When we had two Apples at Volvo
During the winter of ’81 I moved back to Rockleigh, NJ, from California. Along with thousands of pounds of junk following us here, was an Apple II Plus. It was one hunk of computing power with 64 k of memory, single 5” floppy drive and no monitor – all for a bargain price of $2100. [...]
Why people smile when they sit in our cars
PV444 1958 S60 2011 When I brought home my first Volvo, a ’58 PV444, I didn’t noticed how uncomfortable the seats were. After I drove from Torrance to my Aunt and Uncle’s home in Livermore – about 300 miles – I couldn’t wait to get out of that car. I later bought a seat [...]
The day crime dropped 90% in Sweden
Shown are 1973 144′s (thin bumper and door handles recessed) decked out in Police trim ready for delivery outside, I think, our Torslanda factory. I suspect all the shady characters in Sweden were running in fear when Gothenborgs Posten ran this photo. Thanks Ulf for letting us run this photo.
UPDATE: Irv Gordon on History Channel/Nova January 26
UPDATE: Irv’s PBS special has aired, and I’ve never seen Irv look so good. Amazing what HD did for him! Irv … you looked marvelous. ‘Never means NEVER’ for anyone asking, even Duane. Through chuckles, Irv told me: “When the engine rebuild was finished, I went Duane’s shop to pick it up and it wouldn’t [...]
Our first Open House since 1998 (I stand corrected since 2000)
Amazing how the years just blow by. Friends who work here now have sons and daughters working here, new cars have been launched, people change positions. So many things are different. But not our Open House. Around nine months ago, Doug Speck, our CEO, told us it’s time to do one again. Working with Volvo [...]
Iron Man Irv Turns 70, Sets 3 Million Mile Goal
Happy birthday to our most famous and enduring brand ambassador, Irv Gordon of East Patchogue, Long Island. Irv turns 70 today, an honorable achievement for anyone. But, with Irv, it’s always about big numbers. He’s driven more than 2.8 million miles in his 1966 Volvo P1800. And, today, on the big 7-0, he’s affirming his [...]
Cryptic Message
Last week, after posting a short history of our seat belt, I received an e-mail from Sören, a man of very few words, always cryptic. His message was something like: “What, Clive and Mary.” And that was it. No clue what he was getting at. I sent an equally sparse reply: ‘?’. And of course, [...]
A journey that started with a ‘Click’
On July 14, 2010, our simple life saving device, the three-point seat belt, will forever be a part of American history. The Smithsonian National Museum of American History will officially accept Volvo’s three-point seat belt into their collection. On that day, with a press event for media, business, government and Smithsonian officials, a little bit [...]
What if we did a retro PV544?
The new VW Beetle was shown in 1994 as Concept 1 at the North American International Auto show in Detroit, Mich. It had all the charm of the old Beetle and had the same basic shape and design, very nice looking actually. Years later, we took media to Sweden to show them our XC90 rollover [...]
