18 weird photos of Volvos

Stepping back in time

Before the days of futuristic night-time shoots, all tail-lights and street art, the world of the press pack was a much more homely affair. Best of the lot was that forward-thinking car maker in Gothenburg: Volvo.

A scroll through the marque’s archive of press shots is to step into a very different place, where picnics are the only way to take lunch, horses gaze upon every road and every patch of grass is the ideal camping spot.

Here’s a pick of some of the best. Expect dogs, ducks, racing bikes and, well, just about anything.

And golf. Lots of golf.

Volvo PV444

Just your usual studio shot of a new car, the PV444 in this case, you’d think. Harmless, and probably more of an undertaking in 1957 than it is today.

But then there is the cuddly toy dog on her arm.

Volvo 144 and 145

Real dogs and Volvos go hand in hand, and the manufacturer seems to have been fully on board.

Here an Afghan hound stars in a very ’70s press shot for the 144 and 145, taken in 1972.

Volvo S40 and V40

An homage to shoots gone by? Surely. The choice of colours, the similar positioning. 

Dogs were starring even into the 1990s and with the S/V40s, as this American press image confirms.

Volvo 164

Yet horses were not to be outdone. 

This 164 photo is from 1972, a scene befitting the grandeur of the executive saloon.

Volvo Amazon

Just out of this 1958 shot, cropped to fit this gallery, is a man lying on the floor wearing a cowboy hat.

The 122 ‘Amazon’ was only introduced into the States in 1959 as the 122S, which would make this around the time of the launch campaign and possibly hint at who Volvo hoped to convince to buy it…

Volvo 244

Perhaps the pick of the animal bunch, enter the 244 and its bizarre set of curious period imagery (more on which later).

Maybe the rather industrial, brick design needed a softer edge, and what better way than a duck and duckling family.

Volvo 120

Nearly every model seems to have a picnic shot in its armoury, such as this 120 photo, believed to be from 1956.

Matching blanket, crockery, the lot. 

They seemingly had another picnic later, on a slope above the car, according to the period promotional shots.

Volvo 122S

Meanwhile this family took a very similar Amazon to the zoo…

The Borås Djurpark, to be precise, where ‘Nordic Animals’ and ‘Animals of the World’ meet.

Volvo PV444

Before the Amazon came this happy PV444 picnic, though.

This shot, labelled ‘Happy days’, is from the 1940s – the car was shown in 1944 and it lasted for 14 years until the PV544 took over until the mid-1960s.

Long before the 444 came the PV4, which also has its own picnic photo with a butler tending to the needs of a couple. 

Volvo P210

The promotional shots of the P210 could make a gallery on their own. 

Known as the Duett and based on the PV445, Volvo says it ‘is the ancestor of today’s exclusive, comfortable, safe and powerful Volvo estate cars’.

Volvo P210 ‘Duett’

Though offered as an estate by Volvo, as here and the previous slide, it was available as a bare chassis for buyers to then have coachbuilt bodies installed.

American-inspired cabriolets, pick-ups and vans inevitably followed, and the chassis remained available long after the P210 itself was shelved by the factory.

And as this image ably (and distinctively) shows, it was a versatile machine.

Volvo 240

Like picnics, camping was a theme close to the Volvo press and marketing department’s heart it seems.

None chose quite the spot as this Volvo 240-owning couple, though. Perhaps the view the other way is a little more picturesque and a little less concrete…

Volvo 340 GLT

Volvo was keen to point out that its cars were also good for carrying golf clubs, a perfect middle-class marriage.

Your 340 GLT, a turbocharged hatch, was just the job…

Volvo 740 Turbo

Or you could take your 740 (to the same golf club, to the same hole, wearing the same clothes, striking the same pose…).

The 700 range, like the 240 before it, also featured a Bertone-styled coupé, the 780. The 740 was the most numerous of all the 700s, comprising 1m of the 1.2m made including 780 and six-cylinder 760.

Volvo 740 Turbo (again)

No, we don’t know either. 

Volvo 760 Turbo

The bigger brother 760 was the earlier, more expensive and faster version, and launched with a PRV V6 carried over from the 260. 

It was, as this press shot presumably implies, a bit of an express train. 

Volvo 740 Estate

The 700 series, surprisingly given the prominence of the Volvo wagon, launched as saloon-only and it wasn’t until 1985 that the estates joined the range, three years after launch. 

Apparently much to Santa’s delight.

Volvo 240 GLT

Pick of the bizarre promotional image lot, and there really is a lot, goes to this photo of a Volvo 240 GLT.

They don’t make them like they used to.