(car revving)
(crash)
- It's the super safe swedish sedan
that started on sedate suburban streets
but sped its way straight to souped-up sleeper status.
It went from haulin' the kids to haulin' (bleep).
(car screeching)
It's been rallied, it's been turboed,
and it's saved lives.
This is everything you need to know
to get up to speed on the Volvo 240.
(8-bit music)
Jan Wilsgaard was studying design in Gothenburg.
This kid had promise, so much so
that Volvo plucked him right out of design school
and got him to work right away.
Kinda like how Donut scooped me right out
of yelling about cars on the internet school.
Long story short, the dude was good.
Like, really good.
During his tenure at Volvo Jan had his hand
in pretty much every model they put out.
Daddy knows a think or two about having his hand in models.
(laughs)
Everything from the Amazon and the 140 to the Philip.
They named a car Philip, and you guys
won't let me make the Pumphrey?
Fast forward to 1972, Jan and Volvo
were working on their new Volvo
Experimental Safety Car, or V-E-S-C.
The concept featured pedestrian safe bumpers,
reinforced doors for side impact protection,
crumple zones and a back up camera in 1972.
It was a big camera on the trunk
with a bigger TV in the dash.
Volvo was ahead of the safety game and they knew it.
They had to get this tech onto the street
and make the roads safer.
Jan and Volvo gathered all of Sweden's
greatest minds to design their next car.
It was time to build the most iconic car
that Volvo would bring into the world
It was time for the Volvo 240.
♪ Hallelujah ♪
Like the VESC the new car would be boxy, just like my dad.
The 200 series borrowed styling queues from
the concept and aside from the front,
the body was basically the same as the 140.
The 240's crumple zones were yuge.
And the back was designed to protect the fuel tank.
If you crash the engine mounts would send
the engine and transmission under the floor
to keep them out of your lap.
The steering column would move out of the way.
These things were so good that
the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
was like...
- Volvo, we think these things are so safe
we'd like to use some as the standard
that other cars are measured against.
- Ja? Okay...
Then you can buy some.
- So, NHTSA bought two dozen Volvo 240s.
Next up was the engine.
Sweden's roads are twisty and narrow,
and half the time they're covered in ice and snow.
(car revving)
The 200 series didn't need to be
some crazy fast group B reject.
It just had to get it's passengers
wherever they needed to go.
Volvo 240s mostly had some version
of a 2-ish liter, 4-cylinder engine.
Ah, yes.
- Uh, why were they called red blocks?
- The engines?
- Why were they just called red blocks?
- They were called red blocks because
the engine blocks were red.
- Ohh!
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
Heh, thank you.
- You're welcome cutie!
The first 240s were carburetted.
You wanna know how those work,
check out this episode of Science Garage.
...had pushrods and made less than a hundred #hrsprs.
I wasn't kidding when I said it didn't have to be fast.
They switched to an overhead cam in 1976
and never looked back!
To conform to the progressive emissions regulations
in the United States the 240 got fuel injection.
But, only over here.
An oxygen sensor, combined with fuel injection
and a catalytic converter cleaned up 90%
of the bad stuff comin' out of the pooper.
(engine revving)
The engine even won an award from
the notoriously strict California Air Resources Board.
Volvo 240s were not only safe for the people
in the cars, they even made the air safer
for everyone outside the car, too!
That's safe.
During the 1970s gas crisis Volvo offered
a 2.4 liter inline-six diesel engine
that they borrowed from their buddies over at VW.
And those were so bulletproof, that you can still
find them puttin' around Louisville, Kentucky
runnin' on used vegetable oil.
(wheel screeching)
Volvo wanted to make cars for people.
Which I know sounds obvious, what are they
gonna make cars for dogs?
But when the people needed a more fuel friendly car,
Volvo said,
- Your wish, is my command.
- But, by 1980 the boys at Volvo
were trying to change their image.
They realized that safety would only get them so far.
(crash)
So they had to start making their safe,
slow 240s into safe, faster 240s.
The designers were like,
- It's ze 80's, and ze Germans are making fast sedans.
- Ja.
- So, let's make a fast sedan vis a turbo or something.
- Ja, I like zat idea!
- Ja me too!
- Look, our factory also is a weight room,
let us celebrate by working on our muscle!
Hoon-kah, hoon-kah.
- Lift me, let's do gymnastics!
(crash) You threw me so high!
- Hoon-kah, hoon-kah
- You are so strong!
(percussive music) - [Narrator] Volvo turbo.
- Turbos were finally added to the line up in 1981.
Giving us a new sport trim the 240 G-L-T
where the T stands for turbo!
(car revving)
Now that they were turbo-charged and
a little bit faster, they had to get the word out.
And Volvo realized they need to test
these bad boys on the track.
To get the 240-T into the group A touring car class
Volvo motor sport had to get a little sneaky.
Rules stated they needed to build 500
homologation models to get into class A.
So Volvo fitted a bigger turbo and a bunch
of other performance modifications.
They streamlined the hoods a bit,
and these race specials became known as flat hoods.
But Volvo didn't have enough time to build them in Europe
so they threw all the race goodies into the trunks
of the standard 240-Ts and sent them to the U-S of A.
