The Volvo 243 was a limited run of 30 cars in 1982 due to a malfunction of machinery in the Belgium Volvo factory, causing car bodies to be made incorrectly. The cars had one left hand door, as per the Volvo 242, and two right hand doors, as per the Volvo 244. All 30 cars were completed, and were exported to Estonia for sale. All cars came with warranty and are highly sought after today. So far, this is the only car known in the whole world that has four door car right side and coupe left side.
Above is what Wiki says, but this is what the owner says:
The owner of this car says that 27 of these were made for the Swedish Police. The right right side of the car is a 244 and the left side of the car is a 242. The left side was hand welded. He says the car was put together in a special Volvo shop away from the normal production line.
He says it is a 1987 model, but came to Estonia in 1996. Since 1990, there were very small numbers of Western cars in Estonia. Thanks to the Soviet occupation, it was forbidden to buy cars unless they were Soviet. So essentially, he thinks these cars could not have come to Estonia in early 80's.
He is still trying to find out the true story of these rare cars.
He has tried to contact Volvo several times about these cars, but they have not responded.
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That is crazy! It's weird enough seeing a 242 with the 86-up front end. I didn't know they made them after the facelift (or maybe that was part of the screw-up.
If that really was a goof at the factory, I'm not surprised Volvo doesn't want to talk about it! Embarrassing, but cool at the same time!
I just noticed that must be the same car re-painted, because the number plate is the same.
I guess if one were to believe the wiki article, then it was probably sold in Estonia since they were living under Soviet Russia rules and under those circumstances, a 3 door car would seem almost normal.
Quote, originally posted by VarianceVQ »
An all-electric Italian car.
There's not a "DO NOT WANT" image big or strong enough to express my "DO NOT WANT".
That is crazy! It's weird enough seeing a 242 with the 86-up front end. I didn't know they made them after the facelift (or maybe that was part of the screw-up.
IIRC, Volvo launched the "facelift" in the early 80's for the European market. We just didn't get it until 86.
Quote, originally posted by VarianceVQ »
An all-electric Italian car.
There's not a "DO NOT WANT" image big or strong enough to express my "DO NOT WANT".
My dad told me a story when I was a kid of a guy from Spain he worked with. This guy used to work at an auto plant is Spain and a car came off the line like this. I thought it would be cool to have but apparently it was destroyed to avoid embarassment. This was probably in the late 60s or early 70s before the guy moved to Canada.
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Any idiot can poop on a windshield. It takes a super patient, super smart idiot to ruin someones life.
Yeah, I'm guessing that was an aftermaket job. I can't see Volvo actually doing that.
Considering I've seen old Volvo 240s with different kinds of brakes on the different sides of the car, I can.
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So one source says these cars were a mistake? The other source says they were custom made outside of Volvo? hmmm
I highly doubt the 'production line mistake' story - that is just beyond credible.
But even if there were in fact ~30 of these made (assuming this one pictured isn't one-of-a-kind, done just for the hell of it by an owner) , I can't for the life of me come up with a reason WHY anyone would need cars configured like that.
Very, very curious.
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Non-sealed beam headlights were illegal in the USA until 1987....
Actually it was earlier than that. (but not a lot earlier-- 84, maybe?) VW went to the two-acre "euro-look" lights with the '85s, and the '86 Volvo I took driver's ed in had these lights.
I have hard time believing the Belgian brainfart explanation. But why would someone order 30 cars in such an odd configuration?
Volvo made heavy duty bricks on special order. FYI, the police version ordered by Saudi Arabia had A/C that didn´t work when the car was stationary. This was to make sure that officers weren´t taking naps while on duty.
Same car, pre- and post-paint... Look at the plate .
Quoted because everyone seems to be ignoring it. Until I see another one (and not just this one in yet another color) I'm going to say it's a weird one-off.
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