It is the Volvo 780 grand touring coupe. From Wikipedia:
Like its predecessor, the 780 was designed and built by Carrozzeria Bertone in Turin, Italy. However, unlike the Volvo 262C, the 780 was not merely a two-door 760 with a "chop top" roof. Bertone gave the 780 its own distinctive shape which set it apart from the other models, yet was still identifiable as a Volvo. The car had a sleek, low profile, inheriting some of the styling of the other 700 series cars, but without many of the severe angles and sharp corners. The hood, trunk, and roof lines were all slightly lower than the standard 700 series profile, and the C-pillar was wider and had a more gradual slope down to the trunk. Headroom was improved over the 262C, due to Bertone’s mere 1 cm lowering of the roofline. Window frames all had black matte trim, and were accented with chrome. Chrome also highlighted the door handles, bumpers, and side mouldings.
It sounds like it was kind of a crappy car but it sure looks nice. Like a Euro Buick or something.
While looking that up I found this:
The amazing Volvo 480!
From the Wikipedia:
The Volvo 480 is a car with an unusual 4 seat, 3-door hatchback body, somewhere between liftback and estate in form, though marketed as a coupé. It was the first font-wheel drive car made by Volvo Cars and the only production Volvo to feature pop-up headlamps.
Press launch was on October 15 1985, but the 480 was first put on show at Geneva in 1986, becoming available to the public in 1987. It was produced in Born, Netherlands at the factory which built DAF cars, including the DAF 66-based Volvo 66 and later Volvo 300 Series. The platform that was also used in the Volvo 440 and 460. It was originally planned for the North American market (as can be evidenced by its US-spec front and rear side markers, not used on European automobiles), but took some time before it was sold in the U.S due to unfavourable currency exchange rates. The 480 was the first Volvo of its sport back style since the Volvo P1800, and the last until the unveiling of the Volvo C30. All of these models featured a distinctive frameless glass hatchback which has become something of a trademark for such Volvo coupés.
The concept was to design a sporty, luxury front-wheel drive car with advanced electronics. Unfortunately, the necessary technology was still in its infancy, and in the early days due to funding, the 480 suffered electrical problems. Revisions in the early-1990s saw improved reliability. Offsetting these problems, the car had excellent handling, due in no small part to its Lotus-designed suspension, and a series of reliable Renault engines, tuned by Porsche. It was also Volvo's first front wheel drive model.
In 1988, a Turbo version was introduced, the Garrett AiResearch turbocharger increasing the power from 109 PS (80 kW; 108 hp) to 120 PS (88 kW; 118 hp). Maximum torque was 175 N·m (129 lb·ft) instead of 140 N·m (103 lb·ft) for the naturally-aspirated 1.7 L engine. In 1993 (UK), due to new legislation which meant that catalytic converters had to be fitted to unleaded petrol engines, power dropped and so the 2.0 L engine was developed; it was rated at 110 PS (81 kW; 108 hp) and 165 N·m (122 lb·ft). Standard 4 speed automatic transmission was also offered.
I love the look of this car. It reminds me of a Mustang 5.0 mixed with a 1989 Nissan Sentra hatchback, which my mom had when I was a kid.
Oh yeah. Heist was pretty good if you like a lot of quick rhythmic dialogue featuring snappy lingo that may or may not be based off of anything real.
No comments:
Post a Comment