This 1978 Volvo 245DL wagon (chassis VC24545L1175161) is a good-looking manual transmission equipped example that until recently had been under cover in a garage for some time. Freshly refurbished for the road, the seller quotes over $2,000 in recent work and further claims that the car is free of rust. Find it here on eBay in San Carlos, California with no reserve.
This classic brick has decent looking paint save for a small blemish on the hood and around the tail lights. The rest still presents a nice shine over straight body panels, while all trim and badging is still intact. Later model hubcaps work well enough, but are a little out of place on this vintage. Rectangular fog lights doesn’t really flow with quad round head lights.
The interior looks to be in fair overall shape, although the mix of colors suggest parts swapping may have occurred at some point. There are a few definite areas to be addressed, such as ill-fitting door cards, various missing trim pieces, and worn carpeting, but the dash looks good with no cracking or discoloration visible. The seats also show well, and instrumentation looks clear and undamaged, though no specific mention is made on functionality apart from a non-functioning radio. We like the push button overdrive, and while usually not as reliable over the long term as the later mechanical type, it should give this wagon decent highway cruising capabilities.
The stock motor is noted as strong running. Plugs, wires, distributor, radiator and thermostat are among the stated items that were recently replaced under the hood, as well as certain fuel and electrical system components as needed. The firewall, hood mounts and shock towers all look structurally sound.
These 200 series cars enjoyed a long production run of nearly 20 years, though non-beaters are hard to find these days. A little bit of detailing could go a long way with this one.