I've been around Volvos my whole life. My parents bought a 240 DL in 1984. We still own that car.It now has close to 250,000 miles on it and some light to moderate rock salt damage. My first car was a 1987 240-GL wagon. Again, it had moderate rock salt damage. That car was totaled in October of 2001. My current car is a 1993 240 classic. I have had people leave notes on the windsheilds of these cars in food store parking lots, I've even had people run up to me and make offers to buy my car. Someone once offered me as much as $6,500 for my 240 wagon and that was when it already had 150K on it. I've had similar offers out of the blue for the 1985 DL too. No one has tried to buy the classic from me yet, but it's still worth around $12,000.
My point is that Volvo owners and non-volvo owners love these cars becuase of their reliability and safety. People are still after these cars nearly 10 years after the last 200's rolled of the assembly lines and they don't care what they have to pay to get one as long as they can get one. I think that it is time to at least attempt to convince Volvo that these cars are once again worthy of the assembly line. It is in my opinion that if the 240 were produced again that it would be a top seller almost instnatly, especially for parents paranoid about their new teenage drivers, as mine were. Of course, if such a thing were to happen there would be modifications. And of course, I'm pretty sure such a car would cost at least $30,000 today. I think it would kind of resemble a smaller version of a full-sized Mercedes. I have mistaken 240 sedans for Mercedes from distances before.
My point is that I think someone should introduce a petition to the Volvo Car Company for the re-introduction of the 240.
Vive le Volvo