(first posted 10/27/2011) It seems Volvo has always had kind of a thing for Ford, although in the end, it didn’t work out all that well. And given the results of at least one of their flings they had prior to getting hitched, you’d think they’d have gotten the message: they just weren’t meant for each other. It’s clear that in the seventies, they were checking each other out pretty heavily too. I doubt anybody from the Fox-development era at Ford would admit it, but the Fairmont sure has a decidedly Volvo-esqe quality to it. Good call! And the Volvo 700 Series returned the compliment. The problem was when Volvo had the crazy idea to copy a Lincoln.
Looking over at Ford was an old tradition, as Volvo’s PV444 (above),
is commonly considered to be a scaled-down copy of the 1941 Ford. Not exactly the worst sin in the world.
Whether Ford was looking at Volvo’s 140/240 series when it designed the Fairmont is more speculative. But they couldn’t have been totally oblivious to its existence, and its many charms.
Volvo’s 700 series is probably more influenced by the Fairmont, than the Fairmont was by the 140/240. Whatever; so far, these little hook-ups were at least working for everyone involved.
The story about the origin of the Bertone Coupe goes like this, but we’ll probably never know absolutely for sure. In the mid-seventies, Volvo (and Saab) made some revolutionary changes to the assembly of automobiles, creating teams in which the members had a much wider range of responsibilities. It was the biggest change since Henry Ford perfected the assembly line, albeit with mind-numbing consequences. Not surprisingly, Ford executives were interested, and came for a visit.
Supposedly, Henry II and an entourage arrived at the factory in a bunch of big barges, FoMoCo coupes of all sorts, including one or more Mark IVs. And exactly where did these cars come from? Airlifted, like the President’s limo? Or maybe the European ops kept some on hand, and drove/shipped them up to Sweden. Regardless, it makes a good story. Anyway, the Swedes were impressed by the Mark IV, and decided they just had to have one of their own.
This has to be the most Mark IV-ish Volvo ad ever made.
Bertone was called in to do the actual assembly, using 262 body shells and drive trains. The roof was lowered several inches, the windshield splayed back, and the seats lowered, in a vain effort to leave a reasonable degree of headroom. The results speak for themselves, all to clearly. And Volvo Coupe drivers were known for their “laid-back” driving position.
The Coupe arrived for the 1978 model year, and initially was called the 262Coupe, and came only with the un-loved PRV V6. And although it had a nicely trimmed cabin, its price tag was problematic. The 1979 Coupe listed for $15,995; a 1979 Mark V went for $13,067. Well, I’m not going to try to compare their various pros and cons, as different as they were. But let’s just say that the chop-top Volvo didn’t go over very well.
A total of just 6622 coupes were built during its short four-year life span. The name was changed to just Bertone Coupe after 1980, and a peek under this one’s hood explained why. The Volvo four cylinder is under there, which surprised me. I’d just assumed they were all V6s, given their lofty prices. By the last year, 1981, they were listed at $19,950. And the V6 was presumably an option. I know which version I’d take.
Actually, the Volvo Coupe may have lost some of the 240’s airy headroom, but its interior space utilization probably still had the Marks beat. Never has there been a worse ratio of interior room to overall size and mass. And of course, the Volvo had all the usual Volvo goodness, like a super-tight turning circle, good brakes, and a solid foundation. But chopping the top of the boxy Volvo made it the laughingstock of a generation, even if it did presage a coming trend of gun-slit windows. To thine own self stay true.
It goes a long way toward predicting the 1983 Mercury Cougar……
When this car was unveiled, only the marketing department cheered. Everyone else shielded their eyes and groaned.
This is the Volvo version of if Karen Carpenter performed a cover version of “Disco Duck”.
It is like discovering that Julia Child did a cooking show on how to make Dinty Moore stew.
Please Volvo, find every copy of these vehicles, crush them and claim they never happened.
For all his immense talents,, David Bowie should have know better…
These things do have a following among a fringe group of the old Volvo community. In interacting with them, you sort of get the idea that even they are embarrassed by the objects of their obsession. I once knew a guy – come to think of it, he was kind of short… – who had 3 of these. I bought a set of wheels from him, which I suspect look a whole lot better on my 245 than they did on his Bertone.
And yeah, Bowie.
The interior height was less than the standard Volvo and the rear seat was short on leg room – and I am a short man!
Saw one of these fairly often in the mid to late 80’s when Lexington, KY was crawling with what felt like hundreds of Volvo 240 sedans then being driven by insufferable yuppies. I was driving a ’67 Sport Fury fast top at the time and when I encountered the Bertone, it struck me that while my ’67 had a couple of notable blind spots, at least I had head room. The Bertone foreshadows the one thing I didn’t like about the 2005 and up Chrysler 300s which are the gun slit windows.
To this very day in 2022, anywhere in a 75 mile radius of the aforementioned Lexington, KY, you cannot be on the road for very long without encountering an 80’s Volvo 240. After the yuppies were done with them, they seemed to have become the official car of librarians for a long time. The librarians then replaced them with Saturns only to replace the Saturns with Suburu wagons. (In reality, what staff drove to work wasn’t that monolithic, enough of them were piloting 240’s that it was noticeable and sometimes subject to amusement)
A librarian friend asked me to fix her ’88 240 sedan where she’d hit a large rock that come off an dump truck she was behind which trashed the pan on her automatic transmission. I replaced the pan and while going over the rest of the car began to think of the 240 as the Swedish equivalent of the 67-75 Plymouth Valiant.
Yuppies drove me nuts in the 80’s, but I have to respect the Volvo 240’s they were driving, and remain bewildered by the Bertone.
Compared to what was on the market in Oz at the time these were flash looking. I recall the sand colour looking particularly nice. I had a 264 GL at the time, the 262C listed at around $37000 AUD if I remember correctly.
I think proves the old adage that every car looks better with lowered suspension and a three inch roof chop.
On a more serious note, the cars I find mirror the Ford products of the early 1950’s, specifically the Ford sedan and the first generation Thunderbird are the 1970’s Mercedes Benz sedan and the SL. The Sports Light like the first generation Thunderbird looks a lot like the sedan and has similar proportions, and the first generation Cortina shares a number of styling cues with the FlairBird of the 1960’s, roof line and C pillar, grill and headlight treatment, the circular taillights are more first generation, the more I look the more I see. A little off topic there, thanks for posting, I’ve always been interested in this car since seeing one at the Melissa Motor Show in the late ‘70’s early ‘80’s