1993 Volvo 240 Classic 5-Speed Manual Wagon, Sunroof, Tint, Turbo Gauges, Virgos

1993 Volvo 240 Classic

Hello there, fellow Volvo 240 fans!

Having learned to drive on a manual-transmission Volvo 240 in the early 1990s after a memorable five-week, fifteen-thousand-mile cross-country road trip (Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Mexico, Canada, etc.) with my dad in his safe, reliable, solid, indefatigable tank of a 1982 Volvo 240 DL sedan (aka Brick), I fell in love with this brand and model.
I purchased this car I'm now selling, my last Volvo, the second 240/245 wagon of the three I have owned (and by far the best), in November 2012. Did I mention this one was far and away my favorite? Ever since the purchase, which involved flying to New Hampshire and driving it home 21 hours straight back to Tennessee, I have taken meticulous care to maintain and upgrade it, retaining every maintenance and purchase record (in a file folder that comes with the car) and doing my best to improve on this rare example of the best the Volvo 240 series ever had to offer. I love this car, but I finally bought my wife a new SUV (and a pickup for myself), and as much as I hate to admit it (to myself or to anyone else), I simply don't have the space or the budget to maintain a third vehicle.
If you're after the perfect Volvo 240 wagon, here is your unicorn. Featuring rare, dash-badge-insert-numbered "classic" edition highlights: wooden dashboard inlay, paint-matched headlight "eyebrow," grille and outside mirror pieces, this is one of the final 800 Volvo 240 wagons ever produced, in the model's final production year of 1993. Rarer still, with a five-speed factory M47 manual transmission (one of FOUR ever made among those final 800, according to the original owner who special-ordered it), a fully functioning tinted-glass power sunroof, several Volvo turbo-edition dash gauges (all functioning and backlit), FIVE alloy Volvo Virgo turbo-edition wheels, a Sony Bluetooth/CD deck (with removable face and remote) with a large 15" subwoofer with heavy duty metal grille mounted into cargo compartment (with dedicated amps for both deck and sub). Paint is original and while still sharp in most places, it is showing signs of wear on the roof and hood, pictured, and some rust is visible underneath due to vehicle's original home in New Hampshire/New Jersey (and exposure to road salts and related chemicals when it resided up North). However, the rust remains unchanged for my 11 years of ownership in Tennessee and has never been a problem.

This green-blue metallic wagon is an original 2.3L inline four-cylinder "brick" Volvo engine, with an exceedingly rare five-speed manual factory M47 transmission, a timeless tank with 15" Volvo turbo-edition Virgo wheels (including a fifth, full-sized Virgo wheel, instead of the usual spare "donut"), all outfitted with excellent Michelin Defender tires (purchased 12/21) with less than six thousand miles of wear on them (except for the fifth wheel's Michelin tire, which remains unused). Factory/OEM Volvo gauges I added in the dash over the years include RPMs/tachometer, oil temperature, oil pressure and a volts meter.

Seats are tan vinyl, with original matching Volvo rubber floor mats (all four, plus a fifth black one in the cargo hold, with a hole cut to expose the heavy-duty installed subwoofer grille). I had the driver's seat re-upholstered with a slightly different tan vinyl, which you are unlikely to notice without it being pointed out, and there's a small but visible tear in the passenger front seat. The black dash has a fitted, carpeted protective cover. I added a digital rearview mirror with compass and temperature readout, which really comes in handy.

The front bumper features a lower-end spoiler and a custom "245 Classic" sticker from Dave Barton that matches the font of the turbo era badging. Other features include a fully functional power sunroof (open/close/vent) with tinted glass and red, backlit buttons, heated front seats, air conditioning (new Freon added 9/23 and blows cold), power windows, power door locks, a removable-face Sony Bluetooth CD/stereo with remote, dedicated amplifier, four speakers and a subwoofer with its own separate amplifier. Sound-dampening liners were added to the inside of the doors and the cargo component (visible in photo of the sub, housed in the locking cargo compartment.
Other upgrades I've added underneath include IPD sway bars, IPD VX street performance camshaft (for a slight HP boost), IPD aluminum skid plate (currently in a box in the cargo hold), IPD non-turbo high-flow stainless steel sport exhaust for a warm, gentle, unobtrusive purr, IPD upper strut reinforcement plates and mounts, IPD strut braces, IPD front and rear springs, and more. Additional features include tinted windows with 35% ceramic heat-blocking tint all around (not too dark, but dark enough), a rear-window defroster and wiper, mudguards, and four-wheel anti-lock disc brakes.

