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Volvo VESC Concept

First Shown: 1972 Geneva Motor Show

Description: Advanced safety-feature test mule

Sales Pitch: “Demonstrating Volvo’s leadership in this important area (safety).”

Volvo VESC Concept

Details:

First shown at the 1972 Geneva Motor Show, the Volvo Experimental Safety Car (VESC) was a rolling testbed for a number of cutting-edge occupant-protection features. Among them:

Front and rear impact-absorbing bumpers

Front and rear energy-absorbing crush zones

Front-impact energy absorbing system which directed the engine under the cabin in the event of a collision

Side-impact beams

Four-wheel antilock disc brakes

Backup warning system

Front and rear airbags

Padded front seat backs

Door-anchored three-point front seatbelts

Rear-view camera

In the name of reduced engine emissions, the VESC was equipped with a fuel-injected engine and a catalytic converter, the latter to reduce NOx emissions.

Designed for surviving a frontal impact at speeds up to 80 kph (50 mph), the VESC was considerably larger than the production Volvo models of the day, but it was predictive of the 200 Series coupes, sedans, and wagons that would be introduced in Europe for the 1974 model year.

Volvo VESC Concept

CG Says:

Most impressive, perhaps, is that virtually every safety feature incorporated into the VESC way back in 1972 is now standard on every mainstream new car and truck. One of the features, side-impact-protection, wasn’t required by law in the U.S. until the 1994 model year–talk about your long-range planning.

I sort of miss the days of when Volvo took a style-be-damned attitude toward design, focusing instead on safety and space utilization. Seems the only feature from the VESC that never saw service in a production vehicle is the huge front-seatback cushions, and that’s probably a good thing.

Volvo VESC Concept

1988 Pontiac Bonneville SSE

By 1988, light-duty trucks—a category which includes pickups, minivans, and SUVs—accounted for roughly one third of new-vehicle sales. At the time, the popularity of trucks seemed scandalous to many in the automotive media, most whom wagged a stern figure at automakers, warning that a sudden surge in the price of gas would leave dealers with lots full of unsellable product.

And while a brief spike in gas prices around the turn of the 21^st Century did, briefly, suppress the public’s interest in SUVs and crossovers, three decades later “trucks” are selling better than ever. In fact, during the first two months of the COVID-19 shutdown, crossover sales accounted for as much as 80 percent of what sales there were during that time.

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Let’s return to 1988 and spend a little time with the sedans of the day. Collected here for you are 16 vintage print ads and one pretty entertaining TV commercial. If you remember spending time in one of these cars, tell us about it. The place to leave comments is down below.

More classic car ads