Volvo does not build many cars like the Volvo VESC: a 4-door sedan, built from 1972 as the oil crises and the first emissions rules rewired the industry.
The background
The Volvo VESC, the Volvo Experimental Safety Car, is a concept car made by Volvo to showcase a number of innovative passenger safety features. It was unveiled in 1972 at the Geneva Motor Show.
Under the skin
The record carries the shape — a 4-door sedan — and the layout: 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 engine, output and weight have not yet reached the open record, and MotorJury does not guess at them.
Where it sits
On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Renault 5, the Volkswagen Passat, the Mitsubishi Lancer. Its Volvo stablemates include the Volvo 144 and the Volvo 264 TE.
The money
There is no federal ownership record for the Volvo VESC — 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.