greetings all,
I just bought a "new" volvo 245 (1988) to replace my old 1988 245 (more paint, less miles, no rust).
I was checking the vin. numbers and found out that my old 245 was made in canada while my new 245 was made in sweden. Has anybody noticed any differences in form or function?? just wondering.
as ever
peter

I don't know about the Canadian assembled cars, but I have had two Belgian made 740s, one of which I sold four years ago is still going strong with 350K+ miles on the original engine and transmission. No quality difference that I can see. The other has only 125K on it, so it's too early to tell.

This has not always been true. Belgian cars from the mid 70s were much more rust prone than Swedish made ones, as a couple of important stages in the rustproofing process were omitted. Not to worry, by 1988, all cars received the same rustproofing, wherever they were assembled.

Don't scrap the old '88. Parts cars are great.
--
1980 245 Canadian B21A with SU carb and M46 trans in Brampton, Ont.

Not made in Canada, "Assembled in Canada" they used the same parts and assembly methods just put them together in Halifax instead of Sweden

Having no loyalty to Canada, I prefer if my Swedish car is assembled in Sweden. But I'm sure there's absolutely no quality difference, I don't believe Volvo of yore would staff a plant with personell unable to assemble a car to their exacting standards.
--
Sean - now frolicking in the Land of a Thousand 240's (aka, Fredericksburg) thrice a week.

we've owned an 85 240 wagon (assembled in canada) for about six years - it now has 280 thousand miles on it - seems exactly identical to other sweden-assembled 240's - anyway we haven't noticed any differences.

As a Canadian with a 1965 Volvo Canadian with over 1.5 million miles on it and living 45 minutes from the plant it was assembled in ... I tend to be partial to the Canadian built cars ;-)

Brett
--
Brett Sutherland & the 1.5 million mile 122 CANADIAN --- WINDSOR, Nova Scotia the birthplace of HOCKEY www.ecvintagevolvo.com

Wow Brett...Is that with original engine and tranny?
Any advantages to living right next to Volvo Canada Central?
--
-Cool Volvo- 1982 240 4 Spd OD w/ 248K, 1989 240 5 Spd w/ 241K. Past proud owner of 1966 122, 1968 144, 1970 145, 1972 144, 1980 245

Engine #3 is on it's first rebuild .. car was originally a B18 Automatic ... Now is a B20E with 4 speed + Overdrive. The original engine blew up at about the 1,000,000 mile mark. It was replaced with a used B20B that went most of the rest of the way. I had to replace that engine when it just got too tired to go any further and I had the B20E on hand which I rebuilt at .030 over and a Street Torque cam. The tranny was also rebuilt recently.

Volvo Canada has moved to Ontario, just north of Toronto and just prior to the sale to Ford, the plant in Halifax was shut down.. even though it was a profitable operation, which Volvo admitted. I have a strong feeling that it was part of the deal in the sale to Ford. The biggest advantage to living near Halifax is that many of the guys who assembled these cars still live in the area and are a wonderful resource for information while doing restoration work. ECVVC member Paul MacKay was the guy on the line who assembled front ends on the 120 and 140 series cars. If you want to see factory correct front ends just have a look at his 123GT or his P1800ES. You can see his rides by going to www.ecvintagevolvo.com and clicking on RIDES and then on his name.

Brett
--
Brett Sutherland & the 1.5 million mile 122 CANADIAN --- WINDSOR, Nova Scotia the birthplace of HOCKEY www.ecvintagevolvo.com

The Volvo plant opened in 1963 in Halifax, Nova Scotia and assembled "kits" from Sweden so they didn't actually manufacture the cars but rather assembled them. My 1983 242 DL is a Halifax car and has 300000Kms on it and is still an excellent cars. If the Swedish assembled cars are better than this car they must be truly amazing.
--
Dave Kenney North of Lake Superior 1983 242 291000km

I'm partial to the ones made in Gothenburg. I think there better but say that without any data to back it up.