OScar is a limited production sports car produced in

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establishe ...

from 1983 to 1986. The car was built by Ole Sommer, a prominent automobile importer and dealer.

Ole Sommer

Ole Sommer was a Danish importer of automobiles and car enthusiast. He found business success importing

Volvo The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...

Renault Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufacture ...

and Jaguar cars into Denmark. Sommer had an interest in producing a car in Denmark and in the 1970s built a few cars called Joker which were a type of beach buggy based on a Volvo 140. In the 1980s, Sommer set his sights on building a sports car. Sommer later established an automotive museum. He died in 2018.

OScar

The car was named OScar for "Ole Sommer car". Sommer imported

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cl ...

body shells based on the

AC Cobra The AC Cobra, sold in the United States as the Shelby Cobra and AC Shelby Cobra, is a sports car manufactured by British company AC Cars, with a Ford V8 engine. It was produced intermittently in both the United Kingdom and later the Unite ...

from BRA in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Unlike the multitude of other manufactures who created AC Cobra replicas or imitations, Sommer wanted to use

underpinnings. The car was built on a custom frame. The engines available were from Volvo: they were straight-four

turbocharged In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...

Redblocks of the B19 and B23 variety. Customers were offered the option of up-tuning the engine for more than the standard

horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are th ...

from the Volvo engine. OScar featured a Volvo front axle and steering assembly from a 140 and a rear axle from a

240 __NOTOC__ Year 240 ( CCXL) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sabinus and Venustus (or, less frequently, year 993 ''Ab u ...

. Electronic components were lifted from a 340. The transmission was a Volvo M46 four-speed. Remaining components were hand-made at Sommer's facility including the exceptionally large 70 liter fuel tank. Instrumentation was custom produced by

VDO VDO may refer to: * VDO (company), a German automotive parts producer * Vertical dimension of occlusion, in dentistry * Vincent D'Onofrio (born 1959), actor * Virtual Data Optimization, a feature of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 * Van Don Interna ...

in Germany. Sommer had envisaged a larger scale production than the 20 units that were produced. Automotive regulations, including

crash test A crash test is a form of destructive testing usually performed in order to ensure safe design standards in crashworthiness and crash compatibility for various modes of transportation (see automobile safety) or related systems and comp ...

ing, made it difficult to sell the car. Volvo also refused to let Sommer use his Volvo dealer network to sell the car.

References

{{reflist

External links

OScar enthusiast page
Car manufacturers of Denmark 1980s cars Roadsters Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of Denmark