I’m sure most of you have ridden in a chauffeured car at least once in your life before. Whether it be a Town Car, SUV, or the full stretched limousine, it’s a classy feeling being picked up, having the door held for you, and riding in the confines of deep-tint glass. More than often, the car that picks you up is a late-model black Lincoln Town Car. While there’s nothing wrong with the tried-and-true Town Car, it’s hardly exclusive (and frankly, not much more luxurious than any other large car with leather seats). So maybe you’d like something a bit more unique, something Swedish maybe? Well how about a Volvo 960 limousine?
With the discontinuation of the long-running Panther-based Town Car, and Lincoln’s MKT Town Car not really catching on as a successor, I’ve been seeing a lot of different vehicles in black suit with livery plates. Besides the ever-popular Suburban/Escalade/Navigator alternatives, these include the Audi A8, Cadillac XTS, Mercedes Benz E- and S-Class, Hyundai Equus, Toyota Avalon, and even the super-status Tesla Model S. But never before have I seen a Volvo in livery service, let alone a Volvo stretch limousine. This mid-90s 960 is the first Volvo to make that list.
Obviously not the standard car for a limo conversion, it doesn’t come across quite as cohesive as a Town Car stretch does. It would be much more pleasing to the eye if that middle window was longer, and if the filler panels on either side were the same width. Being an aftermarket stretch, I can’t vouch for any of its safety features that traditionally come to mind when you think of Volvo.
Googling images, I came across other 960 limos, so this is not the only one. I should also add that it was parked outside a large foreign auto body and service shop that specializes in Volvos. Could they have been the ones who did the conversion?
http://www.spiegel.de/auto/aktuell/versteigerung-von-honeckers-volvos-deutsche-geschichte-in-der-tiefgarage-a-269912.html
before mr. niedermeyer beats me to it, here is a link to one of the many stories in the german press, about the auction of the former east german govts stretch volvos. and they had a fleet of stretch citroen cx also, some of which were never delivered.
There was an extended wheelbase model of these made in Malaysia, but it was only about 8 inches longer, all behind the back door. Some came to Australia for use as “Silver Service” taxis.
I’ve also seen them as private cars, but don’t know if they were sold new as such here, or if they are ex-cabs.
I’ve seen some of these around Malaysia. Some have a completely blanked out 3/4 light, some have the half blanking like the feature car. Still a lot of the 940’s on the road here.
Sorry, it doesn’t do it for me. I haven’t been able to understand Volvo’s attempt to go upscale and put themselves in the same class as M-B, BMW, Audi, Cadillac (and their sales are showing just how well its working).
A stretch limo Volvo? Might as well do a stretch limo Impala while you’re at it.
It’s the same reason Volkswagen’s can do well overseas as luxury vehicles, some people like luxury features without broadcasting their net worth. In terms of $50k sedans, a Volvo is about as low key as they come. Obviously that’s not a very “American” way to display wealth, where the best selling Cadillac is a truck with 22 inch wheels and a badge bigger than a frisbee.
An Impala limo you say?
Actually the Volvo limo predates the Volvo decision to go upscale(I think this decision came about during the Ford ownership years so that they could lump Land Rover, Jaguar and Volvo into their premium brand stable)
Volvo was making a limo version since the 1970’s with a stretched version of the 240/260 series called a 264TE
Here is a pamphlet from 1979
http://www.volvoclub.org.uk/pdf/brochures/264TE-Brochure1979.pdf
I am sure Volvo did not think it pretentious to offer a limo. They made cars, trucks, Buses, construction equipment, farm equipment,marine(Volvo Penta) etc so I am sure they saw an executive car as a natural to augment the existing businesses. They also offered a stretched Volvo 245 wagon for airport shuttle etc called the 245T. Paul wrote about it in 2012(ironically about a week before I bought my Volvo 240 at the end of Nov 2012)
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/uncategorized/volvo-245-t-the-volvo-aerobus/
Photo from Paul’s excellent CC on this car on Nov 20th 2012
Some cars do the stretch better than others from a visual angle. This one does the stretch surprisingly well. Maybe not surprisingly, as square and boxy as the car is.
I like this more than I should. The livery service simply MUST hire a blond named Ilsa to drive this while wearing a heavy knit sweater, and answering questions with “Yaaa.”
