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 VROM 2003
August 8th, 9th and 10th 2002 were the days VROM was held. A story by Daniël Wilten.
This year again VROM (Volvo Rendez-vous for Owners and Members) was organised.
Besides a lot of PV544, Duett and Amazon various Volvo 480 were present! Nice to see that the 480 is getting the
state it deserves: a classic! For me it was the third visit to VROM and I must say also the best.
Thursday, the day before VROM, somewhere in Holland the alarm went of at 4:44 AM. Time to get up, have breakfast, pack the 480 and set off to Sweden!
the trip went without any problems and accomodation had been booked. We entered Sweden over the Oresundbridge at 14:30 and
arrived in Göteborg at 18:00. When we arrived at the house we rented it was time to unpack the 480, have something to eat and
go to bed early...
The first day of VROM we gathered at the Volvo factory at 7:45 AM. Steadily more and more familiair faces showed up including a dutch Volvo 480 from Theo and Jelleke who
also visited our maymeeting this year. Some time later it would be our turn to surrender to
the animal part of the brain and terrorise Volvo's testtrack with the 21 almost brandnew Volvo's they had ready for us
Included were C70 convertable, V70, S60, S80, V40, S40 and XC90. Never driven a car with automatic gearbox before? Here's your chance. O, while you're at it,
why not take the T-5 engine right away. It was wonderful to drive those cars over the testtrack, I can hardly wait for VROM 2004!
Very nice to see that the people there had taken the effort to put obstacles on the track. Hey, I can make this curve doing 80 kmh,
let's see what happens with 100 kmh...
After we had abused a large part of the cars, I remember driving the C70 Cabrio, V70, S60, S40, V40 and XC90 (not sure about if I had an S80),
it was time to drive to the factory for a guided tour. We could see how big plates of steel were cut, pressed to shape, wellded together,
spraypainted (no, we couldn't see that sadly...), and fitted with all sorts of pieces of interiour. They were building V70, XC70 and XC90 at
the time. We couldn't take pictures inside...
But we did of course visit the Volvo museum. Even after three years it is still great to see the Volvo 480 Cabrio standing there! Like most of you
probably also would experience, it gives you the feeling that you have to build one yourself. I mean, see fo yourself
with these wonderful pictures:
In the evening we all gathered at Auto Collection, a car museum. Here all sorts of old racing cars were exhibited
in a nice scenery. Wall-paintings and audio gave each car a special atmosphere. Must say I liked the Volvo museum better,
but other great cars also deserve a good museum.
Before we walked through the museum, dinner was served. At our table for dinner we had the man who designed the Volvo Duett,
Volvos first estate! Earlier today he had given us a reading of what it was like in the fifties 1953 was the year the
Duett was launched.
Saturday was the second day of VROM, and traditionally also the Rally-day. We headed for Sätila where we should gather
for the meeting. On the way we noticed two red 480 standing at the side of the road. It was Paolo Boschi of the
Italian Volvo 480 club. They had taken a two-day journey all the way from Italy to attend VROM! We all drove to the rally start
together.
At the rally breakfast (bread and coffee) was waiting for us. Just what we needed. Not long after we arrived friends from the
dutch Volvo 300 club arrived. Only Walter left his 300 at home and turned up in his 850. The rally led us through a beautiful part
of Sweden, around lake Lygnevi.
Half the participants were given a route clockwise around the lake, the other half had to drive counterclockwise. So at the far end
of the lake we met each other again and had a long break.
At the end of the rally we had to answer questions and make some excersises, such as fishing for magnets with a fishing rod with a piece
of metal attached to it, or make a puzzle, throw with jeux-de-boules balls and midget-golf. At the end of the day prizes were
handed out to those who collected the most points that day. Guess who won the first prize in the category Volvo 480?
In the evening we went to the camp-site where our friends of the Volvo 300 club stayed. We had a BBQ with beer, dutch beer. We had a great evening.
The last day of the meeting was organised in the harbour, near the Volvo museum. There was a large parts market. Besides brochures
and a sticker not much was to be found for the Volvo 480. But... there was a 480 for sale:
My girlfriend was tempted, but we didn't buy her. Various prototypes of Volvos were exhibited. On of the funniest things to see was the Volvo Roadster,
but also an XC90 pickup version, the Volvo Safety Concept Car, S60-R and more. I also talked with Christer Nilsson of the Swedish 480 Klubben. VROM 2003 has
been a great event and I am sure I will be there again when VROM 2004 is organised!
For more info and pictures please visit www.vrom.org.
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Nedcar visit (Mar)
Chirton (Apr)
III Italy meet (May)
Ardennes (Jun)
Upland Treffen (Jun)
French meet (Aug)
