Volvo is, or was, known for its sensible, four-door sedans and station wagons for college professors and others who wanted safe and practical vehicles. for those who are looking for something different from the brand, we give you this 1989 Volvo 780 Bertone Coupe. It’s posted here on craigslist in Clemson, South Carolina and they’re asking $4,000. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Pat L. for sending in this tip!
The company offers a different business model today, as with most vehicle manufacturers, offering an SUV-heavy (no pun intended) lineup. Two-door Volvos were different and are always fun to see today, at least for me. The Volvo 780 Bertone was designed by the famous Italian design house, Bertone, and they came in this one body style, but isn’t that enough?
The 780 Bertone was offered in the U.S. in 1987 and they would go away after 1990. The company made the 262C coupe – also a Bertone design – and before that, the P1800, so they weren’t exactly new to the two-door car world. The seller says that this one has been their “part-time car forever” and they say that it has been driven only 2,000 miles over the last five years. It has a total of 135,000 miles, which is hardly broken in for a Volvo.
The 780 Bertone was the ultimate in Volvo luxury, with birch burl woodgrain trim and leather-trimmed power seats. You can see that the driver’s seat needs some help as most of them do. That giant power seat box on the side of each seat is the equivalent of an Atari game system tacked onto the side of the seat, I can’t imagine anyone doing that now, but this was the mid-1970s. The back seat has room for two and it looks great back there.
The engine was powerful in its day, as Volvo’s 2.3-liter turbocharged inline-four with 175 horsepower and 187 lb-ft of torque. It’s backed up by a Volvo four-speed automatic transmission, which the seller says is excellent, but they don’t say how the engine runs. For hardly any money at all, you could have the ultimate in 1970s Volvo luxury. Have any of you owned a 780 Bertone?
I always liked the quirky side to Volvo and the mashup of Italian design and Volvo engineering and practicality lives up to this. Fortunately it has the red block engine and not the PRV option. What really would have been cool is if it got the heart of a Italian. I know how about the Maser bi-turbo V6? Just kidding but a Ferrari 308 engine would have been cool. Kind of what Lancia did with the Thema. Or maybe a 3.0 Busso engine.
Looks like they fixed the headroom issue. I had a 262 and had to scrunch down in the seat to drive. Sold it quickly.
I did have a gold 780 Bertone along with 5 other square Volvos at different times. Mine had a tu-tone tan and brown interior and that sold me on it. It was however very used and had the V6 that smoked. I hit a deer with it and body replacement parts are hard to find and expensive, so it was deemed a total loss.
Scotty,you jumped from 1989 to the 1970s (Atari sized controls). Regardless, I have owned two of these over the years. If your taste is sharp lines, this is one of the most beautiful cars ever designed. This one has the preferred drivetrain. The V6 was an absolute pig (owned both). Only wierd thing about the 780 was it had a shudder in the drivetrain (both the turbo and V6) when accelerating. I think it came from the driveshaft. Fantastic road cars and opulent for their time.
I had a 87 long ago while serving as a Volvo sales manager. Took it as a trade for a new S70 because It needed an engine wiring harness. My Volvo rep goodwill warrantied it for me. It was a beautiful, wonderfully driving car, but even then the parts were ridiculously priced and hard to find. The 7 series offset pedals eventually aggravated my bad knee and I sold it to one of the salespeople.
Worked at the Volvo dealer when these came out, they were pretty special, rare and expensive. Just needs a 5.0 H.O. and a 5 speed.
Now a 5.0 (or LS) and a 5 or 6 sp would definitely make the 780 the perfect daily driver!
I knew that was coming….
I have one of these with the 5.0 and five-speed Ford option. One absolute beast of a road car!
How difficult are parts replacement for the unique 780 body, etc.?
You can find them on eBay and other places. I have dismantled a couple cars and saved the unique sheet metal and trim for future “Just-in-case” use. You will never find any of it on the industry market. Best path is to buy a car cheaply with a torched engine (usually the PRV) and keep it for spares, provided you have the space for it.
Engine replacement? Huh..well I haven’t driven one of these but have owned the wagon with the turbo. Even in the (assumed) heavier car, there were a few times such as long sweeping on-ramps where the power was JUST right and you had the feeling that 1 more lb/ft of torque was going to break a wheel loose or at least widen your line to the point that your wheels might push off the outside of the pavement. And at high altitude? In Leadville CO a 5.0 Mustang was unable to get by the stodgy wagon. Put that power unit in the 2 door? Muscle car? No. Fun to drive? OH yeah..
If that 5.0 Mustang had a “puffer” it would have been a different story :)
I had a blue 89 with blue and dark blue interior with that Renault V6 that couldn’t get out of its own way. Then a black over black leathe ’91 which had a different badge on the trunk that said “coupe” all lower case letters. That one had the turbo and I changed the exhaust to stainless 2 3/4 inch pipe vs the factory 2 inch pipe and got rid of the resonator and the ridiculous curved rear pipe. That added about 20 hp to the turbo and then it was really quick. Great hand finished Italian leather seats. Very comfortable and about 26mpg on the hiway. Heavy car, but best looking Bertone Volvo ever made.
I am very familiar with how these are built, when these were new I did a $20K body repair on one that was hit hard in the back. I’m sure by the time the insurance company paid this and for three months of a Cadillac rental car they were probably sorry that they ever had it repaired. I will never forget the massive amount of spotwelds between the quarter panel and the rocker panel, easily over 100 on each side just in that area. These were really built like a tank, even more so than the 4 door.
The entire run was about 11,800 units my 89 had a serial number in the mid 6000’s and the 91 had a serial number in the low 11000’s. Didn’t have a drive train shudder and the factory muffler had a nice mellow tone with the wider diameter exhaust and without the resonator. Traded it for an s70 coupe. That interior was nice but the car rattled because it wasn’t hand built by Carozzeria Bertone hence all the weld points as mentioned above by Unbender. Since the 91 was the final year there was a signature plate in the console stack by Nuzzio Bertone himself. Even the taillight lenses were different than the 740 and 760.
GONE – and not too surprised.