Community Forums:

I walked in the front door of the volvo dealer the other day, on my way to the parts department I thought it would be the shortest distance from my car to the parts dept, but as soon as my head fully emerged through the doorway their perky saleslady cornered me. She imediately asked if I was in the market for a new volvo, I said no. So while in the midst of this 20 minute conversation she mentioned that my 245 would sell well on the used market. I said I felt it would, but I was not interested in selling. She piped up with "thats why they quit making the 240 series people never traded them. I shot back with "Crysler made the same mistake with the straight 6 cylinder engine, it lasted to long so Lee took it out of production". She said "volvo did not make a mistake the 240 was taken off the market because it was a hand made car and with the cost of labor they would be too expensive to make in todays market".

All of this is just to tee up the question. What was hand made on the 240 and how did that differ from other assembly lines?