This car is nearly 31 years old, and though I'm sure it was garaged before I owned it, I've never owned a garage, so it's not pristine, inside or out. The clearcoat is gradually disappearing in patches on the roof and on the hood, so the original paint is starting to wear, particularly in these two spots, but otherwise still shines up pretty nicely and I think is an excellent color with a hint of metallic. The rust that was present underneath the car at purchase in 2012 is still there if you look for it but has not propagated since it was extensively treated (promptly) with rust inhibitor after I brought it back to Tennessee after purchase in 2012. A lack of exposure to harsh ice/snow-treating chemicals used in the North East region for the last 11 years, combined with the inhibitor treatments I added early on, seems to have stopped the rust in its tracks.
When I bought this car in 2012, it was showing 108k miles but was fixed in place, and I've fixed the odometer a couple times in 11 years, always promptly. It's now approaching 197k miles. As I post this today, it's just over 196,300, and these days I usually add about 25 miles a day. While I think this is likely very close to actual mileage, based on what I know about the car from before I bought it (special-ordered by a NJ Volvo family, used for years before being garaged for many more as it was replaced by newer cars)...if you know anything about Volvo 240s, you know that pretty much without exception, the fragile, plastic odometer gears tend to fail over the years and must be replaced periodically, so determining actual, precise mileage is impossible for these cars. That said, I've kept up with it and really don't think it's too far off the actual mark.
I'm the third owner. The original owners, Volvo enthusiasts, special ordered it with the manual transmission in 1992 or 1993 and then sold it to their neighbor after nearly 20 years. The neighbor tried to give it to his kid, who didn't want it, so he sold it to me, on eBay, in November 2012. I have loving notes and driveway photos from the original owner, describing his family's love for the car, along with receipts that the second owner, the neighbor, got when doing some maintenance before selling it to me. After that, I have every record for everything I ever had done. All this will go to the new owner, in a folder.

The title is clean and in my name since I purchased it in late 2012. Carfax shows registration in NJ and TN with no accidents or damages. Sale will include two original keys, all service and upgrade records from the last 11 years and several from before then, owners manuals, accessories, and random parts, paint, original tools, Volvo hats, and even a professionally framed set of three classic Volvo 240 magazine ads, suitable for display in home or office, for the discerning 240 enthusiast!
I had the oil changed and tires rotated at 5K-mile intervals throughout my 11 years of ownership and stayed on top of all maintenance and any repairs needed or recommended, plus adding many of my own upgrades, albeit always trying to maintain a mostly stock look and feel, as I wasn't trying to turn it into a race car or anything obnoxious but only wanted it to be the absolute best version of what it was originally intended to be and something I could rely on as a daily driver and road tripper.
Upgrading and maintaining this car as thoroughly as I have for the 11 years I've owned it, even selling it for a minimum bid of $15K is plenty painful for me, as I firmly believe it's worth a lot more. I would strongly encourage anyone considering owning a 240 to carefully review the brand/model sales history (and extensive comments on each sale) for Volvo 240s on Bring a Trailer dot com for the past several years. This site and its open records are a true reflection of the Volvo 240 resale market. Particularly sought after models have sold for more than 30k recently, and one modified sedan even went for more than 50k.

Recent service (since September 2023) includes oil change, tire rotation, new battery, new spark plugs, new front-wheel brake cover/dust shields, new Freon, new backseat door speakers, new tie rods, refurbished and flushed rack and pinion steering rack and realignment. The one video eBay allows with the 40 photos is a 1.5-min start-up-and-drive video, showing acceleration up to 65 mph or so and engaging the fully functional cruise control.

