An Early Volvo: ’58 Volvo 444

People who aren’t familiar with Volvo history joke about the styling –or lack of – of the 444/544 Volvo. It looks too much like a 3/4 size ’40 Ford they say. Well, they don’t know the Swedes. The Swedes are inspired by things around them. If you look at today’s Volvos, they are quite elegant, spare and dare I say, natural looking. Just like the Swedish countryside. I guess back in the ’50s they were influenced by American styling. But that was what they did back then. The 1st Volvo, the Jakob, looked like any other car from the period. Later, Volvo was inspired by the spacey American Kaiser when they created a prototype V-8 car called the Phillip (how did I remember that name) in the 50s. That doesn’t make them bad at making cars. Read More