250 of their homologated cars were made
on each of the US coasts, and all 500 were
ready to be inspected in just three weeks.
A US representative of the FiA approved the cars,
and Volvo would get to go racin'
(tire skidding)
- [Commentator] Throwing his Volvo 240 Turbo
around with gay abandon.
- They sent one car back to Europe to race
in group A touring, and the rest
of the homologated 240s all stayed here in the States.
But could Volvo's boxy, reliable cars
handle themselves in a race?
Yeah they could!
In it's stock form the 240 wasn't fast
but it was light and handled well.
Make it a 350 #hrsprs version,
and the 240 can run with the best of 'em.
(heavy car revving)
It ran in British touring car, European touring car,
Australian touring car, and DTM championships.
And it won a lot!
But when the smoke had cleared and Volvo
was on the podium news broke about
a little sneaky sneakyness that Volvo pulled
during the homologation process.
They were supposed to be 499 cool (bleep) Volvo racers
in the States but there weren't.
Turns out, that as soon as the door hit
the FiA inspector in his little butt,
Volvo stripped the go-fast parts off all but one car.
The one that they sent back to Europe.
Everybody was pretty ticked off that Volvo
skirted the hardest part of the homologation process,
selling a race car for the street to the public.
But Volvo motor sport was like,
- Ah, ah ah...
Za rules only state zat za cars need
to be built and inspected, not sold.
- Hey man, don't hate the player, hate yourself
for not being as clever as the player.
And those other 499 240s were sold here,
with the bigger inner cooler and the signature flat hood.
These Volvos became the first batch of
the 1983 240 Turbo Intercooler models.
And they sold quite well thanks to the success
of the 240 in racing abroad.
- [Commentator] Volvo now, in the lead,
and beginning to pull away.
- When we talk about other cars that have been around
for over 20 years we say things like, the 2nd gen Camaro,
or the 3rd generation Mustang but not with the 240.
No sir, or ma'am.
Other than minor changes to the lights and grille
there was one generation of Volvo 240 for 20 years.
And the trim levels, and special editions
L for Luxe,
DL for Deluxe
GL for Grand Luxe,
GLE for Grand Luxe Executive.
They had so many trim levels, I can't even list
them all for you but they got so nuts with naming
that the options in Scandinavia with
the catalytic converter was called
the Volvo 240 Katalysator.
Why even put that on the car?
If you like special editions the 240's
got something for you, everything
from long wheel base limos and wagons
for government and school bus duty to cop cars
and hand built Italian chop top Bertone coupes.
Everyone who owned one of these cars absolutely loved it.
As a result Volvo built the 240 for 19 years
and sold 2.8 million of 'em.
And between 1990 and 1994 not one new 240 sedan driver
died in a solo accident, not one.
Much like how Brendan Fraser didn't have
a bad film within that same time period.
Coincidence? I think not.
(coughing)
- Whoa, whoa cut, come on guys.
You don't sound too good little buddy.
- Oh, hey Bart.
Whoa, hey, hoo hoo-- (electronic buzzing)
- Ah what the hell is that!
- Relax James, this is fixed OBDII reader.
- Was that thing in my body the whole time?
- This connects wirelessly to your smartphone
to read all to codes that your engine's giving ya.
In this fantasy situation, your body.
- Whoa.
- In fact, Fixd is sponsoring this episode of Up to Speed!
- Yeah, isn't Fixd offering Up to Speed fans 10% off
of their order if they enter the code DONUT at checkout?
- Yo, you are throwing a lot of codes James.
You gotta start drinking more water,
probably should get to sleep earlier...
- Okay thanks Bart and Fixd.
- You gotta start working out,
maybe you should get a personal trainer--
- Alright, thanks Bart and Fixd!
Volvo got so many letters and calls from owners
thanking them for making cars that saved their lives
the PR boss Bob Austin got an idea.
- Hey Greg, come in here I got an idea.
- Sure, uh what's up Bob?
- Volvo gets so many letters from the owners,
thanking us for making cars that saved their lives.
I think we should start a club.
- Uh, what should we call it man?
- I'm thinkin' the Volvo Saved My Life club.
- Ooh, it's a little on the nose.
- You know what Greg, (bleep) you.
I hope you get in a car wreck,
but you don't make it into the club.
- So Bob started the Volvo Saved My Life Club
in 1990 with members from all over the world
united in their belief that if they had been driving
any other car, they'd be dead.
Top this all off with that crumple zone under the hood.
Not only is there a ton of space
to fit whatever engine you want,
they're rear wheel drive.
The body is pretty light, and they handle surprisingly well.
And with a reputation for slow, plodding safety
they're the perfect sleeper.
Nobody expects to get their doors blown off by an old Volvo.
(car revving)
Today it's not uncommon to see 240s drag racing,
drifting, rallying, road racing, even off-roading.
It's not fast, it's not fancy.
It's just an honest car.
(honking)
(bass music)
Yo, I am super excited to officially collaborate
with Tabasko Sweet over at Super Deluxe
on his new show, Cheap Thrills.
Boosted!
We turned a truck into a Gucci flip flop.
If you like Swedish cars, watch this episode of Up to Speed.
As always, click that subscribe button.
I'm gonna go to the Gucci store.