Way back in 2008, Illinois entrepreneur and demolition derby driver Keith Gray launched a campaign for Illinois State Senate against Terry Link. Under the theme “Demolish Politicians” Gray drove his 1990 Volvo 240 DL station wagon in the Lake County Fair Demolition Derby in July of 2008.
“I’ve raced in the derby seven times, but this year it’s different,” Gray said. “I’m in the middle of my campaign for state senate, and I saw an opportunity to utilize my derby racing tradition to spread the message that I’m not doing this as a career politician or to gain political clout. I’m a normal guy who is sick of being taken advantage of by the Illinois political machine.”
He placed 3rd after busting the steering system and losing the ability to turn. His chariot lived to race another day, however, as the block, tranny and chassis went relatively unscathed. As for Keith Gray’s dreams of the Illinois Senate? He was defeated by Terry Link, who is now running for the office of Lt. Governor of Illinois.
BONUS: Anyone care to interpret the text written on the windshield in this photo?
Waterloo labs set up a bunch of motors and remote controls to allow them to run an Olds Delta ’88 while standing on its roof. I guess that’s if you wouldn’t be caught dead behind the wheel of an Olds Delta ’88.
The Independent UK had a short overview of the 240 a few years ago:
The Volvo body design stood the test of time. The cars had thick door bars that linked into the overall structure rather than just “floating” in the door, waiting to hurt the occupants. The roof steel was so strong that car repairers used to use the roofs from wrecked Volvos to patch up the floors of other cars.
In the US, Volvo’s boast was that, for years, the fatality rate in its 240 models was the lowest of any car. Volvo’s safety reflected the work of engineer Nils Bohlin at the advanced Volvo Safety Centre. Bohlin invented the three-point safety belt and pioneered padded cabins.
Throwing all caution to the wind, Businessweek.com created a post of the “Fifty Ugliest Cars of the Past 50 Years” and put the Volvo 240 in 13th place. I’ll agree with their assesment of the headlights being too huge in the later models, but the headrests? They’re awesome! Yes, it’s boxy. But in a world of cars shaped like suppositories, boxy can be cool.
While I agree that the exterior of the 1970′s Mustang was pretty ugly, that’s over shadowed by my fond memories of the vinyl back seat of my high school girlfriend’s 1975 silver ‘Stang.
