14th Swiss Volvo Meeting with almost 1000 Volvo
90 YEARS OF VOLVO The two-day Swiss Volvo Meeting in Altishofen LU on August 26/27 was a complete success. Volvo owners and fans celebrated the 90th anniversary of the Swedish brand in style at the Galliker Transport AG site. With over 100 vehicles in the special show, around 600 participating vehicles over the two days and numerous car transporters [...]
With over 100 vehicles in the special show, around 600 participating vehicles over the two days and numerous car transporters with customer vehicles ready for unloading or preparation, a total of almost 1000 Volvos were on site.
Volvo in Switzerland and Galliker Transporte have a long history. Founded in 1918 as a haulage company with a horse and cart in the Lutherntal valley, Galliker grew steadily. As early as the mid-1960s, Galliker was importing cars and trucks from Sweden on its first own car transporters. A large part of the current Galliker vehicle fleet also consists of Volvo commercial vehicles. Today, Galliker imports vehicles into Switzerland for several car manufacturers and operates around 230 car transporters in Switzerland and Europe every day. Every brand-new Volvo that comes to Switzerland is imported by Galliker and reconditioned in Altishofen.
Almost complete Volvo range
The SVM organizers went to great lengths to offer enthusiasts a Swedish buffet of automotive delicacies never before seen in Switzerland to mark the anniversary. At the two special exhibitions, complemented by the participating vehicles in the parking lot, visitors were able to admire Volvos from practically every vintage between 1931 and 2017, including many rare and unique examples.
For example, the only Volvo with an Aston Martin engine: a P1800 reconstructed by a Swiss tuner with the original and only one of three engines still in existence, which the English sports car manufacturer tested in the Swedish racer at the time. Or the only P1900 in Switzerland, a beautiful, light blue convertible - instead of the planned first series of 300 units, only 67 of the fiberglass Volvo were built. And that was that. The frame was not rigid enough, the plastic body was not tight enough and the workmanship was not clean enough - the then Volvo managing director Gunnar Engellau stopped the 1957 project himself after a test weekend. Nevertheless, around 50 of these unusual cars with the "biggest hatch" of all Volvo convertibles still exist today.
Here to Caspar Türler's photo gallery with many special and unique Volvos between 1931 and 2017.
