Volvo 480 Turbo convertible by Editions Atlas

The number forty-five in the Volvo Collection by Editions Atlas is the Volvo 480 Turbo convertible. This car has officially never passed the phase of a prototype. The convertible was announced to the press in summer of 1987, but has not been seen in public until the 1990 Geneva Motor Show. The Volvo 480 convertible was planned to be launched at the beginning of 1991. But it did not make production after a supplier declared bankruptcy. A handful of prototypes had been built and some still do exist today. You will fond more background infos in the following two quotes.

Source & copyright : Editions Atlas SA, Switzerland

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Quote from a post published on www.volvo-480-europe.org :

  History - THE CABRIO

After the Volvo 480 was developed by the 'local styling office' Helmond the project of designing an entire new car seemed to come to an end. Some details needed to be accomplished on the Turbo-version, and for the rest some work was done on the at that time future projects of follow-up vehicles for the 340 and 360. But how do you keep control over a group of enthusiastic car designers when they start to have sparkling new ideas?

Well, those kind of designers just need to be able to blow of steam, or in their case: energy. Even if it's merely to practice their skills.

Some prototypes offered the chance to execute their ideas. Normally these cars, after having run on various test tracks, have a dishonorable end. Their parts are distributed to different laboratory for testing purposes and they mostly end up on a wreck yard. Mostly, but not always! One of the cars went to the design office in Helmond. Robert Koch again started competition among his personnel to... develop a cabrio version of the 480!

Two designers applied for the job: the British Steve Harper, who had led the 480-project as a freelancer, and the dutch Cor Steenstra who had won third prize in the design-competition of the dutch magazine 'AutoSelekt' in 1983 and afterwards was added to the design-team lead by Rob Koch.

The demands were simple: no changes to the base of the car, it had to be a practical 2 + 2 vehicle, and to honor the old Volvo safety tradition (they didn't want to backbite Volvo too much) the car had to be fitted with a roll-bar. This last demand meant that the car would not follow the trend set by other brands of having nothing but the windscreen to stick out above the waistline of the car.

Steve and Cor choose to go each their own way in designing the cabrio. This meant that later on 2 separate designs were made, both on paper as in polyester. Steve's design showed a somewhat higher and sturdy rear deck and Cor choose for a somewhat lower and flat rear deck. The eventual result was based on Steve's design, but with additions from Cor it became a more refined design. Behind the rear seats for example are two elevations which remind of the aerodynamic sport scars from the fifties.

Cor gave these a function: they could well serve as storage compartments or, very clever, a first-aid kit compartment. The rear-cover consists out of two parts. The first part is the actual luggage compartment and the second is the location of the soft-top just as in the BMW of the time. With the top down the 480 looks very elegant, like a real Spider.

The effect of the normal rear-window, which seemed to form a unity together with the rear light cluster didn't have to be rejected because the rear lights were absorbed in a smoked glass panel which gave a similar charisma.

Because of the high rear deck the roll-bar seems to be lower, emphasizing the sporty character of the car. Furthermore the driver and the passengers are located very low above the road leading to almost identical safety-figures as the normal 480. The 2+2 principle has to be interpreted rather fairly: behind the front seats is room for two children who may not be too tall!

Rob Koch decided to have the cabrio fitted free of gimmicks or futuristic details. He believes it is superfluous because the ordinary 480 already is a balanced car altogether. On three points his personnel was allowed to make an exception:
First of all the rear wheels would be located a bit wider from each other, this way the design with the roll-bar would look more robust. Second Corien Pompe was set at liberty to make changes to the outside color and the interior, this to make the car differ a little from the original 480.

Corien had discovered a new technique with leather, cotton and vinyl. This fabric would offer more hold to its occupants, but it also offered the opportunity to break with the traditional fabrics with stripes, squares and dots. Choosing the color was based on the new trend of looking for softer tones combined with metallic paint. The cabrio-prototype was toned very light purple. Also in the interior a small purple line could be found, but not as abundant as some racing drivers attempt. The bumpers were kept in almost the same tone as the car instead of high-contrasting colors.

The car would have been more than welcome at the time. In a British magazine the then selling 340 was bombed 'most boring car' and the Germans wrote that the 340 diesel was the slowest of its kind. Not exactly an image to be proud of.

