A couple of weeks ago, The Bishop was working on a post about a kind of Volvo David Bowie owned, a 262C, that strange but wonderful chop-top boxy Volvo personal luxury coupé that may be the only Swedish car to have come from the factory with a vinyl top. In his research, he came across some old press photos of the Volvo. He showed me a studio shot of a golden 262C, a picture that included one strange detail. A detail that you might miss at a glance, but once you see it, it’s unignorable. There, in the back seat, looking calmly out the back window, sits a huge-ass Great Dane. Why?
I mean, adding a dog to pretty much anything outside of an operating theater is a good move, but in this case, it’s kind of baffling. First, it’s not like anyone went out of their way to make the dog more visible; it’s just there in the seat, not really well-lit, the reflections on the glass making it less than optimally clear.
It’s not emphasized in any way, with no attempts made to highlight the dog’s presence there at all. He’s just sitting there, patiently, maybe even a little glumly. Was this the photographer’s dog?
It’s not like the other press photos had some overarching canine theme: there’s not dog one to be found in any of the other contemporary pictures on Volvo’s media site:
In fact, looking at these thumbnails, you don’t even see the dog at all. And, as I said, every other one is dogless, including this one of the same car in front of a lawn that would have been perfect for a dog to romp on:
But, alas, no dog. And, really, why should there be a dog? If you want to take a dog in a Volvo, the 262C is possibly the worst Volvo you could choose, save perhaps for the P1800/1800S sports car, though even that one had a later shooting brake variant that would actually be pretty good for a dog. In fact, Volvo showed just this use in one of their brochures for the 1800ES:
But the 262C? No way. Pretty much any other Volvo of that era, late 1970s to early 1980s, would have been a better choice for dogs.
The wagon, of course, would be the ideal, but even the sedan has a roomy back seat, and the two-door sedan has tons more headroom for a big dog like a Great Dane than the 262C did. The 262C just makes no sense as a dog car! Look how it was advertised:
It’s a classy, luxurious automobile experience! Look a those tufted leather seats, and that snug, low roofline! Do you really want to shove almost 200 pounds of smelly dog in there, scratching up those butterscotch-leather seats and soaking the carpets in drool? No, of course not, you’re too classy! Bertone designed this car, not freaking Boots and Barkley!
If we scour the Volvo press website for other times dogs have come up in Volvo official press photos, the results are pretty limited and very predictable:
A few photos of dogs in the back of Volvo wagons, sometimes trapped behind an accessory luggage compartment divider thing. That’s about it!
Finally, I reached out to Volvo themselves to see if they had any idea of what the story was behind this mystery dog. Russel Datz, Volvo’s National Media Relations Manager attempted to find out the story, and reached out to Volvo’s headquarters in Sweden to see what they could find. Here’s what he told me:
“We have no idea what’s up with the dog.”
I appreciate the attempt, but that doesn’t really help. Was it the photographer’s dog? Was the dog the proud owner of the car? Did the factory have a Great Dane infestation? Was it the security system?
Truth is, we just don’t know. The Great Dane in the Volvo 262C Bertone Press Photo remains a glorious mystery.
This Volvo press photo captures attention with its mysterious charm, but what steals the spotlight is the colossal canine companion. The majestic dog adds an unexpected touch to the automotive scene. ???????? #Volvo #MysteryPhoto #TGMacro
I gotta assume the 262C has the same size backseat as a four dour 262 sedan right, just with worse entry/exit? I’ve ridden in the backs of 262s (sedans and wagons) and found them to be spacious and comfortable, capable of easily accommodating all but the very largest of canines.
Perhaps the inclusion of the Great Dane (and they are great IMO) w/o trumpeting the fact was simply a sort of humble brag to let prospective buyers know this coupe would also be a viable and roomy daily driver.
PS: a neighbor had a 262C (silver w/a black top) and I was always intrigued by it. Of course, despite walking my dog past it for years I’d never had the chance to strike up a conversation with him about it so sure enough, one day (years ago) it was suddenly gone, never to be seen again. Same thing happened with a Mercedes 190 2.3-16 another neighbor owned… I lusted after it for a while and then it’s no more. 🙁
I now try (whenever possible) to at least say ‘hi’ to folks and tell them I like their car/ask them questions/etc… just so they know I’m interested if they ever get around to selling. There’s a mid-70s diesel Mercedes coupe in shiny black (with perhaps a wee bit too much bling) down the hill where the owner has promised to call me first if/when he’s ever going to sell it (it’s his daily driver among a large and varied collection). I still remember to wave at him or give him the thumbs-up every time I pass by. 😉
PPS: here’s a 860HP Volvo 262 sporting a V8 humiliating a McLaren 570 spider in all but a standing start. Even if it only gets 10 MPG when not driven in (too much) anger, that wagon would make a fantastic daily driver. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjKhBcIWpCQ
An early prototype of trunk monkey?
Ghost dog?
Forest Whitaker wasn’t quite so jowly at that point.
The whole concept behind a shooting brake is to accommodate your shotguns and hounds when you’re bird hunting. Thus, the P1800ES is the perfect car for a trip across the countryside with Man’s Best Friend, firearms, and a sackful of
dead birdsdinner.Also, the proper place for said canine is riding shotgun, not sequestered in the back seat,
Is Volvo 240/260-series the only model in any makers range in which the coupe is the absolutely worst looking one? Like come on, I can’t think any else car maker butchering their coupe model like this.
I had an ’84? I think 240 2-door. While the 80’s 4-door is maybe the Platonic ideal Volvo, a car that looks almost the same front or back, almost perfectly proportioned, the coupe fucked all that proportionality up. And I liked it! At least until the master cylinder (I think) went and suddenly the lack of hydraulics made braking and steering become very very not fun.
At least Volvo had the decency to build 242s and 262s (like Eric’s, it sounds like!) that were just 244s but, with, well, two longer front doors, some fixed sheetmetal, flip-out (BMW/minivan-third-row style) rear side windows, unique door and rear interior panels, and front seats that flipped forward with the pull of a lever. That’s it – same windshield and rear window, same roof. None of this baroque nonsense.
(I have to admit that I sort of like the 262C as well, though, but only with a black interior.)
“Swedish style with Danish flair”
Maybe it was supposed to prominently feature a dog, but he wouldn’t cooperate. So they said “fuck it, leave him in the back if that’s where he wants to sit so bad”