Photo: Volvo
Volvo was busy preparing the launch of the V90 Cross Country, but there was still time to bake a cake for the C70 coupe, one of its most beautiful cars ever.
Can you believe that it's been exactly 20 years since the C70 was revealed on September 30th, 1996? Back then, cars were pretty boxy, like the E36, and Dodge's Viper was fresh on everyone's minds. But here came the Swedish with their idea of a classy coupe.
"Without a doubt this was the most fun car project I’ve been involved with," Hakan Abrahamsson says today. In 1994, he was appointed as the head of a small research group tasked with making the first coupe since the 80s. At the time, the car company had little to no experience in making appealing vehicles like this.
There are lots of fun facts that surround the C70. For example, it had one of the best sound systems of any car made in Europe, with loudspeakers from the Danish prestige brand Dynaudio, Dolby Surround and an amplifier with up to 4x100 watts.
The C70 was supposed to be both a coupe and a convertible. The Finnish firm Valmet made a proposal for a C70 cabriolet with a folding metal roof. This did not lead to a production model, but the C70’s successor was given such a feature nine years later in 2005.
Volvo was also stretching its legs in the powertrain department, as the C70 received a 2.3-liter five-cylinder turbo from the 850R, which produced 240 horsepower. However, there were also 2-liter turbo models with 225 hp.
The first-generation C70 cabrio entered production a year later and was one of the first such cars to feature rollover protection bars that were activated when a crash was detected.
The second generation came in 2005 and featured the folding metal roof, thus fulfilling both coupe and convertible roles. This stunning Pininfarina design lived on until 2006, by which time 89,074 had been made. It even featured diesel engines, the 150 horsepower D3, and 177 hp D4, both of which had 2-liter five-cylinder engines. Sadly, we said our goodbyes in 2013.
"Without a doubt this was the most fun car project I’ve been involved with," Hakan Abrahamsson says today. In 1994, he was appointed as the head of a small research group tasked with making the first coupe since the 80s. At the time, the car company had little to no experience in making appealing vehicles like this.
There are lots of fun facts that surround the C70. For example, it had one of the best sound systems of any car made in Europe, with loudspeakers from the Danish prestige brand Dynaudio, Dolby Surround and an amplifier with up to 4x100 watts.
The C70 was supposed to be both a coupe and a convertible. The Finnish firm Valmet made a proposal for a C70 cabriolet with a folding metal roof. This did not lead to a production model, but the C70’s successor was given such a feature nine years later in 2005.
Volvo was also stretching its legs in the powertrain department, as the C70 received a 2.3-liter five-cylinder turbo from the 850R, which produced 240 horsepower. However, there were also 2-liter turbo models with 225 hp.
The first-generation C70 cabrio entered production a year later and was one of the first such cars to feature rollover protection bars that were activated when a crash was detected.
The second generation came in 2005 and featured the folding metal roof, thus fulfilling both coupe and convertible roles. This stunning Pininfarina design lived on until 2006, by which time 89,074 had been made. It even featured diesel engines, the 150 horsepower D3, and 177 hp D4, both of which had 2-liter five-cylinder engines. Sadly, we said our goodbyes in 2013.
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