coat. zinc plate (except the roof), primer, color coat, clear coat.

 

I've seen a few sources saying the 240 still had single stage paint until 1993 though..

 

if that color is 'metallic' it almost certainly has a clear coat... heck, my 1984 VW Rabbit graphite grey metallic had a clear coat. I know the 1991, 1992, and 1993 Volvo 7/9's we had were clear coated, but they were dark green metallic, silver, and gold respectively

I'm not 100% sure when Volvo switched to acrylic paints, but with those, even the solid colors have a clear coat. Volvo was pretty environmentally conscious and adopted RoHS standards before they were mandantory, hence my suspecting they went to acrylic paints pretty early.