Description
A rare Bertone-built 262C — cream over a tan padded roof — extensively and expensively upgraded rather than left standard.
Honest and important: this is not numbers-matching, by design. The troublesome original PRV V6 has been replaced with a fully rebuilt Volvo red block turbo on a custom-mapped ECU, producing around 300 bhp, paired with a fully rebuilt automatic transmission. Front-mounted intercooler, silicone pipework — the expensive gremlins these cars are known for have been engineered out.
The interior has been completely retrimmed in top-grade leather to the original quilted pattern, with custom wood veneer throughout — dash, door cappings, console and steering wheel — plus a McIntosh sound system.
This is a US-market car, hence left-hand drive and the mph instruments. The odometer reads 126, 536 miles; as with most cars of this age the mileage is unwarranted — and with the engine and transmission fully rebuilt it matters less than it would on an untouched car. Barely 3, 000 miles covered since the rebuild. The speedometer reads slightly out following the transmission work.
Declared upfront: the car was stripped and repainted around 15 years ago and has held up well, but a small spot of corrosion has recently come through on the corner of a front wing — a bolt-on panel on these cars, so a straightforward repair rather than structural work.
A rare, characterful coupé best suited to an enthusiast who will appreciate what has been done. Viewing welcome.
Nothing else on the road looks like a 262C. While the rest of the 200-series stayed square and sensible, Volvo sent the two-door shell to Bertone in Italy, who chopped the roof, added the padded landau top and trimmed the cabin like a club lounge. The result is part Swedish, part Italian, part American cruiser — and entirely its own thing. People who know it light up; everyone else just asks what it is.
Inside it delivers: deep quilted leather, custom wood veneer on the dash, doors and console, a wood-rimmed wheel and that low coupé roofline. It feels special in a way modern cars have forgotten.
The clever part is under the bonnet. The original fragile PRV V6 is long gone, replaced with Volvo's bulletproof red block — turbocharged, custom-mapped ECU, front-mounted intercooler, around 300 bhp. So you get the rarity and the looks of a 70s Bertone coupé with the reliability and turbo shove of the engine the Volvo world actually trusts. The head-turning rarity, without the V6 headaches that scare buyers off these cars.
Only 6, 622 were built and production ended in 1981; few survive — especially in the UK, and especially set up like this.
