Volvo 240 GLT Automatic

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The epitome of Swedish solidity, the Volvo 240 was built like a tank, styled like a brick and safe as a bank vault. Capable of starship mileages with ease, it appealed to the affluent middle class family with 2.3 kids, a dog and a nice holiday cottage on the coast. Over 2m were sold worldwide from 1974 to 1993 and most owners hung onto them for years, much like the family Labrador.

The sporting model of the range was the GLT which boasted 136bhp from its fuel-injected 2.4 four-cylinder engine along with uprated suspension, alloy wheels and plenty of ‘I’m coming through’ rubberware front and rear. It also had a surprisingly decadent interior with plush leather armchairs, lashings of sculptured rubber, a heater that could power a sauna and a sunroof to let the steam out. All very Swedish. The 240 even enjoyed some sporting success, winning the 1985 European Touring Car Championship with the aid of a turbo and improbable amounts of boost.

Supplied new by Olds Volvo of Dorchester in May 1989, this 240 GLT Automatic has had just three owners from new, the first of whom kept it for 19 years and the second for seven years. It has covered 95,076 miles to date with an excellent service history comprising 22 stamps in the book up to 64,364 miles in March 2004, the first 11 at the supplying dealer and the next 11 at Upton & Walker of Weymouth with invoices for another five U&W services up to 2008 when the first owner finally parted with it at around 80,000 miles. Other invoices attest to further maintenance in the years that followed.

For the last four years the car has been kept in storage and barely used at all, the last MOT having expired in December 2017 with no advisories recorded. Rather curiously, an HPI check shows that this car was declared a Category C insurance loss in April 2000 (damaged, repairable) but there is nothing among the copious file of bills to indicate that it suffered any kind of accident damage at this time, nor does the car show any signs of having been damaged so you will have to draw your own conclusions on that score.

It certainly looks like an unusually smart and well-cared-for example, starting promptly and running nicely as we moved it around for these photos. It also retains all its original handbooks in the original Volvo wallet and will doubtless keep on tanking on long after we have all given up.