Over the past few months, Alen has brought us all the goodies from the two biggest events on the Scandinavian car enthusiast calendar: Summer festival of the tram in Mantorp Park in Sweden, and most recently, Main event of the tram at Rudskogen Motorsenter in Norway.
There are still some great car stories to come from these events, but before we dive into those in the coming weeks, for this week’s throwback post we’re going back 10 years and checking out a very cool Gatebil Volvo that Dino photographed 10 years ago.
2014 function
Like some strange people, I have always been drawn to strange cars. Cars that stood out for one reason or another, whether it was their design, innovation, quirky mechanical solutions or in some cases – just plain ugliness. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and that applies here too.
As a car manufacturer, Volvo has never really attached much importance to beauty. Their cars have always focused on functionality and safety, in the same way that, for example, an Italian car can be attractive because of its emotional design or a German car because of its driving dynamics.
The angular designs that defined them in the 80s were far from pleasant to look at. It’s as if their designers were told to abandon imagination, character and emotion, and concentrate on making strong, safe and reliable cars. They undoubtedly succeeded in their aims, the series of angular cars that followed always shining with their tank-like build quality.
But every now and then, the Volvo design studio, drained of creativity, was given permission to produce the most un-Volvo-like car possible. Or I guess that’s how the story went. Which is why we got cars like the 242 coupe, which looked every bit as boxy and, dare I say it, boring as its four-door counterpart, but which still had something special about it. Maybe it’s the undeniable coolness of the two-door coupe shape, where even a car that looks like it was designed by a bored five-year-old with a crayon can suddenly acquire a certain flair when it’s rid of its rear doors and given a more flowing roofline. Of course, there was also the 262C Bertone coupe, but I always found that to be the wrong kind of ugly.
Fast forward 30+ years and it’s no surprise that the 242 coupe still has a fair number of admirers. This is especially true in Scandinavia, where I found this particular, freshly built ‘rock’ sitting unsuspectingly in the dusty gravel area of the Gatebil Rudskogen 2014 paddock.
There are always a few of these cars around Gatebil in various stages of setup, but there was something special that made this Swedish project stand out to me. It looked far too clean – spotless even – to stand out among the overused drift and grip cars we usually associate with these types of events. There were too many telltale signs that a lot of time had been spent on this car. A quick glance through the windscreen revealed the kind of roll cage piping and gussets that wouldn’t look out of place on a rally car.
It even came with a TAKATA Racing x Speedhunters tow strap – an essential accessory for any serious performance build.
As owner Jesper Andersson lifted the carbon fiber hood, I expected a Volvo five-cylinder or even Toyota’s venerable 2JZ – an engine that seems to be in every second car in Scandinavia. But nothing could have prepared me for what I was presented with…
We’re only talking a few more cylinders this time around, and a BMW E60 M5 V10 seems like the perfect continuation. If you’re like me, you’re probably wondering how an idea like this could possibly become a reality. But as Jesper explained to me, this engine was never meant to fit into a 242. After extracting the V10 from a burned-out M5 found in a junkyard, Jesper planned to install it into an E46 to create a cool, different type of drift car. But when he saw an ad for the Volvo, well, light bulbs must have gone off in his head.
And so it all began. Once we had found a suitable ‘brick’ base, it wasn’t so much a case of trying to cram the engine into the chassis and see what happened, but rather looking at the whole thing and figuring out how to make the modifications that wouldn’t make the car just another engine swap project from Scandinavia. That meant a complete strip down and lots of measuring and planning to get the big 5.0L V10 to sit just right. And that’s without even getting into the preparation of the chassis to handle 500bhp and the abuse it would be subjected to on the track.
In addition to the bracing modifications that Jesper made, Sellholm Tuning also took care of the production of custom-made front suspension towers and fitted them with fully adjustable camber/caster plates from MK Motorsport.
After the chassis was prepared and freshly sprayed in a few coats of Audi Daytona Silver, the engine was tested with all its ancillary components, checked for clearance and then fitted into place. It only takes one look to see that attention to detail was a high priority here, everything is neatly laid out with presentation in mind. The radiator shroud is a great example.
The V10 sits so perfectly in the engine bay. The two intakes, stripped of their airflow meters and extended downwards in front of the wheel arches, breathe through a pair of foam filters. As Jesper said, the Kōhler Racing Tornado ECU hooked up to control the BMW engine runs exclusively on the throttle position sensors, so far without any problems. Jesper plans to drive his car hard, but that won’t be until he’s done with car shows where he’s already doing a good job of taking home one award after another.
Driving to the rear wheels is a Getrag BMW E39 6-speed manual transmission mated to a beefier Volvo 1988 axle. The rear receives even more suspension work than the front, with Jesper fabricating a four-link setup around the Torsen-equipped Volvo axle. Unlike the front, which uses Bilstein shock absorbers, the bespoke rear suspension towers are mated to GAZ coil springs.
The almost stock exterior doesn’t give much away, except at the very rear, where a sly pair of downswept, centrally mounted exhaust pipes look shy. Unmuffled V10? Oh yes, please!
Aside from the dark silver paint, the only real change to the exterior was the removal of the black plastic trim that ran the length of the car, leaving only the metal crease it was mounted to, which gives a slightly cleaner feel.
At the front, behind the wheels, sit 6-pot 997 Porsche GT3 brake calipers mated to cross-drilled and grooved rotors. They’re a very important addition because, in addition to the substantial increase in power, there’s now more weight over the front wheels, despite the V10 engine being made entirely of aluminum.
The rear is anchored by BMW four-piston brake calipers, which are painted red to match the Porsche calipers up front.
All the heavy glass the Volvo was fitted with has been replaced with Lexan windows. Given the construction of the rest of the car, this glass was probably bulletproof and triple glazed.
The modified rear end meant that the standard fuel tank was eliminated. In its place, a racing fuel cell now takes center stage in the trunk. Braided fuel lines connect to the expansion tank and the external Bosch pump that keeps the thirsty 5.0L engine topped up with fuel. And just like the engine bay, everything is neatly laid out.
The extensive work that has gone into the Volvo is apparent as soon as you look into the cabin. The driver and passenger are safely enclosed by a serious multi-point roll cage with pleated door cross-members.
While the square dashboard remains, it has been stripped of analogue instrumentation and capped off with a glossy carbon panel housing a Racetech LCD data logger. It’s all very minimalist and very driver-focused – exactly as you’d expect a proper race car to be laid out.
The gear lever and the hydraulic handbrake emphasize this even more. Both high levers are at steering wheel height, so they are easy to reach.
Amidst all that complexity of bars are a pair of Sparco fixed-back bucket seats. These are a popular seat choice in Europe and can be found in many of the Gatebil cars we’ve featured.
These are paired with the new generation black TAKATA Racing harnesses – another essential addition, especially if you use the tow straps!
By placing the camera behind the seats, it was possible to see the aforementioned rear suspension towers, which as you can see are set further inboard than the usual standard position. These have been further reinforced with a fixed strut tower brace to further stiffen the fully prepared chassis.
With the constant bombardment of insane builds coming out of Scandinavia over the past few months, you almost start to dismiss these cars as the norm. Call it the Gatebil Effect if you will. But take a step back and you realize that we’ve been looking at some of the most evocative custom cars on the planet. It’s hard to get tired of this kind of innovation and outside-the-box thinking.
The Speedhunters
Instagram: speed hunters
Dino Dalle Carbonare
Instagram: dino_dalle_carbonare
dino@speedhunters.com