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Junkyard Gem: 1997 Volvo V90

Volvo's "Brick Era" of squared-off rear-wheel-drive machines lasted from the debut of the 144 in 1966 all the way through the 900 Series cars of the 1990s, with the wildly successful 240 being the most iconic of the breed on our shores. The final chapter of the Swedish Brick saga came in the 1997 and 1998 model years, when the 960 sedan and wagon were rebadged as the S90 and V90, respectively. Here's one of those cars, a refrigerator-colored (and refrigerator-shaped) V90 wagon that got forcibly retired after a crash in Northern California. Volvo revived the V90 name in 2016, and you can buy a new V90 right now if you so choose. Today's Junkyard Gem, however, is the culmination of four decades of improvement to the original 140 design (itself based on much of the Amazon's chassis features and sharing plenty of components with the 1940s-era PV Series cars), while the current V90 comes straight out of the 21st century. I've been going out of my way to document just about every discarded 140 and 240 wagon I find, with some 740s and 940s mixed in. Many Volvo longroof owners still maintain a fanatical devotion to the rear-wheel-drive bricks, and I've found some of these cars in junkyards with impressively high final odometer readings. The fuel-efficiency and interior-space limitations of the old-timey brick design kept 960 sales lower than those of their predecessors, though, and I haven't met any 960 owners who share the level of devotion that 145 and 245 owners lavish on their cars. This car just squeaked past 150,000 miles during its 24 years on the road. The body and interior look to have been in very nice condition, showing that meticulous owners took good care of this car throughout its life, but then it got T-boned on the right side. This sort of damage isn't worth fixing on a quarter-century-old European wagon, and so here it sits. This engine compartment looks very similar to that of the old 240, though this modern 3.0-liter, DOHC straight-six and its 181 horses runs counter to the super-sensible spirit of most of those 1970s Goteborg bricks. The 960 was far more plush than its ancestors, and priced accordingly. In 1997, this car's list price started at $35,850 (about $60,660 in 2021 dollars). By comparison, a new 1975 245 wagon had an MSRP of $5,795 (about $29,940 today).

Volvo's SuperTruck 2 looks ready to extend a ramp for K.I.T.T.

In 2009, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) entered a public-private partnership with willing Class 8 truck makers, the goal of the partnership to dramatically improve the freight efficiency of over-the-road (OTR) trucks. The term "freight efficiency" refers to freight-ton efficiency, a different metric than miles per gallon because it takes into account the weight of the truck; a lighter tractor-trailer can carry more weight before reaching the 80,000-pound legal maximum on most U.S. highways. Volvo, Daimler (which owns the Freightliner and Sterling brands), Navistar (International), and Peterbilt signed on the the partnership to develop what's being called a SuperTruck. Volvo, Daimler, and International make their own engines, Peterbilt teamed up with Cummins, and all four found their own trailer manufacturers to work with. Those four makers debuted their first iterations of what's being dubbed SuperTrucks about six years ago. This year has been all about SuperTruck 2, Volvo the last of the quartet to show what it's achieved. The goal for SuperTruck 1 was to achieve a 50% increase in freight efficiency compared to a 2009 baseline, the baseline in Volvo's case being a 2009 VNL 670 tractor. The goal for SuperTruck 2 was another 50% improvement. Volvo said its internal goal was a 120% betterment compared to 2009, and that it exceeded the mark with a 134% increase. The company said the huge gains came primarily from aerodynamics: A wedge-shaped front with a smaller frontal area thanks to a smaller cooling package; the heavily curved, wraparound windshield; the tractor's adjustable ride height; using camera for side mirrors; and adding a boat tail to the back of the trailer, plus enough fairings and skirts front-to-back to make the tractor and trailer look like a single unit when driving in a straight line. Volvo did make changes to its rolling lab that aren't likely to infiltrate the U.S. market anytime soon. It's common for U.S. OTR trucks to use a 6x4 configuration, with two axles behind the cab, both driven. Volvo's SuperTruck 2 went with a 4x2 setup common in Europe, using a single axle behind the cab, and fitted a composite driveshaft. Combined with making the chassis out of aluminum instead of steel, and trailer partner Wabash providing a lightweight aluminum van, the tractor-trailer combo weighed just 27,000 pounds.

Volvo joins Australia's V8 Supercars series [w/video]

It was just a rumor, but now it's official, mates: Volvo will be joining the V8 Supercars series in Australia with an official team for 2014. Volvo is partnering with Garry Rogers Motorsport and its own Polestar tuning firm to create Volvo Polestar Racing.
A V8 engine will be produced by the Swedish arm of the racing effort, and will be supplied to the Garry Rogers team, which will get the whole shebang ready for the track. The outfit will be running two V8 Supercars "based on the production S60 road car." Considering that the S60 uses a range of transversely mounted engines with four, five or six cylinders (powering either the front or all four wheels) while the new race car will employ a V8 sending about 650 horsepower to the rear wheels, make that very loosely based on the production S60...
Volvo claims this is the first factory-backed entry in the V8 Supercars series from a luxury brand. We should note, though, that Mercedes-Benz is represented in the series with an E-Class sedan, but that outfit isn't quite an official entry from the car's German parents. In any case, you're encouraged to watch the teaser video and read the press release below for all the details.