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240 production numbers by year and or color?

Canadan

New member
Joined
Feb 22, 2013
Location
Oregon
I'm trying to find some numbers but it seems pretty difficult. With muscle cars or whatever it's super easy to find info like how many green 68 challengers with white interior or whatever. I've found, on a uk Volvo site the number of 1985-1985 244 were made but that's the most info it offered. I'm under the impression my car may be a bit rare and just out of curiosity wondered how rare...I've searched my vin and it popped up a German thread about people arguing the existence of 1985 turbo or something and my car was linked, which was strange to me but was before my ownership and it led me to more sites of my car but no production numbers or anything. Car is a 1985 244 turbo police package in med blue #213
 
AFAIK production #'s by year is about as close as you'll get.
Maybe can whittle it down to # of turbos and wagons vs. sedans.
Police package is a SO (Special Order) plate/vin as well, so not sure if it'd be included in those figures.
Short answer, yes a SO '85 244T Police is a rare car.
 
Damn, all I could find on that uk forum was number of sedans in 84 and 85 at like 70,000 which doesn't help too much. You said the so has a specific vin, you don't by chance know which part of the vin declares that or perhaps a vin decoder?

It's strange that there's no production numbers on these cars but I guess they aren't quite collectible enough for people to be asking? I've thought about calling the police department it came from and perhaps getting lucky talk to a little old lady in records or something but that would only tell me how many that one city bought...maybe I can find someone in Volvo to call?
 
So did anyone ever crack this nut, or shall the mystery of 240/260 production figures remain forever unsolved? The only 240/260-series models I've ever seen with precise numbering have been the 262C and 264TE. This likely had more to do with the fact Bertone was tasked with producing the bodies at Turin, so production was monitored closely by Gothenburg. Otherwise, I have never seen any breakdown of production figures for petrol or diesel cars, naturally aspirated or otherwise, although body styles are sometimes identified; i.e. wagon, 4-door sedan, 2-door sedan. That being said, I would greatly appreciate the lowdown on B21FT/ET-equipped cars from 1980-1985, if someone is able to break the code.
 
Volvo has only ever provided total numbers. Never a breakdown of colors or models like if it was a turbo or not. There is a good vin decoder in the Volvo book. But that is all I have ever found. Knowing Volvo, that info is certainly still there in some dusty boxes in the basement of one of their buildings.
 
Do you know the combination to the door on the basement of their New Jersey headquarters? I think it would be worthwhile to determine what department at Volvo is responsible for this information. Frankly, I am surprised it hasn't already been made available. Then again, when one considers the global volume of production for 240/260-series cars, plus the sheer variety of vehicles produced from 1974-1993, the records are probably vast. Still, isn't that what mainframe computers are for? Having already decoded the VIN of my 1982 244GLT Turbo, I know some of the facts, but I have no idea how it fits into the grand scheme of things. As I mentioned, the only 240/260-series models I've ever seen with precise numbering have been the 262C and 264TE. Another exception would be the 500 homologated specials from 1983. Even limited-production cars like the 242GT, "California" special, and 262GL just disappear in the flurry of figures recorded annually by the factories. We won't even talk about the assembled cars from Halifax, Nova Scotia. A project to save for a rainy day.
 
I have been there and Rockleigh has a lot of buildings to go through. Someone that has worked there could help. If you look for the 240 turbo production numbers they are not available as separate information. I do know that they made them in Halifax as well as Sweden. An easy tip off of the Canadian cars is that they used the Commando bumpers all the way to 1985 but Swedish production had the plastic covered bumpers from 1983-1985. I used to have a Canadian built factory intercooled 1984 244GLT. It was a very rusty car sadly but did provided lots of good parts for my collection.
 
Indeed, Halifax was a point of assembly. "Assembly" being the key word. Components were shipped out from Sweden and the Canadians completed them from knock-down kits. What's fascinating is not only has the plant gone with the wind, but it seems nearly all of those Halifax-built cars have gone by the wayside. Rust is merciless and none shall be spared. My 1982 244GLT Turbo was actually imported into the US through Canada, by way of New York, but it was built in Sweden. Thus far, the only reference I have been able to find to projected Turbo production is in the Road & Track review from January of 1981. It states, "Volvo expects to build 2,500 for the U.S. in 1981 at an estimated price of $13,500.00...." Based on the fact the B21ET/FT was not sold in all European markets, and that the U.S. was probably the destination for most of the cars produced, one may surmise the total run of all body styles from '81 to '85 was anywhere from as few 12,000 cars to as many as 25,000, depending on when and where sales peaked; not forgetting the Turbo actually had its European debut in 1980. This is all speculation, of course, without having a Swedish guide to navigate the sub-basements of Volvo's New Jersey archives. When is the next train to Rockleigh?
 
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