10 Volvos you may not know about

It’s not one of the most famous motor museums in the world, but the Volvo Museum in the Swedish auto manufacturer’s hometown of Gothenburg is nothing if not comprehensive.

There are cars and trucks here from the earliest days of the Scandinavian car-maker’s history, covering off both production vehicles and concepts.

An early example is the 1931 PV651, which was the first six-cylinder Volvo. Of course, nowadays the wheel’s turned back to the future and Volvos are only powered by four-cylinder engines.

Considering Volvo has been around since 1927, there are definitely a heap of vehicles to squeeze in. And if you go looking, you’ll find some intriguing stuff that suggests there’s no shortage of adventurous thinking and spirit in Scandinavia!

The Volvo Museum is located on the seaside within the Arendel Business Park close to Gothenburg. Opening hours, admission costs and other details are on the website.

A concept developed for the North American market in 1952, the Philip was powered by a prototype V8 engine called the B8B producing 89kW.

This is the sole handbuilt example as the project was subsequently cancelled. However, the engine did make production and was used in trucks and in maritime applications.

A series of issues meant just 67 examples of the Sport P1900 convertible were built in 1956 and 1957.

Its mechanicals were primarily sourced from the ubiquitous Volvo PV444, but it was built up from a tubular chassis with a body made from fibreglass-reinforced polyester. The car on display is chassis number 1.

Volvo and safety have always been inextricably linked and the VESC – Volvo Experimental Safety Car – underlines that.

Unveiled at the 1972 Geneva auto show it was filled with new safety technology, including automatic safety belts, a rear-view camera, airbags, a collapsible steering column, anti-lock brakes and very powerful bumpers that allowed the occupants to survive a frontal collision at 80km/h. Obviously, a lot of this stuff is widely used in new cars today.

We talk about boxy Volvos but this is ridiculous! This is one of two experimental electrical vehicle Volvo developed and tested in the Gothenburg region in the mid-1970s.

This is the two-seater delivery van, but there was also a four-seater. The concept has an electric motor integrated into the back axle, fed by 300kg worth of lead acid batteries. Top speed was 70km/h, cruising speed 47km/h and battery range was two hours.

Um, OK, so what you’re looking at here is Volvo’s first luxury coupe, the 262C. Said to be inspired by a visit to Gothenburg made by Henry Ford II – or more specifically, inspired by the Lincoln Continental Mark IVs the Ford crew drove – the 262C was very much a 260 with a 10cm lower vinyl roof.

Conversion work and production was carried out by Bertone in Italy. In the end, more than 6600 were built between 1977 and 1981 with most sold in the USA.

Light-weighting was the focus of the Volvo LCP, or Light Component Project. The project was born in 1979 and the four examples built made their public debut until 1983.

A vision of an environmentally friendlier car for the year 2000, steel and iron were replaced by aluminium, magnesium and plastics. The new material carbon-fibre was used for the doors. Power came from a three-cylinder 1.4-litre turbo-diesel engine and the LCP weighed in at just 707kg.

Another concept looking forward to the year 2000, the EEC debuted at the 1992 Paris motor show. It featured a hybrid power system including a series-connected gas turbine and electric motor.

To cut weight the body was made from aluminium, helping gross weight come in at 1580kg. The EEC’s exterior was extremely aerodynamic, with a 0.23Cd drag coefficient. The body also previewed the Volvo design language that debuted with the 1996 S80.

One of the most unusual race cars of modern times was the Volvo 850 station wagon that contested the 1994 British Touring Car Championship.

Prepared by Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR), it didn’t have tremendous success, but it did generate an incredible amount of publicity. With rear wings introduced to the BTCC in 1995, the team swapped to the 850 sedan to better exploit that rule.

First shown at the Detroit auto show in January 1997, the Adventure Concept Car (ACC) was a clear sign Volvo was getting serious about SUVs.

In 2000 it would spawn the first generation XC90 and from there … well, as we all now know, Volvo has become an SUV brand that also sells passenger cars.

This is an internal Volvo study for a potential city-car developed under the direction of then chief designer Peter Horbury in 2000.

A fuel-cell electric vehicle, it was roomier than larger production Volvos of the time and had similar crumple zones to a V70 wagon. If you think the wheels look a bit weird, you’re right, they incorporate composite suspension and have micro-friction. Look closely, there is no pneumatic tyre!

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