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Junkyard Gem: 1983 Volvo 240 DL Sedan

The most iconic of all the Volvos — all the Swedish cars, for that matter — sold in the United States is and always will be the brick-shaped 200 series, which could be purchased new here from the 1975 model year all the way through 1993. Though it was an evolution of the earlier 140 series and looked nearly identical to its ancestor from any rear angle, the 240 (and, to a much lesser extent, 260) remains the most recognizable Volvo ever made. Because these cars were quite sturdy and inspired such devotion from their owners, plenty of them remain on the road to this dayÂ… and that means plenty of them wear out every year and end up taking that final tow-truck ride to the boneyard. Here's a bread-and-butter mid-1980s 244, with the sensible four-on-the-floor overdrive manual transmission and well-oxidized Richelieu Red paint, found in a self-service yard near Denver, Colorado. Prior to the 1980 model year, U.S.-market Volvo 200s were named according to a very logical system: the model name was a three-digit number, with the first digit indicating the car series, the second digit representing the number of engine cylinders, and the third digit showing the number of doors. Typically, the trim level would come after that. Just to confuse everyone, Volvo did away with everything but the trim levels when identifying these cars. Thus, this car would have been badged as a 244 DL during the 1975-1979 period, but for the first half of the 1980s it was called simply the Volvo DL. Of course, everyone who knows old Volvos today just calls this a 244, period. DL stood for Deluxe, so of course it was the cheapest trim level. The list price on this car started at $11,085, or about $31,090 in 2021 dollars. That was cheaper than a new BMW 320i ($13,290 or $37,275 now), but more expensive than more luxurious and powerful Japanese competitors such as the Datsun 810 Maxima by Nissan ($10,869 or $30,485 today) and Mazda 626 Luxury Sedan ($8,895 or $24,950 today). If you insisted on an automatic transmission in your '83 DL sedan, the price tag went up an additional 390 bucks, or about $1,094 now. This car has the base four-speed manual with the overdrive actuated by a switch on the shift knob. With 107 horsepower from this 2.3-liter straight-four engine, this car wasn't particularly quick. However, it weighed less than 3,000 pounds (despite its blocky appearance), so it got out of its own way well enough when equipped with a manual transmission.

Comparison test: 2019 Acura RDX vs. compact luxury SUV competitors

Truth be told, if we were to compare the all-new 2019 Acura RDX with those compact luxury crossover SUVs it would most likely be cross-shopped against, you'd be looking at a different list. Even Acura admits that Lexus and Infiniti are the most likely bogies, but with the 2019 RDX, Honda's luxury brand is attempting to attract those customers who think as much with their hearts as with their heads. And for the most part, those folks have been buying from German brands: the Audi Q5, BMW X3 and Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class. So, to show how the new RDX compares to them, Acura actually provided examples of each during the recent press drive along with a Volvo XC60. All were determined to have greater emotional appeal than the last RDX, and we would certainly agree. For, as much as the previous-generation RDX made sense on paper, it was really hard to get excited about it. And when you're paying extra for a luxury vehicle, shouldn't you get a little excited? Well, as luck would have it, Consumer Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski and I were on hand in Whistler, British Columbia, for the press launch. We didn't have an abundance of time in each RDX competitor, but in conjunction with our usual comparison chart, our impressions should provide a good first taste of how the new RDX compares. Performance and fuel economy Contributing Editor James Riswick: On paper at least, the RDX is gutsier than its comparably powered European rivals. It also weighs the same or less, which logically should mean it'll be the quickest in a straight line. During my brief drives, though, I'm not sure it really stood taller than the three Germans. It at least matches them for smoothness, which is something that can't be said about the Volvo. Fuel economy is lower than them all when you consider all but the Mercedes come standard with all-wheel drive. It's also worth noting that all the competitors are available with engine upgrades, and unless Acura's forthcoming resurrection of Type S models includes the RDX, it should stay that way. Consumer Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski: Line 'em all up in a drag race, and I have a feeling the Acura would squirt away to victory. A good bit of that, though, would be due to its 10-speed automatic transmission, which offers a huge spread of ratios and fires off extremely quick shifts. In the real world, I'd guess fuel economy will be similar across the board, so I'm willing to call that category a draw.

Junkyard Gem: 1973 Volvo 1800ES

Volvo began selling cars in the United States with the 1956 PV444, a sturdy unibody machine that looked quite a bit like the 1946 Ford from some angles. Reliable, sensible — maybe stodgy is a better word — PV544s, Amazons and 140s followed the 444s across the Atlantic as the 1950s became the 1960s. Starting in 1961, though, a genuinely sporty Volvo arrived here: the P1800. Members of the P1800 family were sold here through 1973, and I've found one of those final-model-year cars in a Northern California self-service wrecking yard. The P1800 (later named the 1800S and then the 1800E) was based on the chassis of the Amazon and was available only as a coupe from 1961 through 1971. The 1800ES shooting brake version with its all-glass hatch debuted as a 1972 model, and just under 9,000 were built before production ended the following year. The U.S.-market 1800ES got a 2.0-liter pushrod straight-four engine with Bosch fuel injection, rated at 112 horsepower. Its dirtier-running European counterparts got more power. This engine was known as the B20F. First-year Volvo 240s got the B20F as well, before moving up to the SOHC "Red Block" engine for 1976. A 1966 P1800 holds the world record for most mileage on a street car: more than 3.2 million miles. That car has a B18 engine that was rebuilt twice. The highest-mile junkyard car I've found was a Volvo as well, though it only had 626,476 miles. Does the credit go to the cars or to their owners? Yes! This car appears to have sat outside near the Pacific for too many decades; it has the top-down rust associated with living in the salt spray and fog near beaches in NorCal. This is pretty bad, but I've seen worse. This Volvo's final parking spot is just about a mile from crashing ocean waves. Worth restoring? No way, not when much nicer examples sell for a few grand. All the chawed-up seat foam suggests that raccoons and other Golden State wildlife lived inside for quite a while. The good news is that many of this crusty old Swede's components will live on in other Volvos. In fact, one of my regular readers scored a junkyard bonanza when he found this car (and several other vintage Volvos) not long before I arrived. Northern California car graveyards still offer plenty of old Scandinavian steel. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. You tell 'em, Christina!