Buying a car that’s been raced is somewhat double-edged—on the one hand, regular maintenance is likely, and on the other, being driven hard is a certainty. This rare 1979 Volvo 242 GT on Facebook Marketplace in Bend, Oregon, was “raced autocross on occasion and was always the fastest car with a working cassette player out there.” So the owner has a sense of humor, but your smile may fade when you see the price tag—$8,999 is the non-bargain-basement asking.
The car looks very original, with the correct stripes and unique seats. The owner has done the necessary and replaced both fuel pumps, the exhaust, the heater core, and the heater fan during his ownership. He needs the last two because, from the photos, it snows in Bend. The car’s original magnesium wheels come with it.
Volvos typically attain a high mileage, and this one has a whopping 250,000 miles on the clock. But it probably never sat around in a barn, and that’s a good thing. “Solid, reliable car, able to be driven daily,” the owner says. That’s about it for information. There’s no engine photo, but we can see the four-speed manual and the electric overdrive appears to be in working condition.
The sporty 242 GT was sold only from 1978 to 1980 in the U.S. The concept was similar to the earlier limited-edition 123 GT. It got sport suspension that included stronger sway bars and 30-percent-stiffer springs. The usual 2.1-liter four was there, but with higher compression it produced an initial 123 horsepower. The 199 and 1980 got a 2.3-liter version with 140 horsepower. So it wasn’t quite a Saab Turbo, but there was some oomph there. All the 242 GTs for 1979 had the Mystic Silver paint, with the 3M-developed read-and-black tape stripes. The integrated fog lights seen on this one were standard, as was the chin spoiler.
The GTs got black corduroy seats with red stripes, which are also included here. Like the aforementioned 123 GT, the tach was added to clock performance. See below for the car autocrossing.
These GTs were the bomb in their day and were often entered into local competitions. They were fun to drive and own. In 1981, Volvo’s next up was the GLT Turbo. Now, Saab really had something to worry about. The photo below shows what the 242 GT looked like back in the day.
The U.S. probably got several thousand 242 GTs, but only 670 were allocated to Sweden’s home market, 630 to Australia, and just 200 to Canada. Volvo produced almost 250,000 240-series cars globally—most of them boxy four-doors. See below for another competition shot of our Volvo.
All this means that the high-mileage 242 GT coupe here is a rare bird with sparkling silver plumage and an interesting history. The 240 series Volvo goes for an average of $13,395 on Classic.com, but special editions like this command higher prices. A 1980 242 GT, very similar to this one, was sold for $13,001 on BaT last year.
Thank you for the excellent article, Jim. I have an enormous soft spot for these cars because my late father’s last car was identical. He donated it to a museum when his driving days were done, but I’d love to have it in my garage today.
Nice car. Got heavily into Volvos in ’99 when we met what turned into a 25 year friendship with a couple racing two Volvos, a two door sedan and an 1800ES in SCCA road racing events. Pretty much problem free and very fast for many years. Wouldn’t worry about autocrossing as it just isn’t rough on the cars. We’ve autocrossed every street car we’ve ever owned except the vans with no problems getting to the grocery store the next day. We even ran our ’53 MGTD in a couple but had to bungy the doors to keep them closed in the turns.
Mentioned in another post was in the foreign car fixing biz in the 70s, and Volvos (along with VW Rabbit/Audi Fox wagons) were much in evidence in the North Shore MA town the shop was located in. Lamented the switch from SUs to Strombergs, Strombergs to efi, but the cars are strong and I’d be right at home with this in the driveway.
I guess rare is subjective, there’s gobs of these GT’s in Oregon.
242GTs are fairly rare. My daughter’s first was a 242GT because she couldn’t afford to insure a 242 turbo. I don’t think it had any extra compression. The US didn’t get the 2.3L ohc till a few years later.
This is a nice car but the fuse box cover is missing.
Owned the exact same car, was a ball to drive, not very fast but was comfortable on the road. Ended up getting vandalized to the point the insurance company wrote it off. Don’t see many of them any more where I live, but do recall seeing some on the various auction sites.
Wasn’t the exact same car.
Your correct, not the exact same car as listed but one like it. After i wrote that I thought maybe I didn’t say that correctly. Still a nice car.
I bought a very rusty 79 GT two years ago. Not worth saving, so was parted out. The lsd rear went to a friend with a nice 142, everything else will be going on my 82 242. Strong cars no matter what. Bottom of the car was completely gone. Sat on a hoist square and level. I was sure it would fall but held together enough to remove everything salvageable. My 82 is patiently waiting. Yea, it is covered and undercoated. Virtually rust free, got it as a shell. Will be fun when it’s done.
He had to replace the heater fan. Plastic part, always broke on this era 240 series. Other wise the 2 same era 245s I owned were two of my favorite cars. Always wanted a 242 GT. They were unusual here. Never saw one for sale locally
Remember seeing one of these on the showroom floor when these were new. I have always been a fan of the 240 series.
The 262 Bertone coup is my favorite Volvo from the 240/44/45 series.l love it for it’s rarity and handsome looks.The 242 GT is a great collector Volvo.
I remember when these were new, neat looking car. That interior is a little whiz bang loud for me, but cool cars. This day and age under ten grand for anything moderately collectable, running and not rusty isn’t a bad deal.
Also the upright stuff is a little easier to get in and out of and less likely to be worked by a big truck that doesn’t even see it on the roads these days.
Looks like a decent deal. If autoxed it would have to pass tech. inspection, not a bad thing there either.
I bought a 1979 242 off the showroom floor. It was white with a red interior and a really good shifter. I loved that car. It handled like a dream, smooth and quiet. I could hear the quartz clock at highway speeds. I hope Volvos are as good.
We ralleyed a Bertone in the ’90’s. Bulletproof fast, and comfortable too.
I really hate it when rally/rallye is spelled wrong!
There are a couple of 262Cs around here.
Sorry about Dat. I also hate mispellin things.