1980 Volvo 262C Bertone: Personal Luxury from Gothenburg

Have you ever been going about your day, running errands, driving around, and, all of a sudden, you see a rare classic car peeking around a corner or off in your peripheral vision? It’s a pretty good feeling, and it happened to me early last November.

As the 32 of you who read my columns likely remember, I have a soft spot for diecast model cars. And so it was I was just leaving a local, well-known national retail establishment with a couple of new dark green Matchbox ’75 Eldorado convertibles when I saw a rare piece of rolling stock behind the local Volvo dealer.

A Volvo 262C, to be precise. Now, I’ve known about these Broughamesque Volvos from a very early age. My parents drove Volvos in the ’80s (and still do today!) and had many 240s and 740s in my grade school years.

Part of the reason for that was Mike and Cathy Lundahl, who owned Lundahl Volvo in downtown Moline, were long-time friends of my folks. So one year in about 1986 or ’87 they gave me this great, hardbound coffee table book on Volvos from the ’20s to the ’80s.

And it was there that I first read about the 262C, which was built from 1978 to 1981. I’ve discussed its rather interesting genesis and development in an earlier column, but suffice it to say that once upon a time in the ’70s, Ford Motor Company bigwigs toured the Volvo Kalmar factory and brought their Continental Mark IVs with them.

Apparently many of the Volvo employees were smitten with the sheer opulence and low lines of the Marks, and Design decided they needed to do something like it. The result was this car. And while the cars were built by Bertone, the design was created by Volvo’s own Jan Wilsgaard.

Introduced in spring 1977 as a ’78 model, the 262C was naturally the flagship, produced in limited quantities by Bertone of Italy. Of course, the biggest difference was the chopped top with formal C-pillars. Said roof was 60mm (or 2.36 inches) lower than that of a standard 240 or 260, at 53.9 inches. Sedans had a height of 56.3 inches, wagons one of 57.5 inches.

According to Volvo, 6622 were built over four model years. When I saw our featured car, I knew it was at least a ’79–81 model, as the ’78s came only in silver with a black top and black leather, wore a different style of alloy wheels, and had the earlier rear end with flat rectangular taillights.

I was able to decode the VIN to ID it as a 1980 model, as 1979, ’80, and ’81 262Cs are virtually identical visually. All were powered by the “PRV” 2.8-liter V-6, so named because the engine was jointly developed by Peugeot, Renault, and Volvo, and used in all three of the manufacturers’ offerings.

Said engine had 130 hp at 5500 rpm (SAE figures), 153 lb-ft of torque at 2750 rpm, and an 8.8:1 compression ratio. The 262 had the same overall length and wheelbase of other 240 and 260 models—192.5 and 104 inches, respectively. It was really only the lower roof where they differed.

Mechanically and equipment-wise it was mostly the same as the 264 and 265, except for the different and much plusher leather seats, special door panels with elmwood trim, a power antenna, cruise control, and heated passenger seat (260s had a standard driver’s heated seat only). Sadly, no sunroof was available on the 262C—the lowered roof would have definitely compromised the already lower headroom. Though the 262C’s seats were lower in profile/height than those on regular 240s and 260s.

This car, however, had the new back end with wraparound taillights, 27-spoke light alloy wheels (my dad’s ’84 GL sedan had the same ones), and was painted in gold, which I believe was newly added that year, along with a black paint option.

Our featured car’s color, by the way, is Coronado Gold Metallic, per my 1980 Volvo brochure. And from the tag on the back of the car, was sold new in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

To say I was excited would have been a major understatement. I had only personally laid eyes on one other 262C, and it was way, way, way back in the ’80s.

Back then, Mom would take her wagon into Lundahl’s for service and, if it was summer vacation, of course us kids would go with. My younger brother and sister were pretty indifferent, but as you might expect, your car-crazed author compared the errand to a day at the park or swimming pool.

I think it was probably 1987 or ’88, because I seem to recall we were in Mom’s pastel yellow ’86 240DL wagon, which was traded for a wine red ’89 740GL wagon in early spring of 1989. Yes, I am about the only person in the family that remembers such things!

Anyway, we pulled into the service area, parked by the service counter, got out, and as Mom was talking to the service advisor, I spotted it: a showroom new ’78 262C, bright silver with black vinyl roof, chrome-plated crown emblems on the sail panels gleaming mellowly.

It pulled into a service bay and out of my life, for at that moment Mom herded us into the showroom to sit down and wait. And that was the last time I saw a 262C. Until November 2, 2024.

The funny thing is I had seen it, of a fashion. A few weeks before, I’d seen a Marketplace ad for a 262C and was surprised to see it was across the river, in Davenport. It even crossed my mind to contact the owner, not to buy but to see it up close and, of course, write it up.

And then, of course, I promptly forgot all about it. Until I saw it out of the corner of my eye at McLaughlin’s. You never saw a person park and jump out of the car so rapidly, ha!

Approximately 17 minutes and 42 pictures later, I wandered into the showroom to see what I could find out about it. My friend Brian wasn’t in that day, but I talked to the GM and found out it was a customer car in for service, not for sale. Oh well. I already have a 2004 Town Car that needs to hibernate in the garage every winter!

It was in pretty much new condition. Later when I got home, I checked the online ad to discover it had been sold. It’s likely the new owner took delivery then brought it over to the Volvo dealer to have a few things attended to—or maybe just an oil change. The car was super nice.

And as I recall, it was a bargain—the ask was $6500. A deal for such a gorgeous and luxurious classic Volvo! It was a thrill to see one up close.