Fantastic.....I am sure most of us want you to keep that blue beauty running for a long time....I am not a fan of the square headlights but something about yours it just looks right...

It gives me a picture of what a new Volvo would look like out of the dealer..or close to it...
clean, unique, crisp and "Aqua Suave" all over it...

 

this was the european headlight on that vintage volvo, with the long nose hood...

 

analogies: Thanks but I'm going to sell it and get another Benz project. I really thought my daughter would drive it but my wife and the insurance company agree she needs airbags. Oh well..........

pierce: I hadn't really noticed until now but mine doesn't have those big aluminum guide/guardrail bumpers on it. When did they start/stop? I know the Benz's used them through the mid 80's.

 

I'm pretty sure that car in the picture is a euro model. no idea what year, but the all chrome grill with the Lambda badge is fairly early. Europe saw more 'flathoods' aka 'flatnose' than we did, originally the long-nose was only put on the 6-cyl 260 and diesel versions, this could well be one of those... US models picked up the long nose early on all models, not sure why.

you have a alloy bumper, its just under the plastic cover. quite sturdy, and mounted on shock absorbers.

just for reference, here's a european flatnose early 240...



the american counterpart of this had round headlights in blacked out panels.



this was only seen on the 1970s models here. the longnose was brought into the US with dual headlights like...



then when rectangular headlights were allowed (late 70s?), they switched to the dual rectangulars like you have.

composite (non-sealed beam) headlights weren't allowed in the US until the mid 80s, but US DOT had different standards for light distribution patterns than the European ECE standards, so we ended up with the plastic 'TV panel' headlights seen on the 86+ 240's.

 

SSSHHH........! I just had the 240 exterior detailed and buffed and some special "stripes" added [photos coming.......].

I decided the passenger under dash panel had been down long enough [exposing the relays] and since it has performed flawlessly the last week, I'd secure it back up.

Well, when I went to start it immediately afterwards, it wouldn't. It'll start every time I jumper the relay and run fine but it will not start on its own nor stay running unless jumpered . There's got to be something loose in that harness area [or I suspect the actual connector] as it worked perfectly prior to re securing that panel back up requiring moving the relay harness around.

It sure looks purdy sitting out there though

 

Who knows? I fumbled around with the wire harness on the pass side looking for anything suspicious but found nothing so I taped it up again [removed factory tape to look around]. Then I replaced 1 of the relays and Varoom, it started right up after it just cranked 10 times unless I jumpered it then it would run.

I'm not sure which relay is which anymore [this year has 2 ~ 1 for fuel injection and 1 for fuel pump] but I believe it's the fuel injection relay giving me troubles. They are NOT Bosch or Stribel relays though, just generic 5 terminal 12V ~ 30A relays that I got at O'Reilys because the eBay guy never shipped the ones I ordered.

I'm going to get 2 Bosch or Stribel relays ASAP.

 

Fully detailed w/ some stripes [fender hash's they called them] added to bring it into the 21st Century a little

I suggested yellow to keep the Swede color theme and add a Rally inspired style.