The consignment seller of today’s Volvo 240 says its second owner is offering it up because his wife thinks the car is “too old to drive.” That’s pretty shortsighted considering it’s a Volvo and probably younger than its accuser. Let’s see if it’s priced to make her loss someone else’s gain.

The last official execution by guillotine was in France in 1977, the fate befalling convicted murderer Hamida Djandoubi. Since then, beheading has become something it seems only lunatics do, and that fact clouded opinions on yesterday’s as it had suffered just such a fate at the hands of the aftermarket.

The job didn’t look half bad at all—in fact, the car proved pretty lust-worthy in topless form. Unfortunately, the prospect of the car’s 485 horsepower turning what remained of its unit-body into an abstract Bézier curve didn’t appeal, especially at its $63,000 asking price. That led to the car falling in an 82 percent Crack Pipe loss.

You know, should the solidity and integrity of a car’s body structure really be of concern to you, one solution to ensuring peace of mind is always going to be to buy and old Volvo. Take for example this .

As you may glean from the pictures, the car looks to be solid and without any major issues above or below the fold. That’s pretty amazing considering over the course of its life it has been owned by just two families living on the same street in Connecticut. It’s also just three birthdays shy of thirty-years-old.

The “Classic” name was appended to the 240 in its last model year and denoted the end of the run for the long-serving model. About 1,600 Classics were sold before Volvo shut down all 200-series production for good at the end of 1993.

This one rocks a remarkable 212,419 miles. It’s claimed to have earned a timing belt replacement at a little over 200K and a new paint job in the factory Blue-Green metallic sometime prior to that.

That new timing belt does its thing on a 114 horsepower B230F inline-four. That 2.3-litre non-turbo engine may not be a powerhouse, but it does have a reputation for longevity and durability. Treat it right and it will treat you right.

Backing up the stout four is a five-speed manual gearbox which is a rare and desirable find in one of these wagons. The consignment seller notes in the ad that the clutch between the two was also replaced at the 201K mark.

Other maintenance and repairs have apparently addressed as they popped up as the ad notes “Whatever it needed it was done.” It was also seemingly garage-kept and never smoked in nor used to transport messy kids or pets. Geez, not even a goldfish?

The interior looks as good as the exterior and features leatherette upholstery that seems solid with the exception of a small tear on the rear bench. The carpets, door panels, and dash look likewise serviceable, with the latter featuring an updated stereo for all your tunes.

What’s bad here? Well, as the seller notes, it’s not a Turbo. By ’93 the compressor-fed engine was no longer available in the 200s. That’s not something that you’re going to easily change, so just move on and accept that this will be a slow car. A set of earlier Turbo model five-spoke wheels have been added here so you can at least play let’s pretend.

A couple of things you might be able to fix are the clock and the stereo, neither of which are said to work at present. The antenna was apparently removed so it wouldn’t interfere with a car cover and the lead wire for it was lost in the body panel below, rendering it inaccessible to the previous owner. The clock, well, it’ll be right twice a day, at least.

The reason given for the sale is that the present owner’s wife feels the car is too old for her tastes. That’s totally understandable and opens the door to others who don’t harbor such misgivings to be able to enjoy a car of such maturity. That potentially could be someone like me or you. The question, however, is whether that old-car loving doppelgänger would be willing to pony up this classic Classic’s $7,777 asking price.

What do you say, is that a fair price for a 240 estate in such great shape? Or, for that much, is this old Volvo destined to stay on that same block?

You decide!

Boston, MA , or go if the ad disappears.

H/T to Larry Geoghegan for the hookup!

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