1978 Volvo Other

262 C By Bertone Coupe

V6

Automatic

vc26265ld003770

Clear

Gasoline

This Volvo is in excellent shape inside and outOnly 52,000 Miles!NO RESERVE AUCTION SERIOUS BIDDERS ONLY!The 262 C Coupe was an extremely low-production car, as Volvo wanted to maintain its exclusivity for years to come. 1978 saw only 1,670 examples roll off of the assembly lineonly a few hundred ever imported to the US.Always garage keptThis is a very rare carValue will never depreciate only go up, so click quick!This is a 1978 Volvo 262 Coupe By Bertone Crown EditionV6 Automatic runs and drives greatEverything works great including:Power windows, Locks, Air Conditioning, Even the analog Clock!New hoses, new brakes, never been in an accidentTHIS IS A NO RESERVE SALECALL JOHN AT 702-708-3346 Here is some more information about this vehicle that can be found on the internet. from wikipedia The Volvo 262C is the first luxury coupe made by Volvo. Based on the Volvo 200 Series, the 262C was built by Bertone in Turin for the 1977-1981 model years. A team of American executives and engineers led by Henry Ford II had visited a Volvo factory in the mid-1970s and had brought Lincoln Continental Mark IVs to drive. The car generated interest among both the Volvo staff and the people living in the area. Without the facilities to spare on a low volume project, Volvo arranged with Bertone to design and build the coupe.[1] The drivetrain, suspension, floor pan, and many of the body panels of the 262C were taken directly from the Volvo 260 sedan, with Bertone building the roof pillars, roof pan, windshield surround, cowl, and the upper parts of the doors.[1] The roof of the 262C was about 10 cm lower than the 260 sedan. The 262C used the PRV engine, a V6 engine developed jointly by Peugeot, Renault, and Volvo.[1] The engine used a Lambda-sond oxygen sensor system; this was the first use of this system on a production V engine. Standard equipment included power windows and mirrors, central locking, leather seats, power mirrors, cruise control, air conditioning, heated front seats, alloy wheels and electrically powered radio antenna. The only optional extras were a limited-slip differential, a choice of stereos, and the no-cost option of a Borg-Warner three-speed automatic instead of the four-speed manual with electrically operated overdrive. from hemmings America has consistently been Volvo Cars' largest export market, and this influence can be seen in the Swedish cars' styling. While the unusual designs of the small front-wheel-drive cars from their home-country competitor Saab strongly echoed that company's aircraft heritage, the appearance of Volvo's traditional rear-wheel-drive cars was more conventional. The models that established Volvo's reputation for sporty performance and durability in the U.S. were the simple PV444 and PV544; their fastback design has been likened to a three-quarter-scale 1940s Ford. The PV544's successor, the handsome 122 Amazon sedan, had a good deal of the 1954-1956 Chrysler/De Soto in its airy greenhouse. And while the cars that followed the 122-the 140/160 series-seemed to be wholly Swedish designs, their most spectacular derivative, the 1978-1981 262C Bertone Coupé, was actually influenced by Lincoln's full-sized mid-1970s personal coupe, the Mark IV.Volvo's first luxury coupe, the V-6-powered 262C, had an unusual genesis, as explained by Bob Austin, who was a 31-year Volvo employee and the company's director of marketing communications from 1991 through 2001: "Volvo was at the leading edge of reinventing factory work in the 1970s. The CEO, Pehr Gyllenhammar, felt life in the car business was inhumane-that factory work only took advantage of people's arms and legs. He authorized the building of Kalmar, the new factory that became the world's first automotive team assembly plant. People worked in small groups, and the cars moved from station to station-they felt that with more worker engagement, there would be fewer defects, fewer work-related injuries and reduced employee turnover. Automakers around the world were interested in this plant, and in the mid-1970s, an American industrialist entourage lead by Henry Ford II traveled to Sweden to inspect the factory."When they arrived, they brought over a number of cars to drive, all two-door Lincoln Mark coupes with low roofs and wide C-pillars. American cars were rare in Sweden, and they caught the attention of people both inside and outside of Volvo. We wanted to build a car like that, but we knew it would have to be done off-line and that the tooling costs would be too much. Our people were talking to the people at Carrozzeria Bertone at an auto show in Europe, and Bertone expressed great interest in the project; the two companies had previously teamed up to build the Europe-only 264TE limousine.Because 85 percent of the 262's structure already existed-the floor pans, fenders, mechanicals and drivelines-Bertone would only have to make custom stampings for the roof pillars, roof pan, the upper doors and the windshield surround and cowl. Volvo would ship the stampings and drivetrains to Bertone in Turin, Italy, and they would assemble the finished cars with custom leather interiors."The new Swedish/Italian hybrid was based on the two-door, six-cylinder 262GL sedan, and the unusual roofline that became the 262C's trademark was signed off by Volvo's chief designer, Jan Wilsgaard. While this formal roof is most noted for its thick C-pillar and nearly three-inch-lower height, it is also distinguished with a steeply raked windshield and more flushly