Start with what the Volvo PV51 is: a 4-door saloon with 3670 cc EC I6, built from 1936 to 1945, when streamlining and independent suspension were arriving together. What it meant takes a little longer.
The background
The Volvo PV51 is a car introduced by Volvo in December 1936. It was replaced by the mildly restyled PV53 in 1938. This car remained in production until the end of the Second World War.
The engineering
The engine is 3670 cc EC I6. On the scales it comes to 1540 kg. Drive goes through a 3-speed manual with optional overdrive. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 2880 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Where it sits
In the Volvo line-up the Volvo PV51 has a clear place: it replaced the Volvo PV 36 / Volvo PV650 Series; it handed the line to the Volvo PV 60; the factory was Lundby, Gothenburg, Sweden. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Volkswagen Beetle, the Bugatti Type 57, the Chevrolet Suburban. Its Volvo stablemates include the Volvo 144 and the Volvo 264 TE.
Owning one today
There is no federal ownership record for the Volvo PV51 — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.