Brothers, Rod and Clayton Wilson have their father to thank for their somewhat eclectic taste in motor vehicles. “The Old Man was into trucks and had a broad taste in cars. A Rambler Cross-Country station wagon, Pontiac Strato Chief 54 and an Austin Lancer.” Recalls Rod.

The brothers bonded over cars from an early age. “One day Dad turned up at home with an old Austin A40 when I was 11.” Recalls Rod.” God, we used to tear around in that thing. The old man said. “If breaks down you gotta fix it.” So, we learned the hard way. I reckon by the time I was 12 I knew how to put an engine together.”

Clayton got his hands on an Austin A40 Farina, “Which would be worth a truck load these days” he laments. “I used to tow a Customline bonnet behind it and dare my mates to get on it and go sledding – they all survived surprisingly.”

Rod got his license in a 68 Mk1 Austin Lancer which “broke diffs like crazy,” He had a procession of vehicles that proceeded his first Volvo; EH Holden, LJ Torana, Kingswood Station wagon. 

Rods first Volvo came in 82, a 1978 244dl.  “It held the road and went from point to point beautifully, but the body roll was alarming! You had to be careful you didn’t take the door handles off going around a corner. After the SLR it was one of the best cars ever owned.” 

“There has always been a diverse mix of cars in the family.” Explains Clayton. “Mind you, that doesn’t mean he didn’t cop shit when he bought that Volvo.” “Yeah, copped heaps from all of my drag racing mates over that Volvo” Laughs Rod. “My mates still give me a hard time about owning a Volvo… until they get in it. Volvos are the best kept secret.”

“Volvo engines will go 500,000km no problem at all. Anything under 250,000 we consider them still being run in.”

Clayton started his career as an aircraft technician in the RAAF working on F1-11’s and Chinooks and later raced in speedway for many years. “You had to know how to keep your car going.” He returned to the Airforce as a Lawyer but has never lost his passion for cars.

Claytons introduction to the marque came via his step son, Wayne, on the lookout for a replacement for his worn Barina. “Ever heard of a 242 GT?” Although Clayton had never been near Volvos in his life, he was open to the idea of having one in the family. Clayton drove it back from Mount Tamborine though the undulating twist and turns familiar to those who frequent mountain roads. By the time he reached the bottom of the mountain, he was in love. The family christened its newest member, Bjorn.


While sourcing some mirrors for Wayne’s GT, Clayton came across two 242 GTs for $2k. “Clayton rang me up and said, what do you think? I was already aware of the GT’s – Always thought they were an interesting looking car because of the stripes.”

That’s when the madness started. Two more family members. The good one was called Benny and parts car was called Agnetha.


The Volvo 242 GT was only produced for 3 years and about 600 were sold in Australia. It was the first sports car offering since the 1800 and came with and increased 2.3L version of the B23E found in the 244. This particular one is automatic, most of the others were 4 speed manuals. All were delivered in Silver.


“Lot of guys think they have a 79 because they are badged 79, but there are some differences between a true 79 and an 80. They were sent over here in creates and assembled at the Nissan factory in Melbourne. The difference is the front spoiler, spare tyre and different external mirrors. The 80s have bib style spoiler and a full size spare where the 79’s have a utility spare and a splitter style spoiler.” Of the 600 that came to Australia, there are only 69 genuine 1979 models.

As the senior partner Rod had the honour of removing the first piece when the restoration got underway. “We didn’t intend to do a ground up restoration, but it just turned out that way. When we started, we just pulled one thing off, then another and before we knew it, it was just a bare shell. There wasn’t another bolt left in it you could undo.” says Rod.

One of the challenges was the mix of bolts sizes underneath. Sweden went to Metric in 74, before that, they were imperial. So they had a stock pile of AF bolts to use up before moving on to Metric. It wasn’t until the early 90’s they ran out of AF bolts. Clayton would need to equip himself with Metric, Imperial and Whitworth sockets and spanners every time he got under the car. “It drove me bloody mad!’ says Clayton.

When they had stripped it down to the shell, they purchased two mattresses from Lifeline, rolled the Volvo on to them and got a bit of rope and tied it to the roof so they could work underneath it. “Cheapest hoist ever – it actually came from my speedway days.” Says Clayton. “If you blew a diff we would just roll it on its side, change the diff and roll it back over – It was great, we could change them between races.”

“People say Volvo’s are heavy, but that shell – four people could pick it up comfortably.” Explains Rod. “It’s the doors that have the weight. It easily takes two people to carry the doors. When you see it stripped down to a shell like that, you realise the way it’s put together -  it’s like it has a roll cage built into it.”

“We farmed out what we had to but took a lot of pride in what we could do ourselves.” Says Clayton.  The engine underwent a full mechanical rebuild by the “Norse God of Volvo”, Peer Skaarup at GLT car centre Capalaba. The gearbox has had only minor adjustments.


Having multiple trades under his belt Rod rewired the Volvo. “That DC is a black art, it doesn’t follow the same rules and can get very tricky.” “Between us, what one couldn’t do the other could.”

The first paint job had some issues, “Unfortunately, we noticed a few months later the boot was a different colour. When you spray metallic you have to spray in the same direction. If you change direction you get a different grain – it was obvious, but nothing we could do at the time.” Says Rod.


The rear beaver tail had to be re-built, but it wasn’t done correctly resulting in the tail lights no longer fitting. “It set us back a fair bit, we got it fixed again, but still weren’t 100% happy.” 

As fate would have it, a trip to a car show at Browns Plains was the solution to both of these issues. “We had just arrived for the show when “Splat” on the ground beside me, a bloody hail stone the size of a golf ball. There was mass panic and we all scattered.” Recalls Rod. “I got stuck in the thick of it before I could get to cover, but the damage was already done. We had it repaired under insurance and paid a little extra to re-do the rear panel and thankfully was done correctly this time.” Says Rod.

The restoration took four years of Sunday afternoons, a fair share cash and a lot of good times. “It’s always good to have someone like your big brother that you know and get along with so we to do something like this.”

At one stage they had four 242 GTs -  the Full Abba. Anni-Fred had been purchased for $300 from the spare lot beside their sister’s house. “The guy mowed the lawn one day and there it was – it had been there all this time”

The brothers discuss the cost of the restoration. “Do you want the true figure?” Grins Clayton. “Or the figure I tell my wife? There are probably things we could have done more easily and spent less money, but it was a good way of finding things out. We just had a bloody ball doing this thing.”

Clayton took it out on the road for the first time. “Gave the Volvo its first full tank of juice. Filled it up to the top of the filler and it leaked everywhere. Yeah, I was the guy that put the bloody filler in, just didn’t tighten the clamp enough.”

“I took the long way home from the Volvo nationals at Warwick. I could hear the engine note echoing off through the valleys and hills. I just thought, this is how to live; me and my Volvo.”


“I always knew Rod and I would build a car together. We thought it was going to be a Torana, Kingswood or Brougham - something like that. Never thought it would be a bloody Volvo.”

Volvo 242 GT

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