Okay, so I took the prospective '86 240 out for a quick test drive. Few issues surfaced:

- Brake pedal pulsates quite a bit when braking, no ABS. Warped rotors?

- When taking off from standstill, I heard a metallic "clang" sound from the front end. Related to the brake issue?

- Clock & odometer dead. So much about 127k miles... Is the odometer mechanical or some kind of bizarre electronic contraption as in same-age Renaults (that had a ton of Volvo electric parts)?

- On the ventilation controls, third setting from the left is a lot quieter than the ones next to it. No biggie, we're in Florida so it's windows open or AC, and this one doesn't even have that..

Everything else seemed to be in fine condition. Started up with just a touch of the key, idled steadily, shook a little bit but then again I haven't been in a Volvo that didn't. No clicks, rattles or anything out of the ordinary, no whining from the power steering and the automatic shifted nicely. Didn't even drop any fluids. Seems like this could be a good beater, provided that the brakes can be fixed w/ reasonable cost..


-M.R.