I just bought a 1988 245 wagon with a curious set of gauges where the radio usually is. I'm not familiar with them at all and thought I'd ask on here to see if they were an add on or what?

I can't figure out how to post a pic so I'll have to describe them.. One says bar, next is oil temp, and volts in that order.. Thx.

planetman and Bruce laid out some of the salient details. You could order up a room full of gauges - some dealer installed. From left to right on mine - fuel economy (vacuum gauge), oil temperature in F, oil pressure in Bars, voltage and down below, a really "rare" gauge in mine which shows relative cooling fan speed.

The Bar gauge is a metric oil pressure gauge. Volvo offered them in a 3 or 5 BAR version. 1 BAR = 14.5038 PSI
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Bruce S. near D.C.

Sounds like a set of original Volvo accessory gauges and is somewhat rare and desirable.

Do all of the gauges have "VOLVO" on the face?

Volvo offered more gauges than you can fit in the 5 spaces provided, 8 in total if you added the 3 gauge pod on top of the dash. And not all of the options were gauges as there was a small clock and a digital display and controls for cold weather heaters.

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Eric
Hi Performance Automotive Service (formerly OVO or Old Volvos Only)
Torrance, CA 90502

Yes, they all have "Volvo" in them. And there is an analog clock as well... Its to the direct left of the gauge cluster. The only empty spot is directly under the analog clock.. Hmmm. So me buying the car for $200 easily paid for itself with the gauge cluster I'm hoping... Its been dragged out of a grassy area where its been sitting for 2 yrs. He quit driving it because the taillights/brake lights and headlights quit working.. I haven't tried to start it yet to see if these gauges work but I assume they do as I see they are all hooked up in the engine bay.