Now that the hoopla over the 30th anniversary of Back To The Future and the DeLorean’s moment in the spotlight has started to subside, Curbsiders can appreciate the 30th anniversary of another car unappreciated in its time but then sent 30 years into the future: the Volvo 780 coupe. The last of Volvo’s collaborations with Bertone to create exclusive special models, following the 1977-81 262C coupe, the rare 1981 262C “Solaire” convertible (only 5 built), and the 1975-81 264TE limousine, the 780 had a Bertone-designed and built body on the 760 chassis, sharing no body panels with the 740/760. After its introduction at the 1985 Geneva Motor Show, only 8,518 were sold from 1986-91, renamed simply the Volvo Coupe in its last year. This survivor has traveled 30 years into the future to make an appearance at a dealership of the currently fashionable vision of the automotive future, the electric powered, technology filled, low slung Tesla.
More: CC Volvo 780 – Rectilinear Luxury By Bertone
Those were sharp cars, I believe they were V6 powered at the beginning of the run, then switched to the turbo-4. A neighbor had one when I was a teenager.
On another note, those look like pretty wide parking spaces, amazing that the Tesla roadster with one of the smallest footprints out there had a driver that couldn’t manage to fit it between the lines…
I was confused as I read the opening lines of Robert’s post, because on my small screen the black car behind the Tesla looked a BMW 6-Series (that’s a complement to Volvo and Bertone). As for the Tesla Roadster’s parking, that’s pretty typical with high-end sports cars, at least in Silicon Valley parking lots. One of the spaces could just as well be a handicapped spot or motorcycle parking, in some cases of Porsche/Ferrari/Bentley parking that I’ve seen.
I thought it was a US specific Toyota or Nissan, rather than a Volvo.
As a tie-in, some versions of the 780 had the same engine as a DeLorean.
Others had the B230FT turbo, which was a much better engine!
Not quite the same engine. Both were PRVs, but the PRV was extensively redesigned in 1985 with an even-fire design and lacking many of the earlier versions’ weaknesses (like problems with oil starvation). The 262c had essentially the same engine as the DeLorean, but the B280F in the 780 is a dfferent animal.
These tended to have wome weird/wild upholstery patterns, but I’d love to get my mitts on one…make mine a 4 cyl red block turbo automatic with tan interior, please. And get rid of that nasty sunroof air deflector on the roof.
Did these have turbo? I saw one in the local junkyard last week while looking for Deville parts. It was wine colored and had the badging missing from the C pillar but the sticky mounting stuff was still there.
It had a turbo engine in it. I was expecting to see a PRV V6 in it
They debuted with the 2.8 PRV engine, then the turbo became available for ’88. For the final year of 1991, the V6 was dropped and all were turbo cars.
These didn’t even use the same hood and trunklids as the “regular” 7 series Volvos?
Seriously, I’ve seen 2 or 3 of these in the last 30 years, and all were black. They are really nice looking cars….for a Volvo, and I wouldn’t mind owning one (if I could find one with low mileage and a manual transmission), I wouldn’t care which engine.
You should. The V6 has a reputation for being high maintenance. The turbo is considered bulletproof.
A nice contrasting pair there–1985 style and 2008 style. The 780 looks a little low in the back–the self-leveling Nivomat shocks sometimes do that as they age. Basketweave wheels should mean it’s one of the turbo cars.
And yes, a damn lot of them do seem to be black. I have personal experience with this.
The Volvo Bertone Coupes are some of the most beautiful cars ever (to me).
My mother bought a new 1988 780 in Augusta, Maine. She traded a 1988 Lincoln Town Car on it after learning the Town Car depreciated nearly half its value in one year. Her 780 was said to be one of three in the state that year. It was the silver exterior and tan interior. No options available. They basically came loaded. She drove the car for ten years and put over 280,000 miles on it before trading it. The interiors were a step above anything Volvo did at the time, with a sound system that would make your ears bleed. They used a higher grade Italian leather and real wood interior trim that I can still smell and feel in my mind today.
I was at a museum last weekend. It had the only surviving 780 prototype on display. It had a diesel engine but I can’t remeber which one right now. I suppose it was the D24 which was also fitted to some production cars iirc.
I have always liked the 780 and I think it’s aging well. Now you can buy one but when new they were insanely expensive compared to tje more practical 764 and 765.