I was think bikini, not heavy knit sweater.
It’s raining and cold in Indiana today. 🙂
The ultimate expression of “limousine liberal”?
Comment of the day.
+1
A 1980s Road and Track piece on a Volvo limousine used the same title. Obviously impossible to improve on!
Looks like an aftermarket attempt, compared to the ones in use by some royal families across the Atlantic. Volvo itself doesn’t to be new in the business.
https://www.google.com/search?q=koningin+limousine&client=firefox-a&hs=dXZ&rls=org.mozilla:nl:official&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=8Z1iUvXOOojn4QTA2oGgCA&ved=0CCkQsAQ&biw=1600&bih=727#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=CaNNbXFYEIEkFM%3A%3B5hj1rAhyV1xNmM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fstatic.autoblog.nl%252Fimages%252Fwp2011%252FVolvo_S80_limousine_Beatrix.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.autoblog.nl%252Farchive%252F2011%252F04%252F27%252Fkoningin-beatrix-koopt-een-cadillac%3B450%3B216
I’m pretty sure this is one of the factory cars. Volvo made a limo of the 960 called the Executive, and of the S90 called the Royal. The pictured car appears to be identical to this one owned by the Danish Royal family.
Likely so, but in your picture the window looks better fitting. The subject car’s center window somewhat looks like an afterthought. Too small compared to the space around it.
I remember seeing a few of these back in their day. I can’t remember if it was in London or Moscow, but I’m guessing the former. I think they carry the look very well, and much better than the bulbous roofed Town Cars of the 00s.
The license plate does indeed give away its owners – the Danish royal family. It’s photographed outside parliament as well.
This is the Volvo S80 XL of the Dutch Royal family. Volvo was the successor of Ford as the “Royal Brand”. They are Calvinists, so of course no vulgar Mercedes, BMWs, Audis or Cadillacs….
Source: http://www.autoblog.nl/de-autos-van-het-nederlandse-koninklijk-huis
I would’ve cracked wise about the Fords having been bought from Benson Motors in Lake Wobegon, but you said “Calvinists” not “Lutherans”…
Wasn’t it Bunsen Motors?
Calvinists, Lutherans, Puritans, Reformed…pretty much all the same in my book. (a Catholic book, more the very open-minded edition of it)
The idea of a longer wheelbase giving you a nicer ride is fine except when you place the seat next to the axle or just ahead of it the nice ride is in the middle not at the back where the doors are and its so low you cant easily move about inside whats the point as proved in the pictures it cant even be parked correctly keep it I think its awful.
In 1986 I spent a week in Vasteras, Sweden, working of a proposal for ASEA. At the end of the week, ASEA had a black Volvo limo, fairly new as I recall, take us to the airport in Stockholm, about a 60 mile trip. The whole time the cabin was permeated by the smell of burning oil. By the time we got to the airport it was smokin’. The driver popped the hood and we all stuck our noses in to diagnose the problem. And there it was-someone had left the oil filler cap on the valve cover off. Bad news-oil everywhere. Good news-the filler cap was still there caught in some engine plumbing.
It must have been nice to be in Vasteras many years before mentioning its name would start an outpouring of “Game of Thrones” jokes. Did the huge “Power Meet” American car show already exist in 1986?
I saw one of these, a ’98, at Volvo Owners’ Day in Rockleigh, New Jersey a few weeks ago. The owner was kind enough to display the window sticker.
Those cars cost a little over $65,000 when new in 1998, making it the most expensive factory-authorized Volvo to date.
I’ve written about those before. It looks like a Nilsson conversion. Yngve Nilssons Karosseri, now Nilsson Special Vehicles, is and was a Volvo-authorized coachbuilder. They made Ambulances, hearses, limousines, and such.
Volvo farmed out the work on their specials to Nilsson, Like the 264TE, as is usual when a large car maker don’t have room to make cars in such a small series on their own.
They were very popular in the 90’s as embassy cars, especially with those embassies that didn’t want to affiliate themselves with cars from a specific country. Therefore one can find those Volvo limousines in quite unusual places.
They made armoured cars as well. And there is a market for discreet armoured cars, when cars like Mercedeses and BMW:s simply draws too much attention to themselves
http://www.nilsson.se/en/
In the mid-90s I worked in the building that housed the Swedish embassy in Washington (they have since moved out of that rented space and into a stunning custom-built building with distinctively Scandinavian architecture). There were several stretched Volvos in the building’s garage (but none stretched as long as this example).
