At some point while reading websites about the Group A 240 Turbos from the 1983 model year, I came across a fairly in-depth writeup of the modifications made specifically to Volvo's actual racing cars, not to the 500 "homologation" models. The changes included things like special lightweight plastic or aluminum parts for the car, acid-dipping sections of it, and a lot of other changes, nearly all weight-reducing.

The website made it clear that the racing editions of the 240 had none of the luxuries of the flathoods--power windows, antenna, seat heaters, special trim, etc. I don't know exactly what options the flathoods have, but I know that all together they would be a lot heavier than the racing 240s Volvo used.

The website also hinted something about "another" edition of the turbos--a group of turbos that were bare-bones, arriving with no options and not heavily promoted by the dealers. The author might have referred to them as "budget" or "entry-level" turbos; I can't recall correctly, but the point is that these cars were not "loaded" and thus were not highlighted in any way for buyers.

However, these discreet turboed 240s also were supposed to have the true racing engines, perhaps throttled back a little, but with the same components as the cars that Volvo ran--presumably a capable mechanic could tune them back to the racing specs.

Is there any truth to these rumors? Was there a second, lower-trim level line of turbos with hot engines brought to the States in 1983/4 alongside the flashy and fully-equipped "Group A" homologated cars?

Unfortunately, I can't recall the website where I read this stuff, but the "does this make sense" test kind of checks out. The Group A flathoods, truly unique cars in their own rights, wouldn't be an exact copy of the racing cars Volvo used; I don't know whether ETCC regulations require them to be or not. If the rules *did* demand exact copies, then that would mean that Volvo would be forced to import fast cars without good factory options available to the buyer--the racing cars don't need power windows, for example, and who wants a baseline 240 if they're already spending extra for a turbo?

Still, though the page contained a lot of legitimate and useful information, I'm still quite skeptical. It's wishful thinking to hope there was some "hidden" line of super-fast, special-Group A 240s that were buit. However, I would think that any sort of additional select edition would have been discovered in the twenty years these cars would have existed, even if only 500 of these other special cars were produced.

Useful links:
Volvo 200.org's Group A page
1983 242 Group-A turbo SE flathood page
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'89 244 GL -- 105,411 miles (see profile for info on car)

I have seen an 82 242 w/B21FT engine, DL badge on the trunk, no accesories, no sunroof, rubber floor mats instead of carpet, and the V6 hood in a junkyard. It had the smaller steering wheel, turbo gauges, and things like that, but nothing else. Did have an antenna on the A-pillar. If you were going to turn any 242 into a race car that would be what I would pick. The 83 Group-A cars are too nice, as are the 81's.
I sometimes wish I had grabbed the rubber floor mats.
Saw a similar 4 door in the Damascus junkyard not long ago, but didn't look closely.
I really don't think the engines in either car were stronger than my 81. The GR-A cars seem mostly cosmetic (aside from the intercooler), getting the 240 hood instead of the V6 hood, the grille from Australia/Europe (used with the rectangular ecodes up to 80 there) and the quad rectangular headlights.
I have heard that at least some of the 83 GR-A cars came with the B23FT instead of the B21FT. The sticker listing engine displacement on a friend's GR-A car reads 145 cubic inches. Just more to add the the vast amount of speculation about these cars.
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1981 242 GLTi 1967.5 122S
Seattle, WA

Completely false.

There was a line of DL cars with turbo. My pal John has a 242. Simply a DL-trimmed car with a B21FT. Nothing special.

There was also a line of police cars. These were 244s with DL trim, turbo, and automatic.

There's nothing special about cars with turbos and DL trim. Except that they weren't advertised.
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'73 142, '75 242, '75 245, '80 245, '83 244, '86 244, '87 745T, 92 244 (for sale)

I had an 83 242T "flathood" for 11 years. It was just like any other 242T except for the flathood and grille. The flathood is leftover from the early 240. The grille may have been the only special part.

It was the first 240T to have an intercooler -- they came standard in the middle of the next model year. It also had the earlier flywheel, which was lighter. The later 240T intercooler cars had the heavier flywheel.

It was not a thinly disguised racing car. It simply had a couple of parts that were apparently needed for homolgation purposes for the racing cars -- the intercooler and the hood (supposedly more aerodynamic).

There probably was a lot of cheating going on regarding the racing cars. There is a lot of cheating going on in just about all professional sports. Where there is opportunity for fame, money, power or any combination of the three, you will find plenty of examples of human nature at its worst.

Philip Bradley

I'm afraid Philip is right, except that the homologation for 240 Turbos took place before the '83 model year. The homologation rules required 5000 production cars. The special edition '83 turbos were only made to justify the 500 car minimum for a special evolution setup... the one they used to win races. The production "flathood" cars had nothing else in common with the cars they used to build race cars. The race car bodies were specially ordered through Volvo... it was the only way I know of they could get a 242 Turbo WITHOUT a sunroof.
Dave B.