(first posted 4/4/2018) I must say my Volvofanböi status has dipped somewhat in recent years. Having owned a 145 big bumper wagon bought from my father, I’ve felt a kinship with the marque since the age of five. But with CC delivering so many automotive wonders daily, I’ve let attention to my first automotive girlfriend’s family slip. Nevertheless, I still seem to have an intuitive grasp of the Swedish manufacturer’s output because when this example presented itself I knew immediately there was something special about it. That long rear door was the kicker.
Normally when I surround a car stuck in traffic to capture it with as many angles as possible, the owner seems quite pleased to get the attention. This time, no. Nary a smile nor even a glance. So what, I’m here on a mission and I’ll do what I damn-well please given this thing is sitting in the public domain. That badge on the right under the taillight was the gateway to the doors of perception via the interweb expressway.
Volvo S90 Executive by Nilsson.
Back in 1966, a guy called Fred Neil wrote a song called Everybody’s Talkin’. In 1968 another guy called Harry Nilsson covered it and released it as a single. It reached 113 on the US charts then disappeared. In other words, nobody was really listenin’. Or talkin’ about it.
Then another guy called Derek Taylor convinced yet another guy called John Schlesinger to include it on the soundtrack for a film he was directing, and then all of a sudden everybody was talkin’ about this song. US No. 6.
All of which makes for a clunky segue to our feature car.
It seems nobody is really talking about this model online. In fact CC (yet again) features a discussion within the comment thread for an article on another Volvo that seems to have more information about these cars than almost anywhere else. So let’s see what I can put together.
The Swedish coachbuilding firm of Yngve Nilsson Karosserifabrik was founded in 1945 by Yngve and his wife Linnea. Here we can see their work on a Volvo PV444 with some seriously curtailed front doors.
The 1960s saw their first commissions directly from Volvo.
Their single most delicious creation was the 165 wagon built in 1972. This bespoke body was loaded to the nines for Sture Levin, who was an employee of Volvo. Below is the car with second owner Ove Janerby. This rarity was tracked down, bought, refurbished and celebrated by automotive journalist Fredrik Nyblad.
Volvo’s official wagon output for their six cylinder one-series models was a production of one built for the Australian market (*cough* Volvo Australia Managing Director). Either that one or this would be very welcome in my life. Very welcome.
In the 1980s, Nilsson won the contract to supply the Deutsche Demokratische Republik (East Germany) with Volvo 260-series limousines and landaulets. 123 were built, not sure how many of which but Head of State Erich Honecker was known to be a backseat occupant of the top-down model.
The commercial variants continued to pour out of the Laholm factory, and the 1980s also saw Nilsson manufacturing expand into Asia. Limousines were built in Thailand and Malaysia, and hearses in Indonesia. Perhaps due to the large order from the DDR also being produced in Laholm, these Asian bodies were destined for the English market. Standing in front is, I believe, the president of the Indonesian chapter of the Bruce Springsteen 1975 fanclub.
In 1982, Volvo stunned the world with a new model. The 740 and 760 series were housed in a completely new body following the 16 year reign of the previous 1- and 2-series shells. With those sharpened contours the Swedish brick was made more brick-like.
Nilsson offered a limousine on this new body, as well as fantastic looking ambulances.
With the launch of the 760 GLE Executive, they also added directly to the official Volvo showroom offerings. And here the information trail gets a bit cold.
The wheelbase was extended 15 cm within the rear passenger space. The C-pillar was completely reworked, losing that awkward pinch crease at its base on the standard model. The trailing edge of the pillar was made more upright and the quarterlight deleted in the name of (or for the impression of) greater privacy.
Can’t tell you much about differences in trim.
In 1990 the 7-series gave way to the 9-series which from a styling perspective was essentially a softening of the form and a loss of the pinch crease.
The Executive was continued into the 960s, and here the information trail gets a little warmer. Richard Herriott, occasional CC presence and consistent Driven to Write scribe, found this example in a listing and wrote it up here.
The 960 limousine by Nilsson was brochured by the factory. Maybe the 760 version was as well, but I don’t know for sure.
In 1994, the 960 got a body update which made it even more softer-looking.
And the 960 Executive received the same body changes.
But wait, there’s something different about the C-pillar.
Nilsson changed the C-pillar treatment on the second series of the 960. The fully-flush blanked pillar was replaced by something featuring a quarterlight – though smaller than the standard sedan’s and with a separate panel inserted to fill the gap. It seems like the Executive was moving down in the world as Nilsson tried to save costs on all that C-pillar-smoothing labour. Or were customers complaining about the lack of a greenhouse in the rear?
But wait, the one on the right has a ‘Royal’ badge.
The Royal would appear to be a version of the LWB body destined for the Asian market.
You’ll notice too that this is an ‘S90’ Royal. From 1996, certain markets dropped the 960 designation and replaced it with a model number anticipating the next range.
Here is a promotional video for the S90 Royal in all its period-correct finery including fridge behind the rear seat, in-car telephonic device and a hijack-avoidance manoeuvre (at 0:50 secs).
And here is a promotional video for the S90 Executive, exactly the same except for different shots of the badge and the voiceover callout at the end.