The Swedish embassy in Georgetown is indeed a beautiful building and hosts a lot of interesting exhibits and cultural events. Interestingly, the Swedish ambassador’s car is now a very ordinary S80 sedan, and I have never seen a stretch Volvo, Town Car or anything else there. They may have downsized their official car fleet considerably when they moved into their upsized real estate!
Volvo offered a factory made Volvo 240 based limo called the 264TE
Here is a factory brochure of it
http://www.volvoclub.org.uk/pdf/brochures/264TE-Brochure1979.pdf
The East German leadership was enamored with the Volvo 240 and 740/760 as it was so much better then a Eastern Block car BUT was not exactly a “Western” car(like a BMW, Caddy)
I would not be surprised if that 960 in your pic was a factory creation or factory authorized creation
I don’t get it. Even if you argue that this is a more understated version of a limousine for those who wish to be inconspicuous, it’s a LIMOUSINE. It’s not going to be inconspicuous. Limousines, like construction equipment, are not by their nature easy to ignore. You can make it black and formal or prom party Miami Vice white, or even the mother of all Volvo sedans but it’s going to stand out. If you want to be inconspicuous, come in through the back entrance in a clapped out ’98 maroon Ford Taurus, don’t come in a limousine.
My 10c worth says it’s probably factory for two reasons: the cut lines in the sills match those on the Danish one; and the fillet covering the rear pillar window is the factory fillet that was used on the Executive/Royal sedans sold in New Zealand (pic below of a NZ-new in 2000 S90 Executive).
I note the Danish limo has two-piece panels between the front and rear doors. This suggests to me that it has functioning smaller doors in the middle (albeit without external handles). Thus there’s a fixed quarter pane on those middle ‘doors’ to allow the glass to drop while still clearing the hinge bolts etc at the front of the door., The one Brendan has photographed above looks to use modified front door skins to bridge the panel gap between the front and rear doors. The glass looks to be the same as on the Danish one, minus the fixed pane. So, I’d wager that Volvo made the stretch limos in 4 door and 6 door versions, and used the same glass for the middle portion.
Also, I think those awkward filler panels are there to clear the partition between the front and rear comparments. The drivers seat always extends further than the B-pillar. It’s either that, or have a small pane of glass in between, which isn’t an any more beautiful execution, as per the Danish example. Though, it looks like the window is fully retractable, which has to count for something.
There were indeed 6 door 900’s. I think I’ve only seen 940’s though. I saw one used as a van or truck outside a hardware store. Dirty inside and out and full of tools and construction materials.
It might look better if the metal panels between the side glass were painted black instead of blue.
Up until recently the Israeli government used armored Volvo limos like this one as well as newer ones like the royal Swedish one in a comment above for VIP transport. This was when Germany vehicles were still somewhat taboo in the country, although the government has lately switched to Audis and Skodas.
The one in the photoset I believe was commissioned by Ernie Boch, who also had a Subaru Tribeca limo as well as an S80 limo.
Wow. What a way to make an appearance at IKEA…
I don’t know why I’m hesitant to confess this, but I spent (squandered?) much time in years past contemplating how to finish the interior of my old Volvo 740, had it been endowed with an extra 60 or so inches aft of its B pillar.
Tom K.: any thoughts on this beauty??
It’s very interesting. I knew about these from my various Volvo books but have never seen one in the metal.
I really liked the final-year 1998 S90 with its Jaguar-esque pleated leather with contrasting piping and smooth ride. I tried to get my dad to buy one but he kept his Jeep, before trading it in on a ’99 V70R wagon. That was a great car too, and very fast. But I liked the S90 better. Of course my own 940SE was the same car with a turbo four instead of the straight six. These were the last of the true RWD Volvos.
There was a version available with just a stretched set of back doors called the royal. Not center addition and was much more cohesive.. As for rareity I have only seen the two that my friend- a Volvo specialist and enthusiast.
The one I posted the picture of a few images above is an Executive, but it has the lengthened rear doors and the associated separate rear seats etc (interior pic below). It’s RHD and New Zealand new; I understand it may have been the Swedish Ambassador’s company car (so to speak!).
volvo s80