“Why We Love Them” is an ongoing feature through which we reflect on some of BaT’s favorite cars from the past. Era, genre and country of origin aren’t as important as character, that hard-to-define something special which all the best cars seem to have, and readers should expect to see a bit of everything including sports cars, exotics, sedans, coupes, roadsters, wagons, 4×4’s and more. -BaT

The word “iconic” has lost some of its impact in recent years, but there’s really no better single word to describe the 200-Series Volvo. Built from 1974 to 1993, the 240 and its derivatives combined traditional I Roll virtues like solid build quality, thorough, straightforward engineering and unpretentious functionality under boxy, unadorned bodywork that defined the Swedish marque for decades, regardless of the many more organic shapes turned out by its factories before and since.

The popular nickname “Brick” sums up the 200-Series perfectly–not just its sheet metal, but its tool-like purposefulness, durability and versatility as well. Even today, a good 240 can easily be used as a reliable and relatively safe daily commuter, family truckster, parts hauler, home improvement van or any combination of such.

Alternately, you can strip ’em out, put in a cage and some harnesses, throw an IPD catalog at the suspension and go rallying, auto-crossing or even road racing. Parts availability remains excellent, DIY serviceability high, and with nearly 3,000,000 made during a 19-year run, it’s still easy to find one right for your needs.

Though heavily based on the 1966-’74 140-Series, the 240 and its derivatives offered improved safety as well as updated styling, revised suspension, rack and pinion steering and a new line of OHC engines. Body styles included two and four-door sedans and a wagon, though the two-door was discontinued by 1985.

Ergonomics were nearly unrivaled at the time, and are still hard to beat today. Big, chunky switchgear was famously designed to be operated through bulky ski gloves, and this interesting period print ad gives even more insight into Volvo’s cabin design philosophy.

Like its predecessor, the 200-Series spawned a relatively limited run of upmarket six-cylinder models including the odd-but-interesting Bertone-bodied 262C which was the only 200-based coupe made.

Wagons accounted for about 1/3rd of production, and offered a massive 41 cubic feet of cargo space as well as an available rear-facing third row bench complete with three-point belts. Fully loaded, a three-row wagon could accommodate seven passengers, or with the rear two benches folded away, a full-size refrigerator with room to spare. Depending on market and timeframe, a wide variety of engines were available, including PRV V6’s, OHV and OHC Volvo fours and VW-sourced diesel fives and sixes.

Here’s a compilation of period English language, Euro market ads. The common theme among them is that the 240 is a safe but fun-to-drive car with high-quality engineering, luxurious detailing and “exclusivity.” There’s also a lot of yumping.

Print advertising often showed a similar focus, though many magazine and newspaper ads highlighted the longevity of Volvo products–an already well-established marque characteristic nearly 45 years ago.

Two-doors included the sporty 242GT of 1978-1980, which in North America utilized a standard 107 HP/111 lb. ft. fuel-injected B21F–ROW markets offered up to 140 HP through more displacement or higher compression. All US models wore Mystic Silver Metallic with black and red stripes down the sides, while inside Volvo fitted black corduroy upholstery, again with red stripes. Other, more substantive changes included revised dampers, thicker sway bars and four-wheel disc brakes with ventilated rotors in front. A new GLT Turbo trim level was offered for all body styles from 1981–in two-door form it replaced the GT and gave rise to a very interesting Group A touring car homologation model whose details are still hotly debated among enthusiasts.

There’s no real consensus regarding the specifics, but the gist is that 500 of these cars were built at Volvo’s Ghent, Belgium plant, where time constraints forced them to be shipped to the US as standard Turbos with so-called Evolution component kits stuffed into their trunks. Said kits contained an upgraded turbo, a hotter cam, water injection, a ducktail rear wing and an intercooler, and were all fitted Stateside–once FIA inspection was completed and homologation granted, all special parts excluding intercoolers were removed and the cars were then sold on as regular Turbos.

Intercooling would become standard on Turbos later in 1983, but FIA Evo cars remain the only flat-hood, charge-cooled turbo 200-Series cars ever sold in North America. Volvo went on to clinch the 1985 European Touring Car Driver’s Championship, and the resultant controversy led to a re-write of the rules stipulating that homologation-spec road cars must be sold to customers and not merely exist at the time of approval.

The Lego-like parts interchangeability of 200-Series parts is another huge part of the model’s appeal, and we’ve seen just about every permutation of OEM grille, headlight and hood setup imaginable. Engine swaps are popular too, and though we love a well-built Detroit V8 swap brick, some of the coolest out there use FWD-Volvo sourced turbo twin-cam five-cylinders turned north-south. Built-up force-fed fours can be just as effective, and even naturally-aspirated builds can be tuned to impressive power figures.

The above chart tracks BaT Auctions sales for all 200-Series Volvos, as found on our BaT Model Page here.

With so much variety from the factory it can be difficult to zero in on any single favorite 240, though a black Turbo sedan on OEM Virgo wheels like the one seen above is definitely high on our list–an otherwise identical wagon might be even higher though.

As the BaT Auctions chart posted elsewhere in this feature shows, prices are starting to creep upwards for exceptional examples, though very decent drivers are still readily available at $5k and even less, meaning there’s never been a better time to get into the brick habit.

Helpful links:

Swede Speed — Volvo Club of America’s site with active 240-focused forum

Volvo Forums — active marque enthusiast site with 240-focused forum

Volvo-Forums — a different site, see the hyphen? another active, useful information resource

Turbo Bricks — popular forum with separate sections for maintenance and performance

IPD — OEM and performance parts

VLV World — OEM and performance parts, VIN decoder, partial online workshop manual

Image credit: Volvo