Some cars stand out as being special, and this particular Volvo is a most certainly one of them. I had actually first heard about this car almost a year before I had ever seen it in person. Some of the guys from Garage 710 went to Stance Wars Las Vegas in 2016, and came back with stories of the show, and the people they met. Among the cars they were most excited about was a bagged Volvo wagon. I heard about how the owner made the long haul from Utah, and how passionate he was about the Volvo brand. A year later I had the chance to make the trip up to Las Vegas for the same show, and there I finally got to see the car and meet Skyler, the owner.

Often times, our first cars can shape us as enthusiasts. We learn the ins and outs of our particular chassis or brand, and apply this to our future projects. This particular Volvo 240 wagon is a shining example of this. Skyler started out in a 240 as his first car, and fell in love with the platform. While he has tried other cars and brands since then, he seemed to keep coming back to Swedish steel. He eventually picked up this wagon, and hasn’t looked back since.

Within the first three months of owning the wagon, Skyler bagged it. Because the 240 is something of an obscure platform, it isn’t as simple as just bolting some air struts to the car. There is a substantial amount of fabrication work that has to be done, especially up front. He took this as an opportunity to fabricate everything himself, learning how to do things along the way. If a part didn’t exist, he would figure out how to make it.

As if that wasn’t a big enough undertaking, Skyler didn’t stop at simply bagging the wagon. He knew early on in the project that he wanted to boost it as well. So he set about sourcing the parts he needed to make this happen. He took a great deal of effort to keep everything about this car in the Volvo family. As a result, he sourced the turbo off of a Volvo 850. He continued doing his own work, and fabricated the turbo manifold himself. The car is far from a sleeper, so instead of tucking the turbo deep in the engine bay, it is on display up top.

More impressive still is the fact that the car is driven, and driven hard. Skyler doesn’t hesitate to daily drive the car, or take it on massive road trips. There is a certain confidence that comes with knowing your car this well. Having put the car together himself, and from years of experience with the platform, he can take it anywhere without worry. It also adds to the character of the car, there are small battle scars from driving the car everywhere. These aren’t flaws, but rather added character, as each one is just another story Skyler can tell about the car.

Skyler’s attention to detail continues on to the interior as well. Nothing feels incomplete, his boost gauges are set neatly on the A Pillar, and his air management is on tucked into the center stack of the dashboard. He continued to utilize Volvo parts, sourcing seats from a 900 series, and then fabricating new mounts for them. If he hadn’t pointed out that they weren’t stock, I wouldn’t have guessed otherwise. Details like this are so well executed, that it takes a few passes to fully understand everything he did to the car. The same effort that he put into his air ride, and his turbo, continues into this interior. 

It’s hard to describe a car like Skyler’s 240 to someone. It’s more than just a sum of it’s parts, it isn’t just a bagged Volvo Wagon. This is the result of years of trial and error, countless late nights in the garage, and an unbelievable drive to build the car that he envisioned. These things come through in the personality of the car, and any enthusiast will see the love put into building it. If there was any doubt, just talking to Skyler will show that this really is a passion project for him. We look forward to seeing what comes next for this car, knowing Skyler we’re sure it will be nothing short of inspiring.

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