Volvo History Early Days (1924 - 1939)
Added on 05-09-2006
The word-for-word translation of Volvo is “I roll” for Latin.
In 1924 in the restaurant Sturehof in Stockholm, there was made a decision to establish Volvo by Assar Gabrielsson and Gustaf Larson on the 25th of July, in a day that in Swedish calendar named as the Jakob Day which became the day of Volvo history start.
The first passenger car “Volvo” was born on the 14th of April 1927, however, three years ago Assar Gabrielsson and Gustaf Larson tried to produce a car that adapted to Sweden road conditions and climate. In 1926 was produced a prototype with the financial help of the SFK company that used to produce the ball bearings. This first model initiated Volvo cars history as they are.
While constructing the prototype, Mass-Olle designer applied American methods. The car was equipped with the 1900 cc 4-cylinders engine and finger-hole. Under the name of OV-4 it was offered with an open body type and PV-4 was a sedan.
1927
On the 14 of April 1927, the first mass-produced automobile OV4 (blandly named Jakob) rolled off a production line at the Volvo plant in Göteborg. It came as the first brick in building Volvo history. Since that day the epoch of the Swedish industrial history was started. Jakob was built according to the American design style; it had reliable chassis and independent suspension with long spring hanger from the front and from the rear. 4- Cylinder engine could reach the speed of 28 hp at 2,000 revs.
The car’s maximum speed was 90 km/h (56 m/h), however, Volvo was recommending to keep the speed of 60 km/h (37.2 m/h). The automobile had 20-inch artillery-type wheels made out of wooden spokes with demountable rims. Its open 5-seater 4 doors body was made out of sheet steel and rim from ash-tree and brazen beech. The body upholstery was made of leather.
The open body version valued at 4.800 SEK, saloon car version (PV4) valued at 5.800 SEK at the initial moment. In the first year of Volvo history the sales were low – nothing but 297 automobiles were sold. One of the main reasons of such a low sale was a very high quality standard requirement for the components delivery and the quality control by the manufacturers.
1928
The saloons attracted much more interest than the cabriolets, that’s why the primordial plan to produce 500 saloons and 500 cabriolets was rapidly reconsidered. Volvo special model has been introduced this year; it was elongated version of PV4 model with more elongated hood, smoothed torpedo line, more narrow windscreen cheeks, right-angled rear screen and bumper as a standard bundling. An installation of the front breaks equipment was carried out for the extra 200 SEK.
The first Type 1 truck has been produced this year in the Volvo plant. Several microbuses were constructed using Jakob chassis in 1927, and trucks production had being planned since 1926 when the first sketches were designed. A trucks ...
In 1924 in the restaurant Sturehof in Stockholm, there was made a decision to establish Volvo by Assar Gabrielsson and Gustaf Larson on the 25th of July, in a day that in Swedish calendar named as the Jakob Day which became the day of Volvo history start.
The first passenger car “Volvo” was born on the 14th of April 1927, however, three years ago Assar Gabrielsson and Gustaf Larson tried to produce a car that adapted to Sweden road conditions and climate. In 1926 was produced a prototype with the financial help of the SFK company that used to produce the ball bearings. This first model initiated Volvo cars history as they are. While constructing the prototype, Mass-Olle designer applied American methods. The car was equipped with the 1900 cc 4-cylinders engine and finger-hole. Under the name of OV-4 it was offered with an open body type and PV-4 was a sedan.
1927
On the 14 of April 1927, the first mass-produced automobile OV4 (blandly named Jakob) rolled off a production line at the Volvo plant in Göteborg. It came as the first brick in building Volvo history. Since that day the epoch of the Swedish industrial history was started. Jakob was built according to the American design style; it had reliable chassis and independent suspension with long spring hanger from the front and from the rear. 4- Cylinder engine could reach the speed of 28 hp at 2,000 revs.
The car’s maximum speed was 90 km/h (56 m/h), however, Volvo was recommending to keep the speed of 60 km/h (37.2 m/h). The automobile had 20-inch artillery-type wheels made out of wooden spokes with demountable rims. Its open 5-seater 4 doors body was made out of sheet steel and rim from ash-tree and brazen beech. The body upholstery was made of leather.
The open body version valued at 4.800 SEK, saloon car version (PV4) valued at 5.800 SEK at the initial moment. In the first year of Volvo history the sales were low – nothing but 297 automobiles were sold. One of the main reasons of such a low sale was a very high quality standard requirement for the components delivery and the quality control by the manufacturers.
1928
The saloons attracted much more interest than the cabriolets, that’s why the primordial plan to produce 500 saloons and 500 cabriolets was rapidly reconsidered. Volvo special model has been introduced this year; it was elongated version of PV4 model with more elongated hood, smoothed torpedo line, more narrow windscreen cheeks, right-angled rear screen and bumper as a standard bundling. An installation of the front breaks equipment was carried out for the extra 200 SEK.
The first Type 1 truck has been produced this year in the Volvo plant. Several microbuses were constructed using Jakob chassis in 1927, and trucks production had being planned since 1926 when the first sketches were designed. A trucks ...
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