Volvo 480 Club Europe

My dad stumbeld across some old pics of a nice 480 cabrio, just tought i would share them

luuuuurvly!!! shluuurrp!

after wiping my chin of the drooool.....very nice...nice alloys, nie car, but im still unsure about it not havinf a roll bar!

rgrds
rob

i want those alloys

Really rare pics. Where have you found/taken them?

Milosz_480 wrote:Really rare pics. Where have you found/taken them?

These pictures are most probaly taken in Belgium (according to the number plates), at what I think was a cabrio meeting. The name next to the number plate is that of Volvo Coolman, a Volvo dealer in Knokke-Heist, a Belgian sea resort. I don't know if the car is still in Coolman's posession, though. I think to have seen one exactly like this at Volvo Vermant's, another Belgian Volvo dealer.

Milosz_480 wrote:Really rare pics. Where have you found/taken them?

My dad took them, i just scanned them in
No clue where he took them, must of been in belgium perhaps knokke as said above me.

looks sweet, need lowering though

I'd prob go up as far as £8-10k, bear in mind you would only ever see one of them!!
We'd probably all get outbid by Dragon though

I'd love one but at the mo couldn't go above £5k.........nice piccies thanks..xx

When I retire !! I want to develop a mod kit for target price max £2500, and I think it could be done for a lot less.

Key thing is does the 480 'need' a rollover bar for body stiffness. Not every saloon/coupe needs one but with the 480 monoqoque construction I guess there is a need for stiffening somewhere.

I have thought of a way of assessing this but no can do in current house. I need a triple garage with house attached.

From what I have read on here in the past there have been a few attempts to modify a standard 480 into a Cabrio, all of these projects as far as we know were abandoned because it was either costing to much or just wasn’t working out.

What you said about the roll bar, I think someone on here has said before the roll bar is a vital part of its structure

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Isn't the roll bar fitted in all 480's capable of doing this? I would have thought this provided a lot of the structure of the car anyhow, if this is the case can you remove the top so to speak without damaging it?

MGB_GT wrote:Isn't the roll bar fitted in all 480's capable of doing this?

What roll bar is that then?
Take your headlining out and see what I mean!-
There is a pressed steel bit to give the roof a little more rigidity, where the interior light is, but no actual "roll bar" to speak of, the bits that give the car strength in the event of a rollover are the roof edges and the a,b and c pillars.
In fact I'm not sure that the roll bar would infer any more rigity to the cabrio anyway, since you would need to brace from the top of the windscreen to the rear of the car to prevent prevent the scuttle shake, a T-bar, now is a possibility, but its not really a cabrio then.

T bar was another thought I had as per the Triumph Stag but I agree that detracts from the Cabrio bit but it does provide a load path to behind the doors.
Underfloor strengthening is aesthetically better but I understand increases weight disprortionatly to the stiffening achieved. The weak point is where the doors are, on my Spitfire there was a hook arrangement when the door shut to provide a tension load path through the door structure.
My initial thoughts were a twin tube structure, wrapped to look like some of the cabrio pictures. I think a roll over bar is the better option as it provides stiffness and people protection in one go.

Hmm, I always thought the 400 series had a roll bar or some kind of bar in the roof, hence you can't get a fully reclining sunroof. I remember my grandad wanting to fit an aftermarket one on his '93 440 and changing his mind when he was told that it would have to be cut to fit one? You learn something new everyday!

That would be the pressed steel bit they would have had to cut.. he would probably have found the roof went a bit "boingy" with that cut and the weight of a sunroof on it.

I've just bought a 480 ES brochure 'Design from the Future' circa 86 and it shows a thin single pressing across at the position of the light but double complex pressings across at the windscreen and tail gate.

It looks as if there is enough strength in the floor pan with the addition of a stiffener across the rear.

I have got some news about the shown volvo 480 cabrio!!! joehoe!

I send a email to COOLMAN BV en she send me this email back. first you can read the original email in dutch, than the email wil be translated to english:

M. Boonsta.



Wij hebben enkele jaren terug de Volvo 480 cabrio verkocht aan garage Vermant.

Waar de auto nu rijdt en/of hij nog rijdt zijn wij niet van op de hoogte.





Met vriendelijke groeten

Savina Coolman


and english:

dear mister boonstra,

some years ago we sold the volvo 480 cabrio to an other garage cald VERMANT.

we don't know of the car still runs and where it runs.

kind regards

savina coolman.