After having build some prototypes it was a real shame when one of the suppliers for parts went bankrupt. So much had been invested in the development of the 480 cabrio and now the entire project was canceled.

One of the 480 cabriolets can be admired in the Volvo Museum in Gothenborg. Another one is a red one which is kept at a secret location. Every now and then it makes an appearance on a Volvo event...

Source : www.volvo-480-europe.org/volvo480/history.php

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Quote from a post published on www.volvo480register.nl :

Cabriolet

The ultimate Volvo 480 is, of course, the cabriolet version. While the Volvo 480 was an eye catcher, the Volvo 480 beat it all at the 1990 Geneva Auto Show. Members of the Volvo 480-Register could see it in real life at a special exhibition in Rotterdam. Some even dared to touch it or even sat in it. But sadly, it was not meant to be. The cabriolet never made it to the market.The cabriolet alone would justify a book. First, it seemed as if there would not be a cabriolet at all, later everything was ready for market introduction, with press releases and photos and all, but in the end, the project was abandoned. The stringent Volvo safety requirements could be met, but there were too many hurdles. The bankruptcy of a major supplier being the worst. By that time, several prototypes had already been built, with or without roll-bar, in 2+2 or as two-seater. When the project was canceled, all prototypes were demolished, except some museum-cars.

When it became clear that Volvo would not introduce the cabriolet, others stepped in. E.g. EBS and ACT in Belgium built prototypes. EBS is known for the Renault 5 cabriolet conversion and ACT built the Volvo 440 estate and Lada cabriolet. Members were even given first options. But this was some years after Volvo, and it was not viable anymore for these organizations which have limited sales and distribution facilities. It is also difficult to get authority approval for after sales conversions. Thanks to the good life in Belgium, some Volvo 480 cabriolets were nevertheless approved. If your interested you may want to track them down and import the car. By the way, the first chairman of the Volvo 480-Register was married in a Volvo 480 cabriolet.

Source : www.volvo480register.nl/reg-en/....

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Here are a few photos of a 1:1 Volvo 480 Turbo convertible which I was recently able to photograph in the Netherlands.
The car is painted metallic blue and has two-tone interior which is blue and gray.

VOLVO Collection :

1. 1945   Volvo PV444
2. 1957   Volvo Amazon 4-door
3. 1964   Volvo P1800
   
4. 1953   Volvo PV455 Duett
   
5. 1950   Volvo PV60
6. 1971   Volvo 144 Overdrive
   
7. 1969   Volvo 164
8. 1971   Volvo P1800ES
   
9. 1956   Volvo P1900
10. 1978   Volvo 262C Bertone
    
11. 1965   Volvo Amazon 2-door
    
12. 1970   Volvo 145 Automatic Estate
    
13. 1938   Volvo PV52
14. 1965   Volvo PV544
15. 1979   Volvo 343
16. 1985   Volvo 480 ES
    
17. 1984   Volvo 740 Turbo
18. 1938   Volvo PV800 Taxi
19. 1978   Volvo 242 GT
    
20. 1939   Volvo PV56
21. 1962   Volvo Amazon break
22. 1936   Volvo PV36 Carioca
23. 1953   Volvo PV455 Duett 'Volvo Service'
24. 1988   Volvo 780 Bertone
25. 1988   Volvo 440
26. 1927   Volvo ÖV4 Jakob
27. 1973   Volvo 142
28. 1992   Volvo 240 Polar
29. 1971   Volvo 145 Express
30. 1975   Volvo 66 GL

• 31.   1992   Volvo 440 Politie (NL)
• 32.   1971   Volvo P1800 ES 'Prince Carl Gustaf'
• 33.   2001   Volvo V40 phase II
• 34.   1988   Volvo 480 Turbo USA
• 35.   1978   Volvo 244 DL 'Blue Star'
• 36.   1994   Volvo 960 GLE
  
• 37.   1978   Volvo 264 TE
  
• 38.   1965   Volvo Amazon Polis (S)
  
• 39.   1966   Volvo P1800 S Volvoville
• 40.   1971   Volvo 145 Express Taxi
• 41.   1992   Volvo ECC
• 42.   1976   Volvo 343 Politie (NL)
• 43.   1995   Volvo 855 T5R
• 44.   1999   Volvo S80
• 45.   1990   Volvo 480 Turbo convertible
  
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