Swedish Super edge

Cologne, 22 March 2017

The 1970s were a strange time: flat roofs dominated not only in building a House. Also at Volvo in Sweden, they discovered a penchant for this sight and designed the idiosyncratic 262C. Forty years ago, in March 1977, the Coupé (as well as the two-door Mercedes W 123) at the Geneva Motor Show of the public was presented.

Swedish Italian cooperation

But in turn: In the autumn of 1974 Volvo had introduced the 264 with six-cylinder, the 265 called station wagon followed him two years later. After the production of P that has become famous as "Snow White's coffin", a sporty top model lacked the Sweden 1800 ES. So, became Chief Designer Jan Wilsgaard on the work and designed the 262 C, without ever creating a clay model. The coachbuilder Coggiola in Turin continued to the notions of Wilsgaard and created a two-door Coupé with a strongly inclined windscreen and a roof lowered by six centimeters.

Francophile six cylinder

The rest of the body had remained almost unchanged compared to the 264 sister models. Pretty unconventional proportions arose in connection with the fairly narrow side Windows. In the Interior of the 262C, Volvo revelled in luxury: wood and enormous amounts of leather were included in the price. The drive in the form of the 2.7-liter V6 with 140 HP, which had been developed jointly with Peugeot and Renault under the name PRV was rather unspectacular.

Expensive, but popular

The 262 C not at Volvo in Gothenburg, but by Bertone in Turin has been mounted. A small emblem on the A-pillar "made" the Volvo with the Italian name of the cult. The customers is by no means rejected the optics of the 262 C, on the contrary: far more than the planned 800 vehicles per year were built, although the price in Germany with around 40,000 Deutsche mark was more than twice as high as the base model of the 200 series. From 1977 to 1981, 6.622 cars towards the end with new headlights and more power were made. Since 1979, you had to choose the roof: with or without vinyl covering? This question had not been convertible at the 262 C. On behalf of Volvo North America, the company solaire made five copies. (rh)

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