Yet another car I should NOT pass up?: Grassroots Motorsports forum: Grassroots Motorsports Magazine

Subscribe get a full year for only $23.95 Sample Free Test Drive—no strings attached

Aug. 18, 2011 10:35 a.m. integraguy SuperDork

For the last few weeks a seller on a "nearby" Craigslist has been advertising a 1980 Volvo GT. Today he lowered his price (I forget what it was originally) to $1500. Car is "all stock, except for a radio upgrade" and has 170K miles.

From the pic in the ad it looks pretty decent for a 30+ year old car. But it's been awhile since I've owned a Volvo (a '65 PV544) and could use the "voice(s) of experience" to be found here.

When did Volvo switch to a strut front end? Were there any factory upgrades to the suspension on the GT? What kind of power does the stock GT produce? Is the GT a factory turbo, or just a factory horsepower upgrade to a "regular" 2 door Volvo?

This car is the flat hood/slightly sloped grille model....if that helps.
Aug. 18, 2011 11:11 a.m. belteshazzar SuperDork

depending on what you plan to do with it, none of that might matter. the price is sure right.
Aug. 18, 2011 11:17 a.m. amg_rx7 HalfDork

Sounds like this one. I'm not a fan of Volvos but whatever floats your boat.

http://forums.swedespeed.com/showthread.php?158435-1980-Volvo-GT-2-door-California... https://picasaweb.google.com/docachna/1980VolvoGT2DrSedan?feat=directlink
Aug. 18, 2011 11:29 a.m. Raze Dork

THIS THREAD IS USELESS WITHOUT PICS
Aug. 18, 2011 2:05 p.m. Streetwiseguy Dork

GT will be either Silver or Black.

All 240's are struts, so 75 on.

They have body reinforcement braces, DeCarbon struts and bigger sway bars.

121 horsepower from a B21F, iirc. No particular upgrade, but gear ratios might be different.

No turbos. That came later.

I love GT's.
Aug. 18, 2011 4:28 p.m. integraguy SuperDork

Wow...all of 121 horses to pull around about 3,000 lbs of metal? I remember reading about the GTs somewheres, perhaps in GRM or CMS? I realize a good GT does not need mountains of power, but the gearbox and rear end better have some great / non-"stock" gear ratios to make the effort worthwhile.

And to answer one of the posters here:

for $1500, are pix of the car in question really necessary? Didn't know GTs were also black, this one is silver, and has no stripes, which I seem to remember most pix of GTs showing....on the sides and/or hood & trunk lid.
Aug. 18, 2011 4:48 p.m. Ian F SuperDork

integraguy wrote:

Wow...all of 121 horses to pull around about 3,000 lbs of metal?

The 80's were dark times in general... and Volvo has never been known for producing power-house cars... and especially back then.

With IPD bits, 240's can be made respectable in the curves.

GM and Ford V8's drop into a 240 engine bay quite nicely. Plus, doing so allows one to ditch the truck transmission these cars were saddled with. I'm almsot certain a 240 of that era would be a 4 spd with electric overdrive.
Aug. 18, 2011 6:18 p.m. mad_machine SuperDork

GTs are cool.. love the flat hood on them
Aug. 18, 2011 7:34 p.m. Vigo Dork

As the owner of a 1978 in that body style, i gotta say it's a pretty cool car by my standards. If the condition is good i'd go for it. Im selling mine for over twice that.
Aug. 19, 2011 6:19 a.m. 11110000 Reader

Streetwiseguy wrote:

121 horsepower from a B21F, iirc.

Unless the car is Canadian, drop 20HP from that figure. Volvo sold some relatively spicy NA motors at that time, but emissions regs kept them out of the U.S.

The '80 GT was the least desirable of the three models years (78-80). It didn't come with the strut braces and moved to a more understeering 23mm/21mm sway bar combo. The car will handle well for an upright sedan.

A popular move is to turbocharge the stock motor, or retrofit a turbo engine setup to give the car the power to back up the sport stripes. Or go V8, since the engine bay was designed for one to begin with.