This car remains my daily driver, but again, I have to make room in my driveway and my wallet for the truck, so as much as I do love it, the Volvo has to go. This car and I have been through a lot, and although I'm not a mechanic, I've truly invested in it for the long haul, financially and emotionally, always intending to keep it on the road and in use and doing my best to find the best mechanics and have it fixed for longevity and reliability as opposed to quick and cheap repairs. I hope someone else who truly loves this brand and model will come along and give this car the attention it deserves and keep it going at least as well as I have...because I believe it's a real icon, and not to mention a very comfortable ride for long road trips and a damn fun car to drive, even though it's no sports car.

Yes, if it looks familiar, I tried to sell this very car a year ago on Bring a Trailer dot com, where you can still look up the sale in late October of 2022 and see many more photos (I'm limited to 40 here) and details regarding this car (including lengthy conversations in the comments section with experienced 240 experts) about this exact car. What I never even remotely expected would happen then was that my mother, knowing how much I loved this car and how much it pained me to have to sell it, would secretly intervene as a bidder and win the auction behind my back, just about giving me a heart attack when I learned that SHE was the actual winning bidder.
With no intention of assuming ownership of it or driving it, she paid me her winning bid amount which simply allowed me to keep it, thus unilaterally reversing my own decision to replace this car with a truck. She made this decision for me, in secret, without asking. I was a little upset at first, but eventually I accepted this extreme act of love as a gift from my mom and kept the car for another year. The problem is, I still really need that truck, and again, I still don't have the space (or the budget) for three vehicles, so my old friend the Volvo wagon has got to finally move along down the road, and this time, I assure you, neither my mom nor anyone else I know is going to bid! This car will actually change ownership this time--to whomever wins this auction, assuming they wire the money promptly and in full, first! Mom and I had a talk, and she too is sad but understands. Okay, so I'm still a little attached, but I'm working through this...again!

That said, please don't waste my time (or yours) by bidding without a serious intent to buy (and to buy promptly). I'll reach out with the details at the end of auction and expect the winning bidder to to make a wire transfer of the full purchase amount within 24 hours of the auction's end. Buyer will be responsible for arranging for pickup or shipping after that. However, if I don't receive the full amount via wire transfer within 72 hours, I reserve the right to cancel the purchase. Your bid is not a reservation to check it out but instead a firm commitment to buy, and to buy promptly.

I am about 40 minutes from the Knoxville airport and can meet you there if you intend to drive the car home after purchase, although funds must already be in my account before I will drive to the airport or release my beloved Volvo. Otherwise, assuming the transfer is complete and confirmed by my bank, I will release the car to a shipping company of your choice that can pick the car up at my place and deliver it to you on (or in) a truck/trailer, at your expense, something you can arrange with an auto shipping company of your choice and insure (or not) as you see fit. eBay recommends only considering licensed and bonded shippers.

Thank you for reading this and for being a responsible buyer. I've been on eBay as a hobbyist individual buyer and seller (not as a business) since 1999. I think of it as a great place (if not THE BEST place) to simply swap stuff as the need arises, and once in a great while, that stuff, for me, has included a car or two. This will be my third car sale on eBay since 1999. The last one was my wife's 240 wagon in August of 2022. Many years before that was my Granddad's Lincoln. I respect this platform, and as such, I strive to say what I mean and to mean what I say, and I hope that you will do the same. It's what makes this site work well for so many of us--mutual respect, dignity, and empathy. Thanks for your time! I'll do my best to answer any questions I receive during the auction.

• Make: Volvo
• Model: 240
• Type: Wagon
• Trim: Classic
• Doors: 5
• Year: 1993
• Mileage: 196500
• VIN: YV1AW880XP1960611
• Color: Green
• Engine size: 2.3 L
• Number of cylinders: 4
• Fuel: Gasoline
• Transmission: Manual
• Drive type: RWD
• Interior color: Tan
• Drive side: Left-Hand Drive
• Safety options: Anti-Lock Brakes, Back Seat Safety Belts, Driver Airbag, Fog Lights
• Vehicle Title: Clean
Want to buy? Contact seller!