240 General: Wanted - Early Volvo 244 or 245

[Clough89]

Hello all,

I am new to the forum, but I have been a classic car enthusiast for about 5 years and have owned several older Mercedes and Audis. I’ve admired the 200 series Volvo for some time, and would love to find an early (pre-1983) 244 or 245 DL/GL for sale, preferably one of the earliest with the single round headlights.

I am posting just in case anyone knows of one becoming available. I have a budget of up to £4000 for the right car.

I have seen a brown 1980 (W reg) 244 DL advertised, with round headlights, but I believe this must have had an aftermarket conversion to the round lights as these wouldn’t be standard on a 1980 DL?

Thanks in advance, looking forward to hopefully connecting with other Volvo fans!

Matthew

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Clough89

Hello all,

I am new to the forum, but I have been a classic car enthusiast for about 5 years and have owned several older Mercedes and Audis. I’ve admired the 200 series Volvo for some time, and would love to find an early (pre-1983) 244 or 245 DL/GL for sale, preferably one of the earliest with the single round headlights.

I am posting just in case anyone knows of one becoming available. I have a budget of up to £4000 for the right car.

I have seen a brown 1980 (W reg) 244 DL advertised, with round headlights, but I believe this must have had an aftermarket conversion to the round lights as these wouldn’t be standard on a 1980 DL?

Thanks in advance, looking forward to hopefully connecting with other Volvo fans!

Matthew

Good morn and welcome to the forum Matthew,

I think the 1980 car would have had these rectangular headlamps like the Royal Barge:



... so the round headlamps are probably a conversion. Maybe proper Volvo parts were used, so it may not be an after-market modification as such. I suppose it depends on why you want the car: if it is to show then it probably wouldn't be original, if it is to drive and enjoy that would be fine as the round lights look quite nice (I like the rectangular ones on the RB).

Here is the cover of the front page of my driver's handbook - I think that will be a DL and a GL model, so it looks to me like they all had the rectangular headlamps that year:



Prices for the 1980 cars will probably increase quite a bit soon as they will become historic vehicles (and hence tax exempt) on 1 April next year. £4000 should be plenty to get a 1980 car now (although there are always cars advertised at much higher opportunity prices), but it may not be next year.

I'm sure you know this already: don't buy a car with any rust (none at all - there will always be more under the tip of the iceberg). Electrical problems are common due to the poor quality insulation used in Volvo looms then, but they are generally quite easy to fix. The cars are pretty robust and easy to maintain.

In my humble opinion the early 80s cars are the sweet spot for classics: still pretty cheap, solid and well built, really simple, enough modern features to be safe on the road but no computers.

Good fortune,

Alan

[Triple-S]

Clough, as you are new to our forums I doubt you can send private mails yet. I know of a round headlight and a square headlight 240s that may be for sale. Send me an email to paultill38@gmail.com if you fancy discussing and seeing a couple of pictures.

P

[Clough89]

Thanks very much for the excellent advice. Yes, I’m sure this specific 1980 car has had a round light conversion, I actually found a picture of the same car with square headlights, so the owner must have changed it on preference. I think the 244 DL would have had round lights only up to model year 1977/78.

Yes, I figured that the tax exemption could make a substantial difference to the annual running costs, especially as the insurance is so cheap (I’ve been quoted less than £100 a year for a Volvo 244).

The green car is lovely 😊.

[Clough89]

Originally Posted by Triple-S

Clough, as you are new to our forums I doubt you can send private mails yet. I know of a round headlight and a square headlight 240s that may be for sale. Send me an email to paultill38@gmail.com if you fancy discussing and seeing a couple of pictures.

P

That’s brilliant, thank you. I will send an email now.

[john.wigley]

Both our Feb. '75 (N) 244DL and Feb. '78 (S) 245DL were each fitted with round headlights, presumably from the factory, 'Clough89'. Our Feb. '80 (V) 244 had square lights, and both our Sep. '81 (X) 244DL and our June '83 (Y) 245GLT had larger, rectangular ones not unlike those fitted to Alan's Royal Barge.

This suggests that the change over from round to square dates from 1978/9, although I do recall that it was popular in some circles to update one's car to make it appear younger. A well kept 240 could be made to appear years younger this way, especially if combined with a 'dateless' registration.

Welcome to the forum and good luck in your quest for a suitable car. My 245GLT is one car that I regret selling more than most.

Regards, John.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Clough89

Thanks very much for the excellent advice. Yes, I’m sure this specific 1980 car has had a round light conversion, I actually found a picture of the same car with square headlights, so the owner must have changed it on preference. I think the 244 DL would have had round lights only up to model year 1977/78.

Yes, I figured that the tax exemption could make a substantial difference to the annual running costs, especially as the insurance is so cheap (I’ve been quoted less than £100 a year for a Volvo 244).

The green car is lovely 😊.

Thank you - I'm very proud of the way the Royal Barge has come out.

Re: running costs - the 1980 cars already MoT exempt, next April they will be tax exempt as well. My insurance for the RB was only £80 (3000 miles/year) including breakdown insurance. Fuel consumption is quite poor by modern standards (25 MPG) but 120 gallons/year will only cost about £500 (or perhaps £250 more than a euroblob covering the same distance).

[Clough89]

Originally Posted by john.wigley

Both our Feb. '75 (N) 244DL and Feb. '78 (S) 245DL were each fitted with round headlights, presumably from the factory, 'Clough89'. Our Feb. '80 (V) 244 had square lights, and both our Sep. '81 (X) 244DL and our June '83 (Y) 245GLT had larger, rectangular ones not unlike those fitted to Alan's Royal Barge.

This suggests that the change over from round to square dates from 1978/9, although I do recall that it was popular in some circles to update one's car to make it appear younger. A well kept 240 could be made to appear years younger this way, especially if combined with a 'dateless' registration.

Welcome to the forum and good luck in your quest for a suitable car. My 245GLT is one car that I regret selling more than most.

Regards, John.

Yes I think you’re right! I hadn’t considered the possibility of people updating the lights to make them look younger.

Your Feb ‘75 244 DL must be one of the oldest in the UK? I wish I had been looking for one a while back when this appeared: https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C967168. I would’ve snapped it up!

[Clough89]

Originally Posted by Othen

Thank you - I'm very proud of the way the Royal Barge has come out.

Re: running costs - the 1980 cars already MoT exempt, next April they will be tax exempt as well. My insurance for the RB was only £80 (3000 miles/year) including breakdown insurance. Fuel consumption is quite poor by modern standards (25 MPG) but 120 gallons/year will only cost about £500 (or perhaps £250 more than a euroblob covering the same distance).

I could live with 25 mpg, for sure, especially as the car would lead an easy life pottering around town. My previous Mercedes saloon averaged 16 or 17 mpg, but had a 90 L fuel tank to compensate!

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Clough89

I could live with 25 mpg, for sure, especially as the car would lead an easy life pottering around town. My previous Mercedes saloon averaged 16 or 17 mpg, but had a 90 L fuel tank to compensate!

The RB would probably do better than 25MPG on a longer run, but I have several other cars that would be better suited to that. For an auto that is used exclusively on shorter runs around town 25 is okay.

The orange car you posted a link to above looked ideal, and the price seemed reasonable (I've seen some similar cars for sale at well over £4000).