Classic pearls of the future - Volvo C70
10/02/2016
Do you remember the movie "The Saint" with Val Kilmer? Do you remember what car he was driving? Probably not. It was a red Volvo C70 Coupé. There were good reasons for this.
The coupé was unveiled at the Paris Motor Show in the fall of 1996, followed a little later by a convertible version.
Almost simultaneously with the start of production in 1997, the film "Simon Templar" was released in cinemas, basically a long version of the popular television series from the 1960s in which Roger Moore solves difficult detective cases. And drives a Volvo P 1800 S.
So it was no coincidence that the new Simon Templar should also drive a Volvo, and after all, the Swedish company had produced a handsome coupé (and convertible) in the form of the C70.
The car was created in collaboration with Tom Walkinshaw Racing and represented a step into a new world of design, led by Peter Horbury on the Volvo side. The C70 was no longer boxy and "angular", but flowing and round.
The engines were five-cylinder units with and without turbochargers, which drove the front wheels. Gear changes were manual or automatic. At around 4.8 meters long and 1.8 meters wide, the car was not really compact, but it was elegant to look at and enjoyed a growing fan base.
Around 72,000 vehicles were built until the C70 was replaced in 2006 by a successor of the same name, which was then even available with a diesel engine. Of course, Simon Templar could not have been expected to drive it.
More classic gems can be found in the theme channel.
More about the history of the C70 was written in a tribute to the 20th anniversary of the model.
