There’s Something Very American About This Swedish Wagon

Turn up to a trackday in a Porsche 911 GT3 and everyone is going to expect you to put in some strong times. If you, however, are intrigued by the idea of giving a few of the Porsche fanboys a shock, you’re going to love this Volvo sleeper.

At first glance it looks nothing special – just a regular, slightly scruffy 1980s Volvo 740 wagon with a set of non-standard rims that seem kind of familiar. Wait, are those Corvette wheels? Yes, they are, and the hardware they’re bolted to, plus the hardware that makes them spin, is all Vette, too.

Related: Paul Newman’s Souped-Up Volvo Wagon Is A Corvette V8-Powered Sleeper

See, while the body certainly belongs to a 1990 Volvo 740 GLE wagon, the heart and soul of this custom trackday bruiser is 2004 Corvette. The engine, six-speed manual transmission, limited-slip differential, brakes and suspension all come from a C5 Vette.

You can probably imagine that this was no weekend swap. The “Volvette” build, which began in 2014, wasn’t completed until 18 months later, by which time the owner had sunk an estimated 1,900 hours and thousands of dollars into the project. The Corvette’s front and rear subframes needed modifying to fit the Volvo’s body and the torque tube required lengthening to work with the longer wheelbase.

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But those weren’t the only mods made to the 740, which is currently being auctioned on Bring a Trailer. The chassis gained QA1 coilovers and adjustable anti-roll bars and the 5.7-liter LS1, which was rated at 350 hp (355 PS) from the factory, was tuned with a roller cam, GenX heads and an Aviaid dry-sump lubrication system to keep it fully lubricated even in extreme trackday and autocross cornering situations.

The interior is strictly business, the air conditioning, radio and stock rear seats having been junked along with the original drivetrain. Instead you get C5 gauges, a fabricated transmission tunnel and full roll cage, although there are a pair of emergency foldaway seats in the back for kids with no fear.

This unlikely mashup of Volvo and Corvette parts looks like great fun, though its owner can’t claim to be the first to take on this kind of build. The late movie legend and accomplished racer Paul Newman also had a boxy Volvo wagon built with Corvette power.

Newman’s was a 1998 V90, but that stealthier car didn’t receive the full Corvette suspension swap. Instead, it relied on a mix of stock parts and, strangely, Porsche 911 components. The Hollywood star also stuffed a Buick GNX‘s turbocharged V6 into a 740 with similarly crazy results, because you can get up to so much mischief in a fast wagon.

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