Admit it, you love this. We’re preparing to run a retrospective of Volvo in motorsports within the pages of Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car, and came across this archival photo, with a major assist from Volvo history keeper Claes Rydholm. In company folklore, this is the toughest Volvo competition sedan ever produced.
Volvo’s dealers in California teamed up to field this 142 two-door sedan in the Baja 500 and Baja 1000 races of 1972. The car, however, was actually built in Gothenburg, in the skunk works of Gunnar Andersson. The doors, hood and trunk lid were replaced with fiberglass pieces, and the brake lines were rerouted inside the 142’s body structure to protect them from being severed by flying rocks. The team of Ole Anderson and navigator soared their way to a class win and 10th overall in that year’s Baja 1000, in an environment where any Volvo is a rare sight.