Does this shape look familiar? As is practically always the case when you see this shape, it is not an original Cobra. In fact, despite its turbocharger, Carroll Shelby would probably not particularly approve of what is under the iconic shape on this particular car.
As a young man Ole Sommer looked to Italy for inspiration. It was here, he felt, that the most beautiful and interesting cars were made. Being an automotive engineer Lancias were of course the most alluring cars. For looks, the Ferrari 166 Barchettas had the perfect shape. It was with these unfulfilled childhood dreams of building Italian exotics that Sommer again started thinking about car building as the seventies were coming to a close.
As with the Joker he used square tubes to build the skeleton for the car and as with the Joker he galvanized the whole thing before dressing it up in fiberglass. But Sommer wanted to build a sports car and the Joker ended up being boxier than its donor car, the Volvo 142. Therefore, he looked to England where he found a company that could supply him with the Barchetta-inspired AC Cobra body. It turned out, though, that the five bodies he received were warped, so he commissioned a Danish boat-building company to build the bodies for the car which he humbly named OScar – which is what it was: an Ole Sommer car.
Supposedly the base car had a 112 horsepower naturally aspirated engine and since he used Volvo components I assume that engine was a B23A (2.3, four-cylinder, carburetor). The one that seems to have been most prevalent, however, was the engine offered in the 760 Turbo, the B23ET (2.3, four-cylinder, fuel injection, turbocharged). It pumped out 173 horsepower and made the OScar capable of reaching 62mph in less than seven seconds. The transmission is the M46 4-speed with overdrive that came in several Volvos at the time.
Volvo guys and gals will notice the Volvo steering wheel and steering column, alloy wheels, and the gear knob, 760 Turbo badge in the grill.
Sales proved difficult as Denmark, for one, would not approve them without crash testing, and Sommer found this a waste of a good car. In the US getting the car approved was even harder, so sales ended up at 19 with Sommer keeping a twentieth for himself having learned from his mistakes when selling off his other attempts at building cars. Volvo did not like being associated with a car that was not crash tested, so the car could not be sold through their dealer network. In the end, three of them did end up in Denmark on dispensation. Sommer interviewed potential buyers, for the two cars he was selling, about literature and art and such higher matters. He knew Ettore Bugatti had done the same and felt – like a true eccentric – that this placed him somewhere in that league. There is, by the way a Bugatti in Sommer’s museum. The other seventeen were exported to Germany, the US, Andorra, Lithuania and Abu Dhabi and possibly other nations.
In the photos you can see a hardtop on the floor behind it. There is another OScar atop the museum entrance. That one, however, is just a shell.
An American company had two cars delivered for promotion purposes and to generate buzz, but as mentioned, the car never received the proper paperwork. Auto Week even test-drove the OScar in 1985, but to no avail. The two cars were, however, sold, but at a loss. One of them was offered up for sale recently (43,000 USD). In Denmark the 112 horsepower base version listed at 298,000 DKK. A Volvo 240 DL with the B23A listed at 197,932 DKK in 1986, so that was a fifty percent premium over the 240.
Even though there are a million different takes on the Cobra out there, there is something to be said about a fully galvanized, fiberglass-bodied car with old school Volvo mechanicals. It should be virtually indestructible.
“I heart OScar” in Danish.
Hmm, some good food for thought here.
I must say I like this better than any 427 Cobra replica, which I find cartoony in proportion.
The 1950’s Ferrari barchetta shape as interpreted by 1960’s AC and accessorized in the 1980’s isn’t completely successful though.
Overall what the heck, if he had fun building and driving it..
The overall look is quite nice. Let down by some of the details like the stock Volvo steering wheel. An interesting car for sure.
It really does look odd in a car like this. In the eighties aftermarket steering wheels were available in abundance.
I bet that thing is a pretty fun ride with the Turbo mill.
Another new one for me. It’s a bit hard to imagine him thinking this would really fly though.
As an Italianate roadster with four cylinders, the OSCar perhaps owed something to OSCA as well as to the Cobra. Is there any evidence that Sommar had OSCA in mind when choosing the name? Being a fan of Italian sports cars, he must have been familiar with the Maserati brothers’ OSCA race cars of the 1940s-60s.
“Sommer interviewed potential buyers, for the two cars he was selling, about literature and art and such higher matters. He knew Ettore Bugatti had done the same and felt – like a true eccentric – that this placed him somewhere in that league.” Sommer may not have made many cars or much money from his car business, but he clearly was having fun.
That is a really good observation. You’re probably right, although I have not seen it mentioned anywhere.
The museum has a couple of Maseratis as well – two 3500’s stand out. So it is not likely he hadn’t heard about OSCA.
I know this is an old post, but he did not consider OSCA as a part of his name. In fact, its much more simple than that. His name is Ole Sommer – so this is OleSommerCAR…. OScar. This car is also at the Sommer Car Museum here in Denmark – where the full history of these cars are.
another great post by mads. ole sommer is my hero!
Thanks. He is quite a character, that’s for sure.
Cool, this one Ive heard of before, a Volvo powered Cobra probably goes alright too being much lighter than the Ovlov the running gear was harvested from, The AC Ace which became the Cobra originally had a 2litre engine from a AC sedan then the MK2 Ford Zephyr six was used before Carol Shelby shoehorned a small V8 into them the 289 actually being the fastest because it still handled 427s are only straight line fast and according to road tests of the era very hard to drive.
The performance models of the Ace had the Bristol/BMW hemi head I6 before Shelby adopted the cars to V8 engines. The 427 had its handling issues resolved by the time is reached production with a much stiffer frame and coil spring suspension front and rear instead of transverse leaf springs that served as control arms like the Ace had.
The Zephyr motor actually replaced the less powerfull Bristol motor the 2.6 Ford 6 could be had with Raymond Mays cylinder head and triple carbs it was after that Shelby became involved not subsequent to the Bristol engines becoming unobtainable.
AC body, Volvo reliability with thrifty gas mileage, AND a good shot of boost.
What’s not to love?… Except, that awful looking steering wheel.
You can’t get more Atari, space-age early 80’s, than that blocky piece of vinyl.
A Nardi or Momo would look so much better. 🙂
I agree. A Nardi wheel would look right at home. As a Volvo guy, the wheels also confuse me. I see Volvo 240 wheels on a Cobra and it just looks weird, although it may look fine to someone who does not immediately recognize them.