20 years 480

Here you can talk about the joy owning a Volvo 480 brings. Non-technical discussions take place here, like what is the difference between an ES and a S version.

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Ettore Bugatti
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20 years 480

Post by Ettore Bugatti » Wed Oct 26, 2005 1:31 pm

This month it is 20 years that the Volvo 480 was anounced in the press.
Two models now celebrating their 20th birthdays are the Volvo 780 and the Volvo 480. First of the two to be unveiled in 1985 – at the Geneva Motor Show that March – was the two-door Volvo 780. Like the earlier Volvo 262C coupé, it was styled by Bertone. It had genuine wood panelling, hand-stitched leather seats and many other luxury features as standard. Most of the 8,518 Volvo 780s built between 1985 and 1990 had the 2.8-litre V6 engine. The Volvo 780 is already cherished as a true Volvo classic.

The second Volvo Cars launch in 1985 came in the autumn. This was the sporty four-seater Volvo 480, the company’s first front-wheel-drive model. Built in the Netherlands, its excellent handling quickly impressed the motoring public. Drawing on the heritage of the legendary 1800ES, its styling was a taste of things to come in the medium-sized Volvo range. Derived from the same platform in later years were the Volvo 440 hatchback and 460 saloon. A total of 76,375 units of the Volvo 480 were made between 1985 and 1995.
http://www.volvocars.com/_Tier2/NewsEve ... elease.htm
Volvo 480 ES, chassis 283, dec 1999-aug 2005
Nissan Micra 1.0 Nismo, feb 2006-
Rover Mini 1000, june 2009-
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martinholmesuk
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Post by martinholmesuk » Wed Oct 26, 2005 3:08 pm

I have model number 73,210

:rofl: I might have to get a badge made up for that,
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storm480
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Post by storm480 » Wed Oct 26, 2005 9:59 pm

76,375??? how come I've got 86,425??? :?

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- '95 480 S 2.0i (FULL options...)
- '00 S80 T6 (POWERRRRRR...)

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Brasco
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Post by Brasco » Wed Oct 26, 2005 10:06 pm

did they stamp 480's seperate from the rest of the 400 series?
:?
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v302/Brasco480/myelan3.jpg[/img][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v302/Brasco480/SV400024rip-1.jpg[/img][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v302/Brasco480/fc85e36c.jpg[/img][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v302/Brasco480/SV400044-1.jpg[/img]

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storm480
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Post by storm480 » Wed Oct 26, 2005 10:08 pm

The 440 and 460 have a totally different key...e.g. the serial number starts with 6..... (that's my 440 anyway)
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Post by Brasco » Wed Oct 26, 2005 10:11 pm

To be honest, I thought they'd sold about 80K in the UK alone...
Something isn't right.
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v302/Brasco480/myelan3.jpg[/img][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v302/Brasco480/SV400024rip-1.jpg[/img][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v302/Brasco480/fc85e36c.jpg[/img][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v302/Brasco480/SV400044-1.jpg[/img]

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storm480
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Post by storm480 » Wed Oct 26, 2005 10:28 pm

according to the book they produced a total of 80,464. So 76,375 cant be right...
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Ettore Bugatti
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Post by Ettore Bugatti » Wed Oct 26, 2005 11:08 pm

Which book? I have several production numbers. Also 76,465 besides 76,375 and 80,463 and 86,425.
The problem is that Volvo didn´t use all the ch.nr´s.
So perhaps even Volvo dont know how many there were made. (or they dont want to know :lol:)
Volvo 480 ES, chassis 283, dec 1999-aug 2005
Nissan Micra 1.0 Nismo, feb 2006-
Rover Mini 1000, june 2009-
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Ally
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Post by Ally » Thu Oct 27, 2005 8:34 am

Perhaps when they made revisions they started the chassis nos. from a round number skipping a few thousand here and there in the process...

