The Northern California Volvo 240pocalypse Continues!

Murilee Martin
by Murilee Martin

The San Francisco Bay Area once had one of the world’s highest Volvo 240 concentrations, but a number of factors are conspiring to send vast numbers of Swedish bricks to The Crusher in recent years. How many? Let’s take a look at the 240 inventory I spotted yesterday at a high-turnover East Bay wrecking yard.

Keep in mind that this particular yard (which is owned by a steel company) keeps a car in the inventory for about two months before crushing it and shipping the result straight to China. Here we have 13 Volvo 240s, which will be replaced with a similar number two months from now, and the process will continue until they’re all gone.

This has gone on at a dozen or so Northern California junkyards, day after day, for the last five years or so. Here’s the same junkyard’s 240 inventory about a year ago.

Why? The last 240 s rolled off the assembly line nearly 20 years ago, which means most of them have six-figure miles on the clock and frequent repair needs by now (the temperamental electrical systems, the 240’s only serious weak point beyond the stodgy image, tend to get flakier with each passing year).

However, the rise of the Toyota Prius among those who want to make a political/lifestyle statement with their cars has likely been the main culprit. During the pre-Prius era, the Volvo 240’s image of safety and frivolity-free Scandinavian stoicism made it a big hit in NorCal (despite the brick’s drunken-sailor-grade thirst for fuel)… but the Prius came along and the 240s got sold to those who couldn’t afford the annual $1,500-$3000 in repair costs from Sven The Volvo Mechanic when the usual 25-year-old-European-car problems cropped up. High steel prices mean a typical broken 240 is good for $400 in cold cash from the scrapper. Next stop, The Crusher!

Because plenty of folks still swear by the old Volvos and would sooner ride a mule than get behind the wheel of a damn Toyota, there will always be some of them roaming Bay Area streets. If you can do your own Volvo repairs, you’ll be assured of plentiful and cheap junkyard parts for at least the next few years.






Murilee Martin
Murilee Martin

Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.

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  • Night_Sailor Night_Sailor on Aug 14, 2011

    I have two Volvo 240's. They both get 32.5mpg on the highway. I an anxiously awaiting the back ordered LRR Michelin tires which I hope will give me 34 mpg. Both are 5 speeds, a blast to drive, are invisible to cops. When they see me the worst I get is a warning. Driving fast, I think they can't believe I'm able to exceed the speed limit. The wagon is long enough to sleep in, and I'm 6'4"--a huge asset on a long trip as I like to drive until I have to stop and sleep. Also, while I now live in Connecticut, when stationed in Sacramento serving in the US Air Force, there was a guy making a living rebuilding these car in Antelope. He was selling one every 1-2 weeks in the Bay area. I am surprised they are being crushed because they are still very popular cars. The values on these are actually going up from what I've seen. Many are well maintained. I just spotted one for $4000 near me, and if I had the money, I'd jump on it, just for a spare car. I am putting power corvette seats in it next for more comfort on longer trips. If I keep mine long enough I won't be putting a V-8 in it, instead a TDI with a six speed--I think I can my mpg up to about 44 with that combo. I would restart production of these cars if I could with a few modern conveniences. That is a bit hard to justify since the gas engine will go 1 million miles.

  • Distorted Humor Distorted Humor on Jan 25, 2013

    We where the "Volvo" family - '86 240 wagon, '89 and '90 Sedans, Great cars, the '86 ended up getting old around 1999 and the engine was getting hot after 260k, my dad wore out the '90 seat by 2000, and the '89 ended up with a Window-wiper motor failure, and when i could not source that part for less then 300, and the car was worth around 500 at most, i traded it in for a new car, That and they where getting thirsty for gas so i wanted something with better mileage. All of them got 250k+ miles.

  • EBFlex China can F right off.
  • MrIcky And tbh, this is why I don't mind a little subsidization of our battery industry. If the American or at least free trade companies don't get some sort of good start, they'll never be able to float long enough to become competitive.
  • SCE to AUX Does the WTO have any teeth? Seems like countries just flail it at each other like a soft rubber stick for internal political purposes.
  • Peter You know we’ve entered the age of self driving vehicles When KIAs go from being stolen to rolling away by themselves.
  • Analoggrotto TTAC is full of drug addicts with short memories. Just beside this article is another very beautiful article about how the EV9 was internationally voted by a renowned board of automotive experts who are no doubt highly educated, wealthy and affluent; the best vehicle in entire world. That's planet earth for you numbskulls. Let me repeat: the best vehicle in the world is the Kia EV9. Voted, and sealed, and if you try to deny it Fanny Willis is ready to prosecute you; but she will send her boyfriend instead because she is busy.
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