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I've been driving 240s since October, 1976, when I drove home my new, manual transmission Sahara Beige 240 (20 years later finally given a name, The Blond Bombshell). It drove like a Sherman Tank from day one until the day 23 years later I reluctantly parted with it due to rust in October, 1999. I liked it more 23 years later than I did on the day I drove it home the first time. I still miss the sound (growl) of that B21 engine. Man, that engine was built to do work.
When I learned that 1993 was going to be the last year of production, I ran right out to the dealer like an excited school girl and ordered a 1993 with manual transmission, and also went with the limited slip differential option, thank you very much. At the time, manual transmissions were not too popular so mine had to be ordered from the factory, and was produced in the last full month of 240 production (April, 1993). It presently has about 67,000 cream puff miles on it, the vast majority of which are highway miles.
In October, 1999, I purchased a used 1990 240 with 216,000 mikes on it for $1800. Of course it needed a fair amount of little things to be fixed, just the normal wear and tear/maintenance variety. This is my daily driver coming up on 10 years this October, I have never garaged it, it has 246,000 miles on it now, and is used almost exclusively for really frequent, really short trips. So, that's 30,000 miles of this type of use. The car has been well maintained. I love driving this mule. The engine just seems to thrive on doing work. These late model b230 engines are pure driving pleasure.
In 2004 I purchased a used 240 1993 wagon with 96,000 miles on it; it currently has 134,000 miles on it. Of course, the capacity of the wagons, when the back is "flat-bedded", is immense. The car is a dream.
I'd like to own five more 240s, just don't have the space. I consider 240s dream machines. To me, a 240 offers, essentially, perfection of design balance. In my case, the market value of 240s keeping up with the cost of repairs doesn't really matter, I guess because of the way I think about them. Driving basically the same car design that I love for 33 years and counting is reward enough.
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