Volvo 244 diesel

My other car which I drove regularly is a Volvo 244 GL D6 diesel (D24-engine, made by Volkswagen) and automatic transmission which was build at October 1979 and has modelyear 1980. The car was painted in a bronze metallic paint but is being resprayed a couple of years ago in colorcode 220 (Beige gold metallic, which was available on the Volvo 340 and 360). The diesel-engine and BW55 automatic gearbox are being completely refurbished a couple of years ago by a workshop which is specialized in rebuilding VW LT-engines (the D24-engines were also fitted into Volkswagen LT commercial trucks). The car is equipped with beige leather upholstery. Originally the car had brown cloth I think, since the car had some dark brown plastic parts like the kickpanels and the B-pilars.

The engine of the car was rebuild at 200.000km. The automatic transmission was also completely refurbished. And the complete service history of the car was included.

The Volvo 244 was imported from Belgium in 2005. The first owner had the car for more than 26 years! I’m the thirth owner of the Volvo.

I sold the car last April after having the car for more than three years. The rear wheelarches started to rust from the inside. It wasn’t very bad and it would last for several years but since I can’t weld and had enough of the (sometimes) bad starts in the winter I decided to sell the car.

My good old Volvo 244. The car is repainted in a pretty rare color: beige metallic of the ’81 Volvo 340-series

But I shouldn’t sell the Volvo diesel: it was a very nice car which handles a lot better than the petrol version (the diesels had a slightly different front suspension). And since I’m considering to replace my Volvo V70 with a Volvo 240 as daily driver I could have use the 244 diesel again as a daily driver. I’m regretting I sold the car. 🙁

Volvo 244 GL D6 diesel automatic image gallery

Here are a couple of pics of my good old Volvo 240 diesel with BW 55 automatic transmission. Click on the image for a larger version. It will open in a new window/tab. Enjoy!

The D24 6-in-line diesel engine of my Volvo 244 (it’s the first type D6-engine). The engine was completely rebuild a couple of years ago at a specialized VAG overhaul company	When I bought the Volvo 244 the car had a strange rear window sticker of a local radio station in Belgium
When I bought the car the Volvo 244 had very small tires (175R14 tires of Nokia). You can also see the car had the first type steel wheels	I replaced the old type wheels with the newer type (also the new type wheel covers) and better tires: Continental 185/80/R14 which had a better grip because it was a bit wider
See the Volvo 740 Estate in front of the 244? That car had Rigal wheels and I was wondering how it will look on my Volvo 240	Hmm, could be better. It looks the 244 is standing on 4 cheeses. The Volvo Rigal wheels were available for the Volvo 740 and 760, but it doesn’t look very good on an old type Volvo 240-series. Needles to say I removed the wheels and installed the steel versions again

A nice pic with HDR-effect	The dash and light brown interior of my Volvo 244
Another view of the dashboard. In my opinion the old type Volvo 240/260-dash is much prettier than the late type (which was installed since modelyear 1981)	The light brown leather interior of the car. The seats were fitted with new foam and are very comfortable! The leather isn’t in mint condition but isn’t bad at all

After owning the car for a couple of weeks my girlfriend and I were planning to go to Sweden and Denmark. We’re considering to use the Volvo 740 of my girlfriend but we decided to take the Volvo 244 diesel. Not sure if it would be okay to use it in the winter (diesel doesn’t like winter), but only one way to find out! After checking the car, installing Vredestein winter tires and installing a heavy duty battery (which was used in light trucks with 12V-system) we’re ready to go!

And it was amazing: the car really handled well and didn’t have any problems with starting at (very) low temperatures! We drove about 5.000km with the Volvo 244 and the average fuel consumption was about 1:14 (7.1L/100km). Not bad for a three-speed automatic gearbox and old diesel-engine!

After a while I bought a wheel trim ring set of Ravus with small white walls (1 inch). Most people in The Netherlands think it isn’t original and it shouldn’t be installed on a Volvo 240 or 260. But they forgot the 240s and 260s were delivered in the USA and Canada with white sidewall tires! And in most countries it also was an accessory. It suits my 244 pretty well.

The Ravus set is very easy to install: you have to mount the sidewall and teflon protective ring over the high polished stainless ring and fasten it with plastic clips.

After 2.000km in snow, salty roads the car was pretty dirty. Here’s the car in the parking of a hotel in Lund (Sweden) where it was pretty warm inside. That night it snowed all night, so we were happy the car was in a garage!	The Volvo 240 diesel at one of the oldest towns in Europe: Ribe in Denmark. This photo was taken at the Viking Centre
The Volvo 244 at a Danish Kro (motel), as you can see the car is pretty dirty	My Volvo 244 with stainless steel wheel rings and white sidewalls
The Ravus wheel ring set with whitewalls are very easy to install and have an excellent fit	The other side
The white walls really matches the old 240 look!	The Volvo 244 at a Volvo clubtour
Another pic of the 244 diesel at the Varfard tour. The whitewalls and rings are a bit wrinkly because I pushed the rings a bit too far into the wheel	Did you know the old type Volvo 240/260-series with the big aluminum bumpers have an other type of tow bar than the late series? It’s because the size of the bumper
Sideview of the Volvo 244 diesel	The rear of the car is a bit higher than the front, because this Volvo 244 is equipped with heavy duty rear springs

Thanks to the mechanic of the company where I worked I got a front spoiler for my Volvo 244. The front spoiler is only suitable for the old type aluminum bumper. Unfortunately the spoiler has some damage. It’s made of fiberglass and plastic and I thought it was an aftermarket spoiler. But after reading some old Volvo accessory-catalogs it seemed it could be an original Volvo-spoiler which sold for only a couple of years.

I was considering to install the spoiler, but it needed a lot of work and a respray. Because the spoiler was damaged I cut off the sides to the similar design of the late type spoiler but I forgot the underside of the spoiler was wider and thicker so it got a strange look. I painted it black but the front spoiler was never installed on my Volvo 240: it was too big and looked like a shovel. And thanks to the rear heavy duty springs I think the car could scrape the ground at tresholds and bumpy roads.

Side view of the rare type Volvo 240 spoiler	The damaged side of the spoiler
The Volvo 240 is turned into a snowplow 🙂	Now I remember I didn’t install it on my 244
It’s way too big for my Volvo 240	From this angle it doesn’t look really bad
Another strange problem of my Volvo 244: the glass of the headlamp just fell off! At this type headlight (only used in 79-80) the glass is directly glued onto the reflector. When the glue is worn out the glass comes off	The reflector had better days. The glass of the headlight isn’t available seperately so you’ll need to buy a new (original Volvo) unit. But bad news: it’s getting very rare and not available anymore. If you have this problem: it’s easy to change the front to the round lights-version! The round headlights are very easy to get (other cars uses the same size), or you can change it to the USA-look with 2 lights per side
Swedish rivals	My Volvo 244 and almost the same 244 (which has the color my 240 originally had). The other 244 is in excellent condition! I installed a set of Swedish foglights. This picture was taken at the Volvo Klassiekerbeurs (an event of the Dutch Volvo club)

When I decided to sell the Volvo 244 diesel I removed the Ravus white wall set. It lost it’s glory (the rings weren’t damaged but the white walls didn’t really survive the winter) and without it the car looked a bit better.

After installing new Michelin tires I removed the Ravus whitewall set for a while	The back of the Volvo 240 sedan
Beautiful color	Volvo used this model rear lamps for only a couple of years
A rally shield of a winter trial is installed on the grille	I really like the old type with big bumpers