Junkyard Find: 1979 Volvo 262C Bertone
Since we had an extremely rare 1979 Junkyard Find yesterday (a Volkswagen Dasher Diesel), let’s have another today. This is the first time I’ve found a genuine Volvo 262C Bertone Coupe in a wrecking yard (I have seen the occasional Volvo 780 Bertone Coupe), and it happened during the same trip to California that gave us the Dasher Diesel. Let’s admire this fine example of Italo-Swedish design!
These cars are out there, and you can get rough ones for nickels and dimes. In fact, we’ve got a 24 Hours of LeMons team— the Bert Ones, get it?— running a very quick, B230-powered 262C Bertone on the East Coast.
With hindsight, we can see that an expensive Volvo 240 2-door with a chopped roof, Bertone badges, and PRV engine was doomed to marketplace failure from the very beginning.
Still, Volvo was willing to take some chances in its pursuit of… well, we can’t quite figure out what demographic was being targeted here. Stodgy, sensible cocaine dealers?
210,268 miles on the clock, which is a bit less than the figure in most junked Volvo bricks that I see.
The PRV, which also powered the DeLorean DMC-12 and Eagle Premier, wasn’t in the same reliability league as the good old Volvo four-cylinders.
The very luxurious Bertone leather interior has been torn up pretty well, but a few bits remain.
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These are a few of these floating around on e-bay. Every time I have seen one of these I think of someone at Volvo was influenced by American rod culture. "Sven vat do you think? We take the 242 2dr and chop the roof like a 34 deuce coupe?" Given my affection for coupes, I still like these. I could see someone taking a decent one after the PRV gives up the ghost and installing a turbo 4 out of a 240 or 740 turbo. Or a 16 valve out of a later 740.
What yard is this car in? I may well need some parts off of this car if it is still available.