242GT Malvo

Ardwerks · 2024-06-05T13:22:59+00:00

1980 242 GT Special Introducing my car, I have always been into classic Volvos, starting with 122's and eventually settling on a 240 as the perfect allrounde...

242GT

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The last of Australia's 242GT were swap over by Volvo Australia to have the twin rectangular head lights , R Sport dash, satin black paint over bonnet , roof and boot.

This painting was done due to long term storage that caused clear coat damage before being sold via the dealerships , approx 30 cars involved.

Ardwerks

242GT
Ahh well there you go, I did not know about the clear coat, but now that makes more sense, thanks for sharing. where was that information/picture from is it in a book or magazine?

242GT

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Compliance December 1980 , owned 36yrs

Ardwerks

242GT
Love the Minilites

242GT

Put them on 10yrs ago , in the process of much needed restoration as it was a registered daily , race car , tow car and now will go to club plates.

Turbo converted in 2005

242GT

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242GT chart available on line

Forg

The last of Australia's 242GT were swap over by Volvo Australia to have the twin rectangular head lights , R Sport dash

Is that R Sport dash thing definite, or has someone seen a few so assumed that was fitted to all?

Because as I said, I looked at a couple 25 years ago, I mean their owners could have been full of poo; and neither had the R Sport dash. They had everything else, but not the dash.

The reason for the 264GLE front-end was 'cos the big facelift 244/245 with the smaller profile bumpers & smoother headlights had been released, and the 242GT was looking very old for a car which was so expensive. It can't be cheap having your top-of-the-range model (and hence greatest single dollar-amount of inventory) sitting around unsold long enough that the paint goes off.

Oh, a related anecdote ... I'm not surprised regarding the reasoning for the black paint (someone told me back then that it was a repeat of the paint on a limited edition 244 GL Executive model from 1977 I think, at the time I thought I vaguely remembered it but haven't found any online photos of one since). The guy I finally bought a 242GT from 25 years ago had owned one when new, his wasn't the "1981" so it had the silver paint, he was parking outside for work at the time and he said his clear-coat started peeling within the 1yr warranty-period.

242GT

Forg

R Sport dashes were part of volvo R Sport accesories division.

I've owned my 242GT for 36yrs and it had one installed as it was one of the repainted black top cars.

Volvo's clear laquer paint was very poor quality and just couldn't handle Australia's heat and UV sun and quickly faded and peeled , it's a common paint fault with other brands of cars as well.

242GT

Volvo had a accesories section called R Sport .

Non of the 242GT were biult in 1981 , mine is compliance dated 12/1980 , but like mine the last of them were sold in 1981 due to slow sales.

It's been around since the 1960's and the release of the 120 & 140 models hence the 142GT with R Sport dashes , R Sport also had springs and shocks , the 242GT also used a slightly different cam.

I have R Sport dashes totally rebiult for sale , for late 140 , 164 , 240 & 264 with the short dash shroud over the instruments.

I have LED with dimmer & traditional bulb available, all have new gauge facials applied , new circuit boards , speedo's dismantled and restored , fully repainted frames and gauge rings & indicator strip's.

I have both 4 & cylinder dashes available

Forg

it had one installed as it was one of the repainted black top cars

Yes but this is what I was saying earlier, I drove one & tyre-kicked another of the black-top repainted cars circa 1998 or 1999, the owners both claimed they were totally original but neither had the R Sport instrument cluster. I mean they could have both been lying about having replaced the cluster with a standard one, and I didn't know enough at the time to check the compliance or build plates to see if they really were late-build cars so they could also have been lying about the cars having been delivered new with the black paint & 264GLE headlights.
ie. this is why I was asking how sure you are that "all" the 264GLE-headlighted ("California front") black-top cars had the R Sport gauges when delivered new.

The only time I even saw an R Sport cluster in a car back then was the earlier-build car I ended up buying (which was still 1980 model year although IIRC 1979 build-date), at the time I knew little about Volvos or 242GT's and nothing about R Sport so I initially thought a weird-beard had got some textured aluminium & painted it black & fitted some vintage-style yellow-face VDO gauges themselves ... 'cos that's what it looks like. 🙂

242GT

The R Sport dashes were sold through dealers accesories side of things or found in wreckers in later years , theyre easily fitted , just need the VDO oil pressure sensor with the twin knurled & threaded pins or use a duel block to plumb up original sensor ( yes/no oil pressure sensor) & a VDO single read out pin , there a standard item easily found through car accessory shops , and VDO sensor that reads to 10bar will do the job

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Note sensor next to oil filter on my 1973 144 race car. Its a single pin sensor but you can use a twin pin sensor as well.

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I have fully restored R Sport dashes for sale for both 4 & 6 cylinder 140/164 and 240/264 short dash over hand models.

it's qiute easy to convert from standard dash to the R Sport.

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Ardwerks

242GT
Are you selling an R-sport cluster? How much are looking to get for the restored one? mine is immaculate but wouldn't mind a second so I can do custom black and orange gauges for the existing one.

Forg

Indeed, but not all Cal-front 242GT's got them as standard.

That's very nice resto work!!!

If mine didn't have a 1987 dash in it I'd be all "take my money" ... actually someone has retro-fitted the gauges into a 1981+ 240 dash using a custom aluminium piece, I've seen photos, but even though he made it fit perfectly it looks all wrong.

242GT

I know the car that the longer dash your talking about went into , Warick took it back out and went full digital.

It will be a very nice car when he's finished it , he's very thorough and detailed work.

I'm not sure whether all the California front cars got the R Sport dash , all the ones I've seen over the years did but that dosnt mean some didn't.

Anthony

242GT - the good old silver metallic paint, for environmental reasons, it was the new era of water based paint.
My theory was the metal flake reflected back and cooked the clear coat from the inside.

Really well done Ardwerks on your GT enhancements.
Shortening the lower control arms to improve the arch/wheel fit has other consequences as lots of components then need modification and you seemed to have tackled them (adj upper arms, tail shaft angle / shortening etc).

Spotflare

I've seen this floating about the work carpark a few times, saw it parked out the front of my building yesterday. Can't help but lose my mind and fan girl every time.

Mad props, absolutely hot build.