So…I’ve just purchased (at 49) my first project car. I don’t have a ton of experience wrenching on cars, and what I do have has been of the “unbolt, remove, replace” variety. What I do have is a desire to learn, and an affinity for the beauty of functional, even utilitarian, objects that are designed for a purpose — like boxy, square-backed wagons.

In any case, I hadn’t necessarily planned on this car, or this year even, but I had a quite literally ”too good to be true” deal on a sweet ’89 245 fall into my lap a couple days ago, and decided to pull the trigger yesterday.

So if there is anyone local-ish to Madison, WI, I’d be very appreciative of input as to a good body shop (honestly, very little body work that needs to be done, but there are a couple of spots that do need to be addressed,) shops with experience working on Volvo 240s, or even better, someone who would be interested in spending some Saturday afternoons helping with small repairs or upgrades in return for BBQ and beers, and help me build knowledge and skills.

As for a vision of where I’d like this project to go…it’s still percolating. As I said, as of 2 days ago I was still thinking of this as a “I’ve got a ton of other projects at home…maybe a few years from now.” But after having driven the car — which drives straight, and is surprisingly light on its feet, and dare I say, “fun” — I’m thinking maybe, “what if 850 BTCC…but 240?” So after addressing what I think will be a very spare list of “needs immediate or near-term attention”, I’d love to find an easy, reliable way to make merging with highway traffic less of an exercise in planning and foresight, and give the car a bit more pep for squirting out of turns — say 150-175hp range.

 

Looks like a very nice car - especially for being in the rust belt. These 240's are easy to work on and a great car to learn on. There are multiple sites online that will answer pretty much any question you might have. Unfortunately I'm a little further south than you (northern Illinois) so I can't recommend any shops near Madison but someone here might be able to chime in.