Intro and how my 240 GL saved my life

[ThomR]

Greetings. My name is Thom, I live in upstate NY, and I'm driving Volvos for the rest of my life. I've owned 2 240 GL wagons, 2 240 GL sedans, a 780 (non-turbo). I currently drive an '04 V70R (12 years now), and a 2012 XC90 Platinum (hard to believe they're on the same P2 chassis).

On December 8th, 1988, I made a promise to myself I would never drive anything else.

NOTICE: No one was injured in the following story.

It was a major storm and I was on I-84 heading home after dropping off my kids. It was snowy and windy, but the roads were pretty clear and ice-free... So I thought. Feeling somewhat confident, I was cruising East at about 50 MPH. At first, I noticed a strange light on the island/highway divider. No brake lights, it looked clear. As I continued, I realized the light was coming from a vehicle perpendicular to the highway, ON the highway. As I press the brake to slow down, it became instantly clear, I was driving full speed on a sheet of ice. Brakes- useless. Steering wheel - useless. As I approached, I realized I was headed into a two-car+one-truck pile-up with no hope of slowing down, even a bit. I was about to be vehicle number 4.

My last words were going to be "Oh s**t!" as I proceeded at somewhere near 50 MPH, straight into a massive 80's style monster SUV. No echoing crash sound - just a thud and suddenly it was over. Everything was quiet accept for the sound of Crosby, Stills and Nash still playing on the radio (Teach Your Children Well). My beautiful chocolate brown 240 was crushed, almost to the windshield! The impact was so great, it threw my saliva all over the windshield (gross - but there was no blood to be found). My only injury was a sore left shoulder.

I hopped out quickly, thinking there may be more projectiles headed for the pile. Luckily, traffic behind me stopped. First on the scene, was a truck driver. He walked up to me and exclaimed "where's the guy from the Volvo?" I explained it was me. Next the police arrived. "Where's the guy from the Volvo?". Again, I explained it was me. Then the tow truck came. I kid you not, his first words - "where's the guy from the Volvo?" No one could imagine I was OK.

As I went over the paperwork with the towing guy, he grabbed my arm, looked me in the eye and said, "I've seen a lot of these. If you were driving a mid-sized Ford product, you'd be dead."

That was it... it was clear this vehicle did indeed save my life. Right then and there I promised myself I would never drive anything else. I love my Volvos!

[850 LPT]

Hi Thom,

That's quite the story, I am glad you were able to walk away from the accident with minimal injury. Hopefully the other drivers were ok as well. And I'm glad you found us!

240 GL's are special

Dirk

[BlackBart]

Yes, glad you found us.

My friends and neighbors in Seattle had a 240 crash story. They had a dark green 240 wagon, bought new, maybe early 80s. He was fastidious with preventative maintenance and it was tip top.

His wife was driving home, maybe 8 blocks away, on a neighborhood arterial. Quiet street. A drunk driver came out of a side street in a K car at around 50 mph, right through the stop sign. He hit her in the drivers door and center post.

I went with our friend to the salvage yard to retrieve what he could. The door post had started to kink. The roof was tented up with a crease and the top of the post had started to “sardine can,” pealing away from the roof sheet metal. The sill and seat had moved a foot towards the center so that she wasn’t sitting in front of the steering wheel - the seats were squeezed together.

She had a really sore shoulder and a sore neck. Still amazes me.

[matthew1]

This reminds me of the photo and caption I put in this https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/the-h ... volvo-240/

Scroll down a bit.

Wild story, thanks for sharing, Thom.

[matthew1]

Them, do you happen to have a photo of the 240 that saved you?

[abscate]

Morning Thom, thanks for sharing thst.

Welcome to the Hudson Valley , West CT , Long Island MVS mini group of me, LPT850, jnrnsis, and a couple others

I frequently drive by you and Dirk on my way up to Albany.

I had my first major accident in 50 years of driving in my beautiful 99 v70 but it did the job of saving me from complete lack of injury beautifully

[jonesg]

the 240 is designed that the engine mounts sit on frame rails that direct the engine down under the cabin instead of through your knees.