El Caminoizated: 1980 Volvo 240 Ute

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Volvo never officially sold a ute in the United States, but if they had, it probably would have looked something like this after a mild accident. Starting life as a 242 coupe, this next feature has been transformed into a compact pickup while retaining all the things people actually like about old Volvos, including the flathood look, a manual transmission, and the indestructible B21 redblock up front. It is equal parts visual punchline and genuinely useful machine. Find this 1980 Volvo 242 Ute offered for $5500 in Ferndale, WA via facamino utebookmarket. Tip from Zach Z.

From the seller:

1980 Volvo 242 240 ute manual
$5,500
Listed 23 hours ago in Ferndale, WA
About this vehicle
Driven 71,000 miles
Manual transmission
Exterior color: Blue · Interior color: Blue
Fuel type: Gasoline
Good condition
Seller’s description
Selling my 1980 Volvo 242 Flathood Ute conversion. It’s a m45 manual transmission and legendarily reliable redblock b21f engine with crazy low miles. A bunch of recent maintenance and work has gone into it. Super fun little truck to rip around in and gets tons of looks and waves!

It runs, drives, and shifts pretty dang smooth for an almost 50 year old vehicle!
The rear window is electric opening! (4th gen 4runner parts)
Wiring has all been gone through and cleaned up and thinned out for ute conversion.

This started life as a 242 coupe, had a rear end fender bender with a tall truck that dented up the rear trunk lid and tail light area, hence a rebuilt/salvage title, but made for a great ute opportunity.
A lot of custom work went into making this a daily drivable and well put together conversion. Cab space is very good (im 6’3″) and dont even have the seat all the way back, its basically an extended cab with all the room behind the seats.

Recent Maintenance (last 5k miles):
-Rear main seal
-Valve stem seals
-Valve hushers
-Valve cover gasket
-Cam seal
-Front main seal
-Oil pan gasket
-Water pump / gaskets
-Timing belt and pulleys
-Ngk spark plugs
-Distributor cap and rotor
-Clutch kit
-Thermostat
-Radiator
-Radiator hoses
-OEM volvo motor mounts
-All fuilds
-Brake pads
-Brakes bled
-Tire (10k on them)
-LED taillights and third brake light
-All new Speakers
-Bluetooth Stereo Headunit
-Cleaned all fuse terminals
-Steering rack bushings
-Real Aerocatch hood pins

Issues:
-Blower motor died but the fresh air inlet and heater core make for some killer heat even without the blower and defrosts fine too (240 owners know the true power of the heaters).
-Could use an alignment but drives pretty straight (steering wheel is off a little)
-Hood flipped up in wind one day while working on it and bent the rear corners, still closes fine just a bit unsightly
-Takes 5-10 seconds of cranking on first cold start of day to fire up (kjet things I think)
-Paint job is oil based rustoleum which is nice because its easy to match and touch up but bad in that it has some texture and orange peel, definitely a 20 foot paint job.

Overall a solid little volvo that a riot to drive and I’d trust to go anywhere.

Located in Ferndale but can also meet closer to Laconner/burlington if thats better

See a better way to drive something that rolls? tips@dailyturismo.com