By Tara Feeney
Some project cars are true labors of love, like Henry McDonough’s 1978 Volvo 242. For nearly four years, he’s been restoring, fabricating, and modifying almost every aspect of the car. McDonough, who began the project before starting college, has always admired Volvo’s utilitarian design and styling.
To start, he bought the car in California off of Facebook Marketplace. At the time, it had a three-speed automatic transmission and a four-cylinder engine. It was in rough condition to begin with, and had issues like a slipping transmission and piston slap. After purchasing it, McDonough had the car shipped to Wisconsin, where he began the process of tearing it down and rebuilding it from the ground up.
The body had to undergo fabrication to accommodate the new drivetrain being installed, taken from a 2006 Pontiac GTO. McDonough also made the wooden dashboard, glove box, and roof rack himself. He had some difficulty with the rewiring and adapting the power steering. There was substantial trial and error involved in getting the car to where it is now. Today, the Volvo still has its original paint and most of its original upholstery, which McDonough plans to update in the future. As for now, though, he continues to drive the car whenever he can.
