The co-founder of Volvo went to Glasspar to get fiberglass bodies for his 1956 Volvo Sport, but only 71 were made, as they weren't good Volvos. Thanks Doug!

They started with PV444 components — engine in B14A tune, three-speed transmission, Spicer-built rear axle and its front and rear coil-spring suspensions. Parallel-wishbone suspension was used at the front while the live rear axle was guided by radius arms and a Panhard rod. The drum brakes were the same as those used by Studebaker, with 123 square inches of lining area, more than enough for such a light car.

The Sport made the auto-show rounds in 1956, starting again with Brussels in January. A red car with gray hardtop was shown in New York’s Coliseum from 28 April to 6 May. An Earls Court, London, appearance was scheduled in the autumn. To spur export sales, three of the first cars made were sent to Argentina and Venezuela, while others went to Portugal, Morocco, and Belgium. