Coloured headlight surrounds

[Themasteryeti]

I've seen a few pictures of 480's with coloured headlight surrounds like so
I was wondering if this was a factory option on some cars? It mostly seems to be red ones apart from a few with obvious custom paint jobs
Also if the wheel arch plastic covers were an optional extra as I haven't seen them before either!

[Jan_Berlin!]

This was my first 480 ES that I owned.
It was a 1988 model year.
red painted headlight panels from the factory.

[Alan 480]

Also if the wheel arch plastic covers were an optional extra as I haven't seen them before either!

nae idea, but it would be good if they also did ones for the rear , fronts are OK as can easily remove the wing, not so the rear

[Themasteryeti]

This was my first 480 ES that I owned.
It was a 1988 model year.
red painted headlight panels from the factory.

Lovely looking car that! Once again a red one though! I do wonder if any other colour cars did

[Themasteryeti]

Also if the wheel arch plastic covers were an optional extra as I haven't seen them before either!

nae idea, but it would be good if they also did ones for the rear , fronts are OK as can easily remove the wing, not so the rear

This car had both!
No information about them tho, found them on a old for sale post

[WillC9303]

Painted headlight surrounds were standard on all models until 1989 when they were dropped in favour of black unpainted ones (due to cost-cutting by Volvo). Lots of other things were taken out of the cars such as the under-bonnet dome light, footwell courtesy lights and second rear fog light to name but a few.

The arch protectors are aftermarket addons and were never offered by Volvo.

[Alan 480]

The arch protectors are aftermarket addons and were never offered by Volvo.

Ah, never seen them before, I'll need to do some 'hunting' for next year.....

[Themasteryeti]

Painted headlight surrounds were standard on all models until 1989 when they were dropped in favour of black unpainted ones (due to cost-cutting by Volvo). Lots of other things were taken out of the cars such as the under-bonnet dome light, footwell courtesy lights and second rear fog light to name but a few.

The arch protectors are aftermarket addons and were never offered by Volvo.

Interesting to know, learn something new every day!

[jamescarruthers]

Painted headlight surrounds were standard on all models until 1989 when they were dropped in favour of black unpainted ones (due to cost-cutting by Volvo). Lots of other things were taken out of the cars such as the under-bonnet dome light, footwell courtesy lights and second rear fog light to name but a few.

The arch protectors are aftermarket addons and were never offered by Volvo.

Some colours continued with painted pop up headlight surrounds throughout production, I think. Weirdly, it may have just been the black cars.

[Themasteryeti]

Painted headlight surrounds were standard on all models until 1989 when they were dropped in favour of black unpainted ones (due to cost-cutting by Volvo). Lots of other things were taken out of the cars such as the under-bonnet dome light, footwell courtesy lights and second rear fog light to name but a few.

The arch protectors are aftermarket addons and were never offered by Volvo.

Some colours continued with painted pop up headlight surrounds throughout production, I think. Weirdly, it may have just been the black cars.

[Martin63]

second rear fog light to name but a few.

Weren't these retained, just never connected?

I have them on both my 1994 GT and ES

[WillC9303]

second rear fog light to name but a few.

Weren't these retained, just never connected?

I have them on both my 1994 GT and ES

Yep, the lens/housing was retained, but was never wired up making it just a dummy.

[Martin63]

second rear fog light to name but a few.

Weren't these retained, just never connected?

I have them on both my 1994 GT and ES

Yep, the lens/housing was retained, but was never wired up making it just a dummy.

How poor must Volvo's finances have been at the time to necessitate that?!

[dragonflyjewels]

The dummy foglight also had no bulb holder.
Talking to my brother, who was a senior design draughtsman at the Cowley works, all car manufacturers will remove the smallest items, including washers on nuts and bolts if they can. Seems really penny pinching, but then they need enough for hundreds of thousands of cars.

[Martin63]

The dummy foglight also had no bulb holder.
Talking to my brother, who was a senior design draughtsman at the Cowley works, all car manufacturers will remove the smallest items, including washers on nuts and bolts if they can. Seems really penny pinching, but then they need enough for hundreds of thousands of cars.

True - the economies of scale

[Baxter]

To add context, the Fiat Punto, the most selling car of its segment in EU at that time was produced 3.000 units every day. So any little penny was multiply for 3.000 every day.