The Volvo 780 was a special Italian Swede – In the Wild

Volvo thought it could use a new top sedan for the 1980s and commissioned design veteran Jan Wilsgaard to put it on paper. Wilsgaard came up with a car that definitely belonged in the 1980s, with its straight lines. However, you could say that it was Wilsgaard’s least subtle work. The 700 series was very angular and although that gave it a fairly indestructible appearance, it was certainly not the most eye-catching upper middle class car of its time.

In 1985, however, a coupe based on the 700 series would appear, which showed that a sharp-lined Volvo could indeed be elegant. In Italy, Bertone took Wilsgaard’s design by the scraps and, to put it bluntly, tweaked it here and there for a two-door variant. The flanks became more subtle along the entire length, by lowering the hood, window line and tailgate slightly. Although the Volvo 780 had the same wheelbase as its sedan brothers, it looked a lot slimmer. By the way, the collaboration between Volvo and Bertone did not exactly come out of the blue. Bertone had already built the predecessor of the 780, the Volvo 262C, which was entirely designed by Wilsgaard.

The 780 was not only designed, but also built in Italy. In 1987, this copy, spotted by AutoWeek forum member Afentoe, rolled out at Bertone in Turin. He then went straight to the Netherlands. In 1999 the car was bought by someone who became very attached to it, because he only parted with it after 23 years. The subsequent owner was done with it much earlier and handed over the keys to the current one last summer. Hopefully he can enjoy it longer. In any case, it seems that the 780 has been treated nicely in its almost 37 years of existence. However, the Volvo has probably stood still for a very long time, because the 780 was not inspected between 2003 and 2020. Fortunately, it has been on its way for a while now!