“Even today, 40+ years since its debut, it is still very well known in the industry –
– Matthews Volvo site
it seems that everyone has their own Volvo 240 story to tell.”
As the current owner of 3 Volvo 240’s, I would hardly call myself an expert on the car, but I have acquired a considerable wealth of knowledge on them, and thoroughly enjoy driving around in any of the three. My stable of 240’s include:
- 1989 – 240DL “Estate” (or, what we refer to as a station wagon, here in the States)
- 1990 – 240GL Sedan
- 1992 – 240GL Sedan
My story goes something like this.
Somewhere around the mid- to late-80’s, I took a shine to my boss’s car. It was a 1981 Volvo 240 in a powder blue color. I just couldn’t help but admire it, hoping one day I would be able to acquire one. Eventually, in 1988, I pulled onto the local Volvo sales lot and drove away in a brand new wine red colored DL. It was gorgeous! I loved the unique look of it. I loved that no other automobile on the road looked like it. Most important, given the times, it was truly a well-built automobile that felt “hefty” and substantial, despite its size – especially when all other cars of its size, at the time, felt light and easily breakable.


As a typical 20-something of the time, I owned my 240 for a couple of years and grew restless. The car became synonymous with as the middle class “family car” – still being depicted as such in television and movies everywhere. Despite never falling out of love with the car, there were newer, shinier cars out there and I wanted one. I sold the 240, and bought something new. I remember vividly thinking, after parting with it, I was going to miss it. And I did.
Fast forward to 2022. I began waxing fondly over my ’88 240 and began to wonder if there were any still around as I hadn’t seen one in quite a while. To my surprise, there was quite a worldwide community of 240 aficionados who still owned and cared for these iconic cars. These late night searches had me digging deeper into the world of the 240 and searching for one locally that I could purchase and drive from time to time “just for fun”. As it turned out, their build quality back in the 70’s and 80’s had quite a number of them still on the road, and running well. Many of them marking well over 500,000 miles! It didn’t take long for me to find one – a `92 sedan just outside of Washington, DC, at a good price, and unmolested.
To read more about this story and each of the 240’s I came to own, use the menu above under “Cars” to discover what has become my hobby – finding, purchasing and restoring classic European automobiles.