I had an '80 242 that color...'cherokee' red I think?
Mine had been repainted due to fade up here already, no rust either though.
The black interior looks nicer, tho if you don't get the R134 conversion done before may & ice cold with some heat reflecting tint or drive it in the summer before monsoon, the black int might be a down grade from the 'I poured bleach on what used to be my white workshirt' 'tan' interior for cabin comfort, functionally.
The tan has terrible longevity, but when it was brand new I could see why someone would like it; looks classy & cooler in summers, especially the right cloth. Obviously, it's 40 years later in that particular car & 28 years later for all 200 series, so most of the tan is pretty tired in all but the no UV cool gloomy minty garaged Seattle cars or gloomy PA cars that all rusted out and got crushed with low UV interiors.
Difficult to find the right no pack-rat or black widow infested side yard, carport or garaged used desert car.
Door seals are more durable ~1981+ but that probably has to come from a PNW donor. The repop IPD seals don't fit right and can bend the already fragile/delicate 242 window frame/put a ton of pressure on the doors/don't work right.
Regardless, don't slam the door or manhandle it from the window frame, keep the door hinges well lubed with the aircraft high pressure grease loaded grease gun & it'll be fine tho.
72+ door handles kinda suck & the crash proof 1978+ latches need to be kept oiled.
I'm not a stereo guy, but I refuse to cut the doors or parcel tray. The 8" round MB quarts worked nice on the parcel tray, the BNE grates that work with manual windows with durable metal grates (they're $$$, but quality, look period correct and way nicer than the late model volvo grates too) allow 5.25" door speakers, which are harder to find than the 4" shallows that work with the common crutchfield adapters & ~1980-1989 garden variety plastique grates.
Also, 4" shallows that fit around the windows/window regulators/manual window cranks aren't that common anymore in quality Boston Accoustics that you'd find in tricked out Bay Area yuppie E30s and those cars are to valuable to go to the junkyards anymore...used to be you could buy 5 E30s for $4k...now that gets you maaaaaybe 1 roachy least desirable model one that's maybe savable...uh...at all. That was then, this is now...
IDK I'm not a big stereo guy/audiophile/home, pro or automotive hi-fi expert & wouldn't dare claim to be remotely possessing the knowledge of one, but 240s are noisy, generally.
Of any of them, the late-late 1993 244s with ~30K miles garaged in a 60% humidity 60?F cocoon with the OEM hood blanket/mat like the diesels & turbos got with all the door seals perfect (they did get 2 door seals 1987+ for wind noise and flush mounted windshield) in perfect supple garaged seattle car shape/condition with quiet michelin soft compound e-code rubbery tires & all OEM bushings in perfect shape, stiffer chassis & more rigid 4-door shell generally are about the only 200 series cars quiet enough to have the stereo quality matter in.
I could barely hear the diesel engine in perfect shape in the perfect running '87 MBZ 300D or 1995 E420...mom's 1-owner PNW garaged 1993 244 is *almost* that quiet inside, but not quite...it's still a tractor volvo & the engine still sounds like a tractor & it needs a door hinge/they deleted the grease zerk & used softer metal 1986+ :grr:
They never sold late late GLE model 1993 240s with the quiet B280 even fire good V6 for perfectly balanced/no engine noise with the OEM diesel sound deadening mats...always wondered what the quietest possible 200 series would be out of the volvo factory combos/junkpile. I'd have to think B280 even fire with the engine so far forward and smoooooth/no vibrations/vibes?
Otherwise, if your car is like the avg. TB quarter-million mile+ abused roach-coach the sound deadening is curled up in the bottom of the resonant noisy 242 door like a stiff taco shell, all the door hinges are dry of lube/mis adjusted, shell is fatigued & bent & popped a little around some spot welds, under-carpet mats the foam is orange dried devils dust & mats are cracked/glue is breaking down, roof sound deadening mat is sitting atop the headliner/glue has long since given up assisting the matt's gravity-defiance in the hot dry sun & it's an early car that were noisy wretched stripper late 70s 'malaise speech/gas crisis/stagflation era' flexible fliers/cheap econo ****boxes at best 1975-1980 from new. It has short gears and the noisy tractor B21F & mingy sound deadening mats at best from new, splitting hairs over the stereo, especially with the OEM speaker locations is silly IMO. It is what it is; an early tractor car not optimized for a fancy stereo, do no harm, don't hack & maim, don't install a stereo someone might want to steal, listen to the hooptie noises the car's likely to make so you can pull off the road before you do damage to any NLA parts that might be difficult to repair or obtain? Books on tape for road trips, think about driving safely & where you're going/ the next job/jobsite & not the stereo?
Volvo also gave us pretty decent alpine made separate 200W amps and reliable japanese made head units in the 1990s. Obviously dated now, but it's period correct and quality for its day and pretty durable (in our cool gloomy climate if you take care of it and just listen or NPR/the boring morning news station of your choice like the avg. silver haired volvo owner and don't turn it up that loud in the first place
). IDK, I thought the 11 speaker dynaudio speakers OE SC901 C70 system and V70R alpine made systems sounded pretty OK when they were new, but I don't play live music as a pro musician or studio tech for the big $$$ or have perfect time or pitch to tell you how 'at the studio' perfect they sounded/wrong person to ask/don't know what I'm hearing, really?
