Tuff240
240 Ninja
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2002
- Location
- Central California
I wasn't sure where to put this so it gets put here. Move it if it needs to be moved.
I've always wanted to have this as an open discussion to hopefully fill in some of the blanks, but rarely is someone qualified enough to do so.
This is something I wrote up for a racing forum I stumbled across by accident and they were discussing older Group A race cars. In this conversation the "Flatnose" homologation cars came up. I think it's a good place to start the discussion and see where it leads. Please only post actual information or at least somewhat know what it is you are talking about. Thanks.
Here is what I wrote:
There are MANY rumors about the homologation cars. From all of the people I have talked to and the miscellaneous information I have gathered over the years I would say that they are mostly that... rumors. The rear wing may have been in the trunk at best. A usually very reliable source that was there says they were all outfitted to some degree and then after receiving the approval papers were then stripped back to normal road cars. The part that has always eluded me is if it was the 500 or 5000 car rule that he is referring to.
My theory is that they had 500 non-US cars that cosmetically looked the part but mechanically were just normal road cars with a few key visual parts changed. After approval they stripped the race parts and returned the majority of them to regular road cars and saved a handful for racing purposes. These were the first 500 required to get approval.
The 5000 required to get the 2nd approval (Sorry, I forget exactly what each approval was for) were the cars that actually came to the US and were sold over here to the general public and are what are now commonly referred to as the homologation specials. Volvo enthusiasts often call these cars "Flatnose" Turbos, Group A Turbo, "Homologation Special" or some combination/variation of those names. When in fact all they really were was an intercooled Volvo 240 Turbo with a different (non-US) grill and hood. These are the cars that have all the rumors surrounding them. I have owned 4 of them, my co-worker currently owns one and I have inspected countless others for friends and other enthusiasts and they are physically not any different than a normal intercooled 240 Turbo. I have owned (bought and sold) over 600 Volvo 240's in the last 15+ years, so my knowledge of this paticular car in general is very good.
These cars may have originally had the older E-code rectangular lights that match the grill, and had to be removed for US DOT approval to be sold here in the US. That would explain why they have a strange grill, they (from a distance) would resemble a european 240 Turbo then. However, the true european 240 Turbos and the real Group A race cars all had different front end sheet metal than the US spec cars. We recently converted my co-workers homologation special to the european 240 Turbo style sheet metal (same as 86 and newer US spec) and although it's a relatively easy un-bolt and bolt back up process, I can't see Volvo changing out 500 cars that way like I have been told by Volvo employees.
Picture of the stock normal US Spec 240 Turbo. The one on the left is 81-82 (bigger bumpers) and the one on the right is 83-85:
Picture of stock US Spec "homologation special" 240T on left and european 240T (same as the group A race cars) on the right:
Picture of a US Spec homologation special style front grill/hood with e-code headlights:
I've always wanted to have this as an open discussion to hopefully fill in some of the blanks, but rarely is someone qualified enough to do so.
This is something I wrote up for a racing forum I stumbled across by accident and they were discussing older Group A race cars. In this conversation the "Flatnose" homologation cars came up. I think it's a good place to start the discussion and see where it leads. Please only post actual information or at least somewhat know what it is you are talking about. Thanks.
Here is what I wrote:
There are MANY rumors about the homologation cars. From all of the people I have talked to and the miscellaneous information I have gathered over the years I would say that they are mostly that... rumors. The rear wing may have been in the trunk at best. A usually very reliable source that was there says they were all outfitted to some degree and then after receiving the approval papers were then stripped back to normal road cars. The part that has always eluded me is if it was the 500 or 5000 car rule that he is referring to.
My theory is that they had 500 non-US cars that cosmetically looked the part but mechanically were just normal road cars with a few key visual parts changed. After approval they stripped the race parts and returned the majority of them to regular road cars and saved a handful for racing purposes. These were the first 500 required to get approval.
The 5000 required to get the 2nd approval (Sorry, I forget exactly what each approval was for) were the cars that actually came to the US and were sold over here to the general public and are what are now commonly referred to as the homologation specials. Volvo enthusiasts often call these cars "Flatnose" Turbos, Group A Turbo, "Homologation Special" or some combination/variation of those names. When in fact all they really were was an intercooled Volvo 240 Turbo with a different (non-US) grill and hood. These are the cars that have all the rumors surrounding them. I have owned 4 of them, my co-worker currently owns one and I have inspected countless others for friends and other enthusiasts and they are physically not any different than a normal intercooled 240 Turbo. I have owned (bought and sold) over 600 Volvo 240's in the last 15+ years, so my knowledge of this paticular car in general is very good.
These cars may have originally had the older E-code rectangular lights that match the grill, and had to be removed for US DOT approval to be sold here in the US. That would explain why they have a strange grill, they (from a distance) would resemble a european 240 Turbo then. However, the true european 240 Turbos and the real Group A race cars all had different front end sheet metal than the US spec cars. We recently converted my co-workers homologation special to the european 240 Turbo style sheet metal (same as 86 and newer US spec) and although it's a relatively easy un-bolt and bolt back up process, I can't see Volvo changing out 500 cars that way like I have been told by Volvo employees.
Picture of the stock normal US Spec 240 Turbo. The one on the left is 81-82 (bigger bumpers) and the one on the right is 83-85:
Picture of stock US Spec "homologation special" 240T on left and european 240T (same as the group A race cars) on the right:
Picture of a US Spec homologation special style front grill/hood with e-code headlights: