89' 240 History

[dfb9018]

Okay so I just bought my third Volvo. I've had a 1992 740 Wagon (loved it) and a 2002 S80 (loved it when I wasn't mad at it's electronics). This time, I'm waiting a couple weeks for a new part (more on that later) and wanted to do some research on my 3 day owned 1987 (or 1989) depending on the source Volvo 240.

Embarrassingly, I've never owned a car with a choke and on day 2 flooded the engine and pretty sure fried my ignition pick up coil, hopefully once that's swapped I can begin to enjoy touring around on the immaculately preserved leather seats.

Anyways, I knowingly purchased this car knowing how big of a pain it would be to get parts as I'm currently living in Costa Rica but I wanted something fun. I'm now starting to realize that parts are a little bit harder still, because it's also euro/asian import and not manufactured for the US market.

Okay to my point: I think this car has some history. I've been told but haven't gotten to pulling the registration records from the government yet - it was imported by the former Costa Rican Ambassador to France and he was allowed to bring it back without paying import duties. However, the VIN plaque caught my eye as it's in Arabic. So I'm guessing maybe it was purchased in a gulf arab state and unsure if it even touched french soil at all.

Probably a long shot but I'd love to find out some more about the origin of this car - any advice on where to look? I saw some conflicting information about being able to ask Volvo HQ for something like this but it seems like maybe that's only available under specific circumstances.

 

[dl242gt]

That's a beautiful car. Looks like it's got the options a GL model for the US would have. Like the leather seats, and the corona wheels. Euro lights are nice with the blue. I would check with Volvo in Sweden and see what they can help you with. There are also history of Volvo books that have how to decode the VIN. You can also browse the archive on Ozvolvo.org/archive. There are a lot of the factory service manuals there.
For parts I would just resign yourself to being patient with shipping. The US and Europe will have everything.
Where is that ID plate? The ID plate is usually on the right front strut. Also a VIN sticker on the left door near the latch. Good luck with a fine car.

 

[dl242gt]

Forgot to mention for factory parts catalogs. You can browse them on gcp.se it's all the original parts catalogs.

 

[JW240]

Cool history. Some European countries had carbed and kjet 240s until about 1990. Some parts might be hard to find but not impossible or overly expensive.

 

[bgpzfm142]

Interesting vehicle - B200K with M47. Built in Torslanda factory.

Insofar as tracking the history goes - as an example, I contacted Volvo Australia for importation records for my 1800ES, as I needed either proof of import, or proof of previous record of full interstate registration (not merely club rego), before the Tasmanian powers-that-be would be let me register the car. Volvo OZ referred the matter to Volvo Heritage in Sweden, who told me how my ES was originally sold by the TDS (Tourist & Diplomat Sales) Division and delivered in Goteberg.

Maybe you could make inquires via Volvo Cars of Nth America, (if they cover Costa Rica), or via your local Volvo office, if not. They may refer the matter on to Heritage.