Background
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It’s hard to imagine Volvo deciding that small cars were its future, but that’s exactly what it did it the early 1940s, thanks to the devastating effects of WW2. The Swedish firm knew that steel would be in short supply for years to come and that money would be tight, so it designed its first monocoque bodied car – the PV444.
This was make or break for Volvo, a firm which had previously concentrated on large cars with separate chassis, coach-built bodies and six cylinder engines. But there was only one basket, and Volvo’s eggs all went into it.
The need for a small car had been discussed at the company since the late ’30s. Volvo engineers Olle Schjolin and Carl Lindblom built a wooden mock-up of a small car with a rear-mounted engine known as the PV40, but it never reached production. However, a design by Helmer Petterson in 1943 was liked by the two Volvo-bosses Assar Gabrielsson and Gustaf Larsson, who took the brave step of putting the PV444 into showrooms. The name, incidentally, is said to mean four seater, four cylinders, and 40 horsepower, although the car’s replacement, the very similar PV544 throws a bit of a spanner in these works.
Engineers Erik Jern and Helmer Petterson proved themselves well ahead of the game when they discussed the possibilities of a front-wheel drive (inspired by the German DKW) layout for the 444, because they sensed more car companies would use the layout in the future. It was a bit of a false dawn though - there were doubts about the costs and complexities of building front wheel drive cars - so Volvo plumped for a conventional front engine, rear-wheel-drive floorpan.
As the PV444 was the first car Volvo had built without a separate chassis, the firm bought a 1939 Hanomag two-door saloon to study and learn from, as the German manufacturer had plenty of experience with unibody vehicles. But the 444’s looks drew inspiration from across the Atlantic, and despite the old fashioned looking split windscreen, both panes were laminated glass – a characteristically ground-breaking safety improvement at the time.
The PV444 gave way to the 544 in 1958, although it was essentially the same car with a slightly wider rear seat, a one-piece windscreen and minor design updates – a bit more of a facelift than a new model. The original 1300cc 444 engine had by now given way to a 1600cc unit, and the gearbox gained an extra cog with four forward speeds. By this time the car was looking seriously out-dated, especially bearing in mind that Volvo itself had launched the sleek new Amazon in 1956.
By the early 1960s the PV's looks were decidedly anachronistic but as Road & Track magazine in America said in November 1963, 'If the Volvo has a single most-attractive feature, it is sturdiness and overall quality. There is nothing slap-dash or flimsy anywhere on the car, and this is, in our opinion, more than enough to compensate for any lack of sheer glamour'.
In 1965 Joginder Singh won the East African Safari in a well-used PV with over 42,000 miles already on the clock, the same year the PV was finally laid to rest.