Surely the factory would know how many went out the door... :dunno:
Fred - 1995 480 2.0i ES - Dark Green Metallic (106,000 miles)
Dave - 1993 480 2.0i ES - Steel Grey Metallic (148,000 miles)

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coyote1980
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Post by coyote1980 » Thu Oct 27, 2005 8:47 am

Keep in mind that also cars that were not up to Volvo standard already had a body-number. And that cars that got used for crash-testing, prototyping etc. also had these numbers. It's not that weird that the chassisnumbers go beyond 90.000 :)
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Ettore Bugatti
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Post by Ettore Bugatti » Thu Oct 27, 2005 11:06 am

Ally wrote:Perhaps when they made revisions they started the chassis nos. from a round number skipping a few thousand here and there in the process...

Surely the factory would know how many went out the door... :dunno:
That's true for example the facelift start at a round number. In fact all modelyears started at a round number. So not all numbers are used and some numbers weren't sold as Coyote said.

BTW The volvo 480 register quotes 594018 for the last ch.nr.

well all 480's after ch.nr 283 aren't interesting.... :lol:
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V
Volvo 480 ES, chassis 283, dec 1999-aug 2005
Nissan Micra 1.0 Nismo, feb 2006-
Rover Mini 1000, june 2009-
Peugeot 106 1.4 Roland Garros, oct 2011-

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storm480
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Post by storm480 » Thu Oct 27, 2005 12:13 pm

I got the numbers from "Volvo cars 1927-2001"...
But if the last serial nr was 594018, and you mention a total of 76375... that means 17643 cars didn't make it to the dealer ??? unbelievable. that's a waste of abt 400 mln euro's....I don't think so.

Somewhere along the way they must have skipped a few nrs :dunno:

Could be an interesting study to dig it all up...

Grtzz erwin
Storm by name, Storm by nature...
- '95 480 S 2.0i (FULL options...)
- '00 S80 T6 (POWERRRRRR...)

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.

Post by catgroom » Thu Oct 27, 2005 12:33 pm

When I enquired as to numbers sold by Volvo to the UK,I was told a total of 22000 units for the 480.

Only 749 Autos whether S/ES/Turbo/Celeb/GT were ever sold here,which I must say I was shocked/dubious about.

:hopping:
I'm No Longer Here :(

http://www.volvo-480-europe.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=34359&start=20

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Ettore Bugatti
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Post by Ettore Bugatti » Thu Oct 27, 2005 3:07 pm

storm480 wrote:I got the numbers from "Volvo cars 1927-2001"...
But if the last serial nr was 594018, and you mention a total of 76375... that means 17643 cars didn't make it to the dealer ??? unbelievable. that's a waste of abt 400 mln euro's....I don't think so.

Somewhere along the way they must have skipped a few nrs :dunno:

Could be an interesting study to dig it all up...

Grtzz erwin
Sorry if I wasn't clear, but what I meant to say was this:
for example Volvo made 400 cars in year A starting with number 1. They sold 380 of it and the rest they used for other purposes. Then for year B they start with number 500 etc.

So yes, they did skip numbers and yes, they didnt sell all the numbers they made.

However finding this out would be very hard. I asked several Volvo NL about subjects in the history and allways they said they sisn't have the data anymore.

Remember the claims for 76,375 and 86,425 (if the "Volvo cars 1927-2001" was written by Volvo) are from Volvo themselves
Volvo 480 ES, chassis 283, dec 1999-aug 2005
Nissan Micra 1.0 Nismo, feb 2006-
Rover Mini 1000, june 2009-
Peugeot 106 1.4 Roland Garros, oct 2011-

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coyote1980
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Post by coyote1980 » Sun Oct 30, 2005 7:44 pm

Ettore Bugatti wrote:However finding this out would be very hard. I asked several Volvo NL about subjects in the history and allways they said they sisn't have the data anymore.
:lol:

That's the easy way out for Volvo :D Of course they have the data, just like they have the schematics to build a Cabrio, but they will say it has all vanished into thin air :)
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