mounted rear side glass. The lower roofline required that the seats be mounted closer to the floor; period magazine testers complained that the still-compromised headroom forced people over six feet tall to recline the seatback for comfort and that rear three-quarter visibility suffered, unusual traits for usually practical Volvo. Although visibility isn't as good as a "regular" Volvo two-door, it's still better than most formal roofline coupes, and the issue of headroom isn't one for average-sized drivers.Aside from that "hot rod formal" roofline, the only exterior differences between the Bertone Coupé and the 262 were its lack of a visible spare tire well in the left rear fender and additional chrome trim; a Goodyear Space Saver tire and a pressurized air bottle allowed this modification. The upright chrome-trimmed grille and four-headlamp nose that originated with the 260 series was shared with the 240 series for 1978. And like its more practical brethren, the $14,700 262C featured a safety cage design with aluminum 5-mph bumpers. Bertone followed Volvo's standards for corrosion resistance, treating Coupés to some galvanized steel, rust proofing and undercoating.Aside from using the standard dashboard, steering wheel and seat frames, the Italian-built car's interior was vastly upgraded; glove-soft pleated leather covered nearly every surface, including the anatomically designed seats, door panels, grab handles, recessed sunvisors and headliner. The door panels were accented with genuine elm veneer, deep pile carpeting was underfoot, and the center console extended into the rear compartment to offer an illuminated ashtray and lighter. Power front windows, mirrors and door locks were standard equipment, as well as alloy wheels, cruise control, air conditioning, intermittent wipers, heated front seats and a fully carpeted trunk. As befitting the cars' premium status, their only options were a limited-slip differential and a choice of stereos to actuate the standard power antenna.Although Volvo engineers intended for their flagship to carry a special, more powerful engine, the 262C was introduced with the family Peugeot-Renault-Volvo fuel-injected B27F overhead-cam V-6. This four-main-bearing engine, displacing 2.7 liters, with a 3.46 x 2.87-inch bore and stroke and 8.2:1 compression ratio, made 127hp and 150-lbs.ft. of torque. When the engine's displacement was bumped to 2.8 liters in 1980 via a 3.58-inch bore, the number of main bearings increased to seven and the compression ratio rose to 8.8:1, the renamed B28F's horsepower and torque each increased by 3.Allowing this engine to meet emissions requirements in all 50 states was Volvo's 'Lambda Sond' three-way catalytic converter. Power was routed to the wheels through either a no-extra-cost Borg-Warner three-speed automatic with a hydraulic torque converter or a fully synchronized four-speed manual gearbox with electrically operated overdrive; the final drive ratio for the rare (one in ten) manual-equipped cars was 3.71:1, while that in automatic versions was 3.54:1.Volvo's lauded power-assisted rack-and-pinion steering gave the Bertone Coupé a tight 32.1-foot turning circle. The 5.5 x 14-inch alloy wheels mounting 185/70-SR14 Michelin ZX tires were held to the road via an independent MacPherson strut/coil-spring front suspension with a 19mm anti-roll bar, and a live axle rear with longitudinal control arms, a torque rod, coil springs, tubular shocks and a 19mm anti-roll bar. Vented front and solid rear 10.3-inch disc brakes were backed by a dual "triangle-split" power hydraulic system.The first series of 262C Bertones were available only in Mystic Silver metallic paint with a black vinyl roof and black interior; these used Volvo's 262-based trunklid and flat taillamp design, which would be changed for a deeper trunklid and larger wrap-around taillamps on the $15,995 1979 models. They featured a new lever-type thermostatic heater control system, and manual transmission-equipped versions received the sporty 242GT's tighter shift linkage. Metallic gold and black single-tone paints, as well as beige leather, were added to the exclusive black roof over silver color palate. The $17,345 1980 Bertone Coupé, as it was then known, gained the 242GT's front air dam and lost 35 mph from its speedometer, as per new American regulations. Rarely seen new colors included single-tone light metallic blue and a gold roof-over-bronze metallic paint scheme. For their last year of production, the vinyl roof was no longer fitted to the now-$19,550 Coupés, and a redesigned and color-coordinated instrument panel extended to incorporate the center console.The exclusive Bertone's comparably exotic price tag put it in the thick of some highly regarded competition, the likes of which had never before been cross-shopped with a Volvo. It cost $2,000 more than a contemporary Cadillac Eldorado, and was roughly the same price as a BMW 528i. Mercedes-Benz's pricier grand touring coupe, the six-cylinder 280CE, was also mentioned in context with the upstart Volvo. "Because of Volvo's reputation for safety, durability and practicality, it was considered a very rational brand," Bob recalls. "Luxury is something you don't need, while a practical Volvo was something you could need. There was an inherent dilemma in luxury-class Volvos."The stylish 262C Bertone Coupé's worldwide production was only 6,622 cars, giving it true exclusivity. It became the first Volvo designed to be desired rather than required, and cemented the company's ability to play in the rarified market it enjoys today.