So the S90 Royal and the S90 Executive would appear to be the same car for different markets.
Sort of.
Here are brochure pages for the S90 Royal Hermès, which looks like it featured a unique upholstery offering.
Here are more brochure pages for the Royal. The specification page tells us there were three variations, Royal 5 seater, Royal 4 seater and Royal Hermès. Unfortunately, I can’t read the rest of the brochure, although there seems to be some variation between them in a couple of the dimensional line items.
I’m not sure if the S90 Executive got a Hermès option as well, nor do I know whether the Royal was part of the 960 series one or 760 fleets. Nor numbers produced. Nor much else about these cars.
What I do know is that I spotted this from about a hundred metres away and ran to capture it. Jogged actually; it was more than apparent the traffic was going nowhere. In any case, it’s gratifying the residual Volvofanböiness within is of sufficient strength to sniff out a rarity like this from afar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBAOjKBLpqo
These cars are very classy.
Great find. Incredibly, I have seen one of these up close, approximately 15 years ago. It was in an aircon repair place in Bayswater where one of the family fleet was having a fix. I was fascinated at the time, though the workers were not. They were having a money-losing time trying to get it blowing cold. I just assumed it a factory car. It was blue. Good lord, you’d have to wonder how many RHD S90 Royales live in Melbourne!
That 260 Laundalet mit open doors is hilarious, like a comic camera-pan (“But wait, there’s more”).
Great little piece, Don, but don’t photograph it again. Lots of super-tint and coldness means publicity is not sought, and if you were, er, removed, we’d really miss what you do here!
The Saab wagon photobombing the 10th picture is interesting.
Yep, its not a bad effort. Prefer the 165 though.
Yep. In fact, that exceptional Saab is the one in this post that I’d actually LOVE to have as a daily driver, even today.
+1
My Volvo fanboi level has always read a little low but I do find them intriguing. This one is new to me.
I find it interesting that this method of stretching the rear passenger compartment is not more common. This was Studebaker’s way of making its top sedan longer from 1947-62. There was also a lengthened Ford Panther body found in taxi service towards the end of its run.
I would think that in the era where front wheel drive is the norm a stretch like this would be relatively simple. But most of the examples I can think of are rear wheel drive like this car.
It’s well known that there are Studebaker inner panels on these Volvos….
Well played, sir! 🙂
FWD stretches are quite common in the Chinese market, where there’s a big demand for that. And there’s some here too: the Avalon has been essentially a stretched Camry since day one. And one could argue that the US versions of the Accord have been stretched versions of the JDM/international version for a number of generations. A look into the leg room of our TSX (international Accord) makes that painfully clear. Some Camrys may well qualify too.
All true, and the K car got several stretches. But I was thinking of a stretched version of the same car that has no real differences in the body other than longer rear doors. Your examples are like the K cars (Dodge 600, Imperial, etc) which did some significant sheetmetal changes in addition to the stretch. And I just thought of another RWD version, the short-lived Lincoln Town Car L. But as you say, perhaps the Chinese market has this covered.
JPC: I present to you the Rover 75 Limousine (née Vanden Plas), available from 2002-05 from your friendly Rover dealer, and, rebadged as the Roewe 750, from 2005-2016 from your friendly Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) dealer. Rear doors and floor stretched by 200mm.
Not just fwd, I think it is just about every car that has a lwb version there, from BMW 3-series up.
On a slightly related note I think that Volvo has moved production of all S90 sedans to China where they will build a lwb version only.
I don’t know exactly where Don spotted this car, but it is probably not all that far from the Swedish embassy! I doubt it is still in their fleet, but it may have been previously?
I’m with JPC on the faboidom. Volvos don’t really get my juices flowing. But a Volvo limousine, that’s something else!
I think I recall seeing one once when I lived in London in the late ’90s. Completely forgot about them, though I did learn of the strange East German affair. Why Honecker of all people preferred stretched Volvos or Citroens over Tchaikas, ZILs or Tatras is beyond me.
Can’t help much with the Japanese, but the French ad with the black wagon says:
Volvo, whose main concern is quality and safety, provided a Volvo 760 (five doors, 167 hp DIN, over 200 kph) for HERMES to make a unique car. The cabin has been entirely upholstered in top-quality buffalo hide — the product of 300 hours of work. The interior was entirely hand-stitched. The paintwork, made by Lecoq, finished off this collector’s item.
Great find, Don. Can’t be too many of these around…
Mercy buckets mate
Honecker? Narcissistic anthropomorphism. His face, big jaw, sneer, heavy glasses, was exactly like the grim visage of a 260.
Hermès did a version of the 2CV to celebrate its 60th anniversary. It was shown at the 2008 Paris auto show. No mechanical changes but lots of beautiful brown leather.
Interesting article. It appears that Volvo sold the stretched 264TE from 1975-1981. About half went to East Germany according to Wikipedia. Presumably the rest were sold in the West.
“Presumably the rest were sold in the West.”
One was given as a wedding gift from the King of Sweden to the Crown Prince of Norway in 1983.
Today, the car is part of a private collector’s car park.
The one-off Volvo 165 mentioned here is currently for sale.
