Swedish box maker ........... also makes cars

The first Volvo left the Göteborg factory on the morning of April 14, I927. But planning had started in 1924 when Assar Gabrielsson and Gustaf Larson discussed assembling a car suited to Swedish roads from components commissioned from Swedish firms. The SKF ball-bearing company provided hacking, and l0 prototypes were built and tested in 1926.

The car had a 1.9-litre sv four-cylinder engine and was American-inspired-no wonder, as at least two of the designers had worked in the USA and the car was tested by a Swedish-horn Hupmobile employee, later employed by Volvo to develop their six-cylinder cars. The OV4 tourer and the PV4 closed sedan sold around 1000 cars in two years. In 1929 a 3.1-litre six (PV651 ) on American lines appeared. The PV652 came in 1930, almost the same car, but with hydraulic brakes, and was developed until 1936. The PV36 (Carioca of 1935 looked like a Chrysler Airflow and had ifs and an all-steel body. It was not a success, and was followed by the more conventional PV 51/52 at the end of 1936. Volvo produced nearly 2000 cars in 1937, although only 56 were exported. Commercial vehicles were still much more important. In 1938 the more streamlined PV53/56 appeared, a development of the earlier model. It was produced in small numbers during the war, often sold with a wood-burning gas-producer unit on a small trailer.

The PV6O went into production in 1947, though prototypes were tested in 1942. It was to be the last six-cylinder Volvo for many years. The experimental PV40 developed just before the war was a small rear-engined car with an eight-cylinder radial engine and unit body construction, but production problems caused it to be abandoned. Planning started for the more conventional PV444, with a four-cylinder 1.4-litre ohv engine, ifs, rear coil-suspension and unit body construction. The car was shown in 1944 but lack of body steel meant that production only started in 1947. The car was redesigned in 1958 and called the PV544. The five-bearing 1.8-litre B18-engine appeared on the 1962 model. Altogether around half a million were built. In 1956 the 120 or 122 (there were many variations, and in Sweden the model was called Amazon) appeared, with a totally new body, but many mechanical components shared with the older model. Before it was dropped in 1970, 600,000 had been built.

A sports car with glass-fibre body, the P 1900, was built in 1956/57 but it was underpowered and unsuccessful. Its successor was the P 1800, a two-seater coupé with the B18 engine. Pressed Steel in Scotland built the bodies and the cars were assembled by Jensen-the first cars came from England in 1961, three years after the car had been exhibited in New York, which caused some embarrassment in Göteborg. Production was slow and assembly was moved to Göteborg in 1963. The Swedish-built cars were called P1800S, and in 1966 and 1969 the engine output was increased. The 1800 E had electronic fuel injection and 130bhp, enough for 110mph. In 1971 a 2+2 (1800 ES) was produced: 39,414 cars of various types of this sports car were built before production ended in 1973.

The 100-series (first model was the 144, which meant: 1=100-series, 4=four-cylinder and 4=four-door) was introduced in 1966 and had many safety features. The B18 engine was used, but in 1969 came the 2-litre B20 engine with fuel injection on one model in 1971. The line was redesigned in 1973 and given new ohc engines. In 1968 came the six-cylinder 164 with 3-litre B30 engine; later, cooperation with Renault and Peugeot ,resulted in a new V-6 engine. In 1974 Volvo bought the Dutch DAF factory and introduced the Volvo 66 in 1975, a DAF with safety features added. 1976 saw the Volvo 343, a new car with De Dion rear axle, four-cylinder engine and belt transmission.

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