The automotive industry is a segment that has typically been dominated by men, but things are slowly beginning to change, as seen at this year’s SEMA show, where several all-women teams revealed outstanding projects.
One of them is the Iron Maven project which combines the body of a stock 1961 Volvo PV544 with the chassis and powertrain of a 2021 Volvo S60 T8 Recharge.
More than 160 women from all walks of life and with diverging backgrounds got together, familiarized themselves with the nuts and bolts of auto-building, and came up with this amazing build intended to bring attention to the women in the auto industry.
The project was spearheaded by Bogi Lateiner, TV host and owner and founder of Girl Gang Garage, and she worked mostly with volunteers. Among the 160 women involved in the build, there were both amateur and experienced techs, mechanics, welders, and painters. The project took 18 months to complete, and the result was revealed to standing ovations at this year’s SEMA event.
The Volvo Iron Maven restomod started life as a stock 1961 PV544, which happens to be a barn find from Phoenix, Arizona. Lateiner and her all-women crew wanted to honor its past as a “family sports car” by highlighting its sportiness, but at the same time, endowing it with a more aggressive attitude and a beefed-up engine.
Photo: Girl Gang Garage
They first stripped the car to bare metal, took its classic body, and attached it to the modern chassis of a 2019 S60 Recharge sedan. Here is where they came across some challenges, as the S60’s wheelbase is a bit longer, so they needed to shorten it by 16 inches (40 cm) and, at the same time, widen the fenders of the PV544. The seats also had to be sectioned and modified to make them fit in the narrower body of the vintage car. The resulting restomod is painted in a custom BASF color called Rebelberry.
But the real challenge was to squeeze as much of the electronics and underpinnings of the S60 hybrid into the PV544. Somehow, Lateiner and her team managed to do it, so the Iron Maven now sports the running gear and powertrain of the 2019 Volvo S60 T8 Recharge. It’s a turbocharged and supercharged 2.0-liter engine capable of 328 horsepower (332 ps). Together with its electric motor, which also has 87 hp (88 ps), they endow the new build with a combined output of 415 hp (421 ps) and 472 pound-feet (640 Nm) of torque.
The build also preserves the S60’s suspension, control systems, and infotainment system.
Photo: Girl Gang Garage
Built to celebrate Volvo’s past and future by bringing together classic aesthetics and modern performance, the Iron Maven project also honors women in trades and the heritage of car building. To encourage women to pursue careers in STEM and industrial fields, Lateiner’s Girl Gang Garage in Arizona also offers training classes and open-house events for newbies interested in learning tech skills.
“This was an amazing experience,” Lateiner said at SEMA, as cited by Car and Driver. “It’s important to bring attention to all the incredible women working in the automotive industry and to support and promote gender diversity in hiring.”
You don’t get to see a lot of Volvos being heavily modified and turned into custom builds, so Lateiner knew her team’s project was bound to attract a lot of attention and spur curiosity. Her intention was to capitalize on that to talk about the Girl Gang Garage and bring more women into the industry.
This is Girl Gang Garage’s third all-female build. Their previous projects involved classic Chevrolet trucks that they also exhibited at SEMA in previous years.
After spending a few years as a copy editor, Ancuta decided to put down the eraser and pick up the writer's pencil. Her favorites subjects are unusual car designs, travel trailers and everything related to the great outdoors. Full profile
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