Unbelievable. Woke up to find my door glass smashed and the drivers seat gone out of my '88 240 wagon... Must have been the work of a 'Volvo Expert' cause they knew not to bother with the factory radio! Also pilfered the rear seat back release handle, fire extinguisher and a tiny rubber trim from drivers door rainsheild. What next? - AMM's and ECU's from under the bonnet! At least they left my spare relays and fuses in the glovebox...

My friendly local dismantler, who has very kindly lent me an old seat out of an '82 244 til he can find a match for mine tells me that if and when he finds me the release handle for the rear seat back it is something of a PITA to instal. Anyone have experience with this on the '88 wagon? Apparently the design had changed over the years.

On the bright side the seat foam was shot of course so the perpetrator is up for that. Wish they hadn't of cracked the handbrake console in the process. I should be thankful they left the map pockets (guess I'll be sleeping in the back tonight with a nice piece of hardwood - if I can get the back seat down!)

Oh well that's life I suppose if we insist on owning such 'classic' cars. Nice 240's need garages nowadays. Pity though, I can remember when people laughed at them and they were invisible to thieves...

Sorry for the rant - any tips on the rear seat back handle would be appreciated thanks.
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Mike's 'Indobrick' : '88 245 250,000kms; RIP: '84 360GLT 200,000kms.

Mike,

What happened to the "Bloody Volvo Driver" mentality in Oz? I am in Adelaide. I have a good friend, named Brian Helps who owns a Volvo Wrecking Yard, going out of business, come February. Call him after 15:00 (Adelaide time zone) 08 8445 7375. Tell him the owner of the Carburetted Beige 81 Volvo 244 referred you. He is a great guy and would bend over backwards to help anyone. I suggest this, because he may have what you need (cheap).

RLC,
Thanks for that. An interesting question. And at the risk of gross generalization on the 'socio-economic aspects of the 240' (now there's a PhD topic!); here's my $0.05:

I suspect that as the nice 240's passed down from the original owners (responsible law-abiding types who got their log books stamped) to their children (mostly responsible law-abiding types who at least did oil changes and rust prevention but eventually tired of the power/weight ratio and bodyroll and got nice new Hondas or Landcruisers on graduation); these 240's still had another 100k left in them and as you know trade in the affordable $500 to $5000 market and being relatively bulletproof and 'ugly-beautiful' (IMHO) nice examples are fetching over $5000 (US readers that's AUD, relax!). So the Bricks keep on rolling and have aquired almost the same cult status in Oz as say, the legendary Adelaide-built Chrysler Valiant. Hence the 'bloody Volvo' has become pretty bloody 'cool' despite power/weight ratio and bodyroll . A Swedish Valiant if you will. Trouble being the interiors and trim are often tired at 250K and some young blokes will stop at nothing to have a nice schmick 240 hence the midnight spares shopping list. Interestingly my perception is that a lot of BBers pride themselves more on a clean flame trap and tranny fluid and couldn't give a toss if the map pockets were busted and the seats had seen better days. Function takes priority over aesthetics. As it is I think I actually prefer the '82 seat I've been lent (lower back and firmer bottom) and I always expected I would be driving the Indobrick to it's grave and being a Sydneysider without a garage it would get scuffed up, so I s'spose I'm not in it for the concourse action or the resale value!

Many thanks for the contact. I'll give your man a bell cause I definitely need the rear seat release handle (Wagoneer tells me it's not such a PITA to fit) and I have a Sis in Adelaide who could pick it up for me.
Cheers and apologies for the waffling post.
Mike
ps did you know there are a couple of Bricks still going strong on The Oodnadatta Track?
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Mike's 'Indobrick' : '88 245 250,000kms; RIP: '84 360GLT 200,000kms.

The thief was probably trying to get to your heater control and removed the seat to get at it !

That is a bummer ... good luck

Here in the States, a real thief would have come with a tow truck and stolen the entire car! If we could only get revenge, wouldn't that be nice :)

Keep a look out for 245's in your neighborhood with a worn driver's seat.

Klaus
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98 V70Rawd(101Kmi), 95 854T(85K mi), 88 245(165K mi)

that is awful news.
Another reason for me to never lock my brick.
I believe that such lowlifes simply have lists of parts needed and steal from their victims based on this; don't impart anything more to your victimization than being unfortunate; the dopehead was probably supposed to take from an 850 and couldn't read...
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Stef -- 1981 wagon B21A SU M46 317000km

That's terrible! I'm sorry to hear that happened.
I replaced the seat catch on my '87 recently. It really isn't difficult. Two cables go from the handle, one each way. They are like bicycle brake cable, an outer sheath with a thin wire inside, this is attached to the meachanism.
Long nose pliers are your best friend here as there isn't a lot of slack in the cable. If you can't find both cables easily, a slim hand through the fitting hole for the catch should feel them dangling loose.
A bit of twisting about is required to get both cables attached and it took me about 1 hour from start to finish.
Sorry I can't be more specific, I should have taken pictures at the time, but just wanted to get it done!

Wagoneer,
Thanks for sharing your experience. I'll give it a go myself then. I use a bicycle for my work commute so fiddling about with brake cables is second nature! I can locate both cables. Assume I will need to take care not to 'work harden' (and risk snapping) the wires; and that the connection of wires to the mechanism will be obvious once I have the part.
Cheers.
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Mike's 'Indobrick' : '88 245 250,000kms; RIP: '84 360GLT 200,000kms.