More info on https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2018/03/23/one-of-none-coachbuilt-1972-volvo-165-heads-to-auction/
Oh boy; there’s a lot of struggling going on here to make that C Pillar work on the these. The 960’s is a bit painful to look at. It’s just not working, for me anyway. Of course it wasn’t exactly a strong point on the regular version either.
Thanks for this deep dive on the subject; an excellent diversion from CC’s server issues.
This long-wheelbase variant of the 960/S90 was never sold in North America, but ironically, only the long-wheelbase version of the current S90 is available here.
Nice bit of background work there Don. I see I completely over-commented on the linked article, so I’ll avoid doing the same here! For those who haven’t read the other article, the LWB S90 was available new in New Zealand, and as far as I can tell was badged Executive. But we’ve had a number of used JDM imports turn up over the years, which appear to be badged Royale. But the one below, which was imported new from Malaysia, is an Executive. So my theory is they built them and then flipped a coin as to which badge to pop on the back.
Something that has always puzzled me is that the window in the C-Pillar is on the outside only. There’s no corresponding window inside. But having seen the pics you’ve posted of the earlier non-windowed LWB 960, it all starts to make sense now – I’m guessing they used the later factory exterior pressing, but continued with their existing interior. But as you’ve found, finding out the answers is far from easy!
Very interesting catch! There was a Volvo 960 stretch limo that I’d seen several times when I lived in North Carolina, but this is something else entirely. Subtle but distinct.
Thank you for the mention and for this nicely researched article. CC’s scholarship continues to impress.
Ha. Thought the same thing when I saw that young Springsteen clone.
Three years ago I saw a six door 940 at the hardware store having sheets of wood loaded into it. Makes for an interesting van.
The six door 940s were also used as taxis in Sweden. You do see them from time to time in Sweden and rarely in Denmark.
Very nice find indeed!
The 700/900/S90 series have always struck a sweet spot for me, and the Executive is the true unicorn among them. If I could own one today, this would be it!
It’s funny, while at first it may seem like an unusual choice in this market, the S90 was actually a near ideal vehicle for the purpose of chauffeuring around high-power/high-status individuals, given its proven underpinnings and relatively compact exterior that could better navigate most city streets.
Thanks for the mention and for a nicely researched article.
I’ve always liked the 960 and S90 cars – they are very Buick in a way. I suppose Volvo tried to give the US market what it wanted.
A 264 limousine in “The Lives of Others,” set in early 80’s East Germany:
A quite superb film, and exactly what Don’s 260 limo photos brought to mind.
+1
Hello Don,
Great articles as always! I especially enjoyed the two part Paul Bracq story. Excellent job.
I would like to contact you off-line to propose an article that I think you would find interesting.
Thank you.
Hi Don, that black S90 Executive is my car! I still remember you running out on the road to take photos of it. I’m terribly sorry I didn’t give you a smile or a wave, I think I was talking to my family at the time so I didn’t notice you at first, when I finally did I wanted to say hi but the traffic had started moving & you had walked away.
I’m a Volvo enthusiast with particular interest in 700/900 series, I was also the 700/900 series registry captain in the Volvo club of Victoria for quite some time. Apart from this S90 Executive long wheel base I also have a standard wheel base S90 sedan, and a V90 wagon which is also very rare in Australia.
This particular S90 Executive has an interesting history. From the production plate in the engine bay I know it was produced in Sweden but assembled in Thailand to Indonesian market specifications. However it was instead sold new in New Zealand through Volvo cars Malaysia (whether the car actually went to Indonesia and/or Malaysia I was not able to find out). I purchased this car in New Zealand in 2010 when I lived & worked there temporarily, then private imported it when I moved back to Australia in 2013.
As far as I know, this is the only S90 Royal / Executive in Australia with the individual rear seats divided by a rear centre console, all the S90 Royal’s delivered in Australia are 5 seaters with standard bench seat in the back. I’ve attached a photo showing this unique (in Australia) rear seat arrangement, as well as links to a New Zealand friend’s Volvo website which has a brief write up from me & few more photos of this car (click on my name at the top of this comment to link to this website).
the Royal / Executive badge is generally interchangeable, some markets called them Royal while other markets called them Executive. Both usually refer to the 15cm long wheel base variant, but this is not always the case. For example 1994 model 960 in Japan (just prior to facelift), the standard body cars are badged as “960 Royal” while the 15cm long wheel base cars are badged as “960 Ex Royal”!!
Great bit of info there William, thank you! It’s interesting that your car was assembled in Thailand but sold new in NZ via Malaysia, as that’s the same situation as the silver model I posted above. Decoding the VIN of that says it was assembled in 1998, but officially sold new as a 2000 model here in September 2000. I wonder if they didn’t sell in Malaysia and were shipped here instead. Because we’re a small country, out new vehicle standards means manufacturers can legally offer RHD vehicles specified for a number of other countries – we previously received Holden Royales that were destined for Singapore in the late 1990s, and in 2008 we received 88 Cadillac CTS sedans destined for Australia, and 71 destined for Europe.
Nailed it with the Springsteen 1975 fanclub president. That’s obviously him.