20 Years Ago: The End of the Road for the Most Popular Volvo

When it was launched in 1974 no one would have guessed that the Volvo 240 would end up being the best-selling Volvo model of all time. The 240 was heavily responsible for Volvo's reputation of durability, reliability, and of course, safety.


 
After a long series of crash tests carried out by the US traffic safety authority NHTSA, using 240 and its competitors, it became clear that the Volvo 244 by far provided the best occupant protection. The results were therefore used to form the basis for the future US safety legislation for all cars that were going to be sold on the American market.

At the same time, Volvo also worked intensively on emission control, trying to control the unregulated oxidizing catalyst that was going to be introduced soon and to make it - under certain conditions - reduce the three harmful substances hydrocarbons (HC), carbon monoxide (CO) and nitric oxides (NOX) to negligible levels. By improving the exhaust cleaning capacity through controlling the fuel/air mixture in the narrow band where the ratio for the catalyst is at its optimum, in 1976, Volvo became the first car manufacture to serve the solution: The Lambda sensor. This genial little piece of engineering enabled the catalyst to cut more than 90 per cent of the harmful hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide and nitric oxide levels that are created as a result of the combustion of the fuel/air mixture.
 
The Volvo 240 also introduced Turbo-charging to Volvo cars, a technology that stretches to this day. The Volvo 240 Turbo was available in coupe, sedan, and to many people's surprise...wagon. In fact, the 240 Turbo wagon was the fastest wagon available. Turbo Volvos proved you could have good fuel economy and good power hand-in-hand. The 240 also proved to be an exceptional race car, with racing still an important part of Volvo's performance development.
 
 
 
In total, there were nearly 2.9 million Volvo 240s produced...and there are still plenty on the road.
 
Find your modern Volvo at Lehman Volvo in York www.lehmanvolvoyork.com
or Lehman Volvo in Mechanicsburg www.lehmanvolvo.com

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