The Volvo PV650 Series is an

automobile A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

manufactured by

Volvo The Volvo Group (; 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, distribution and sale of truck ...

between 1929 and 1937. The model name stand for PersonVagn ("passenger car"), 6 cylinders, 5 seats; the third digit indicates the version. __TOC__

PV650-652

Volvo had started planning for a larger successor for its first car, the ÖV4 in 1926, even before the little four-cylinder car was introduced. The Swedish car market was dominated by American manufacturers and Volvo needed a large six-cylinder car to be competitive. Volvo PV651 was introduced in April 1929. The new car had a stronger

chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of a manufactured object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...

to cope with the more powerful

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ge ...

. The bodywork was manufactured in the traditional way, with a wooden frame covered with steel plates. The 3010 cc DB engine was very robust and its

crankshaft A crankshaft is a mechanical component used in a reciprocating engine, piston engine to convert the reciprocating motion into rotational motion. The crankshaft is a rotating Shaft (mechanical engineering), shaft containing one or more crankpins, ...

was supported by seven

main bearing A main bearing is a bearing in a piston engine which holds the crankshaft in place and allows it to rotate within the engine block. The number of main bearings per engine varies between engines, often in accordance with the forces produced b ...

s. The

gearbox A transmission (also called a gearbox) is a mechanical device invented by Louis Renault (who founded Renault) which uses a gear set—two or more gears working together—to change the speed, direction of rotation, or torque multiplication/r ...

was a non-

synchromesh A manual transmission (MT), also known as manual gearbox, standard transmission (in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States), or stick shift (in the United States), is a multi-speed motor vehicle transmission system where gear changes ...

3-speed box. In the spring of 1930 the car was succeeded by the PV652, with modified interior and

dashboard A dashboard (also called dash, instrument panel or IP, or fascia) is a control panel (engineering), control panel set within the central console of a vehicle, boat, or cockpit of an aircraft or spacecraft. Usually located directly ahead of the ...

. The engine had a new

carburettor A carburetor (also spelled carburettor or carburetter) is a device used by a gasoline internal combustion engine to control and mix air and fuel entering the engine. The primary method of adding fuel to the intake air is through the Vent ...

but the main improvement was the introduction of

hydraulic brake A hydraulic brake is an arrangement of braking mechanism which uses brake fluid, typically containing glycol ethers or diethylene glycol, to transfer pressure from the controlling mechanism to the braking mechanism. History During 1904, Frederic ...

s. In 1931 the car got a 4-speed non-synchromesh gearbox. In January 1932 the PV652 was updated with the larger capacity 3366 cc EB engine and a new 3-speed gearbox with synchronized 2nd and 3rd gear. Volvo also built commercial chassis versions of the car. Most of them got light truck-,

ambulance An ambulance is a medically-equipped vehicle used to transport patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient during the transport. Ambulances are used to respond to ...

hearse A hearse () is a large vehicle, originally a horse carriage but later with the introduction of motor vehicles, a car, used to carry the body of a deceased person in a coffin to a funeral, wake, or graveside service. They range from deliberately ...

bodies, but a small number of the PV650 Series chassises were clothed in more flamboyant two-door open or closed bodies.

Versions

* PV650: 1929-34, 206 cars built, commercial chassis * PV651: 1929-30, mechanical brakes * PV652: 1930-33,

s Total production of PV651/652: 2,176 cars

PV653-655

In the autumn of 1933 the six-cylinder Volvo cars were updated with a new, stronger chassis with an X-shaped cross member support, smaller 17-inch rims and an all-steel body, without the wooden frame. The centre roof section was still covered with a leatherette insertion. The body had new fenders and the

windshield The windshield (American English and Canadian English) or windscreen (Commonwealth English) of an aircraft, car, bus, motorbike, truck, train, boat or streetcar is the front window, which provides visibility while protecting occupants from t ...

and radiator grille were slightly tilted to improve the

aerodynamics Aerodynamics () is the study of the motion of atmosphere of Earth, air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dynamics and its subfield of gas dynamics, and is an ...

. The mechanical parts were left unchanged. Volvo offered two versions: the PV653 base model and the PV654 de luxe model. The PV654 luxury equipment included an uprated interior, twin fender mounted

spare tire A spare tire (or stepney in some countries) is an additional tire (or tyre - see spelling differences) carried in a motor vehicle as a replacement for one that goes flat, has a blowout, or has another emergency. ''Spare tire'' is generally a ...

s, twin chrome plated horns and twin rear lights.

Versions

* PV653: 1933-34, 230 cars built, base model * PV654: 1933-34, 361 cars built, de luxe model * PV655: 1933-35, 62 cars built, commercial chassis

PV656-659

By 1935 the PV650 Series design looked quite old fashioned. The body was basically the same as in 1929. Still, Volvo updated the cars once more. The new PV658/PV659 got the larger capacity 3670 cc EC engine and a V-shaped radiator grille. The passenger cars were superseded by the

Volvo PV51 The Volvo PV51 is a car introduced by Volvo in December 1936. It was replaced by the mildly restyled PV53 in 1938. This car remained in production until the end of the Second World War. PV51-52 The Volvo cars were quite expensive compared to th ...

in 1936, while the commercial chassis version soldiered on for one more year.

Versions

* PV656: 1935-36, 16 cars built, commercial chassis * PV657: 1935-37, 55 cars built, commercial chassis with wheelbase * PV658: 1935-36, 301 cars built, base model * PV659: 1935-36, 170 cars built, de luxe model

Gallery

File:Autoseum 10 - Volvo.jpg, Rear view of 1931 Volvo 652 Sedan File:Volvo PV655 1933.jpg, 1933 Volvo PV655, one-off convertible body by Swedish coachbuilder Norrmalm File:Volvo PV655 Ambulance 1934.jpg, 1934 Volvo PV655 Ambulance File:Volvo PV657 Ambulance 001.jpg, 1937 Volvo PV657 Ambulance

References

*''Volvo Personvagnar-från 20-tal till 80-tal'' by Björn-Eric Lindh, 1984.

External links

Volvo Cars Heritage.Storvolvoklubben

Volvo 658 Swedish, Kuriren 27 May 2017
{{Early Volvo Cars timeline PV650 Series Rear-wheel-drive vehicles Cars introduced in 1929 1920s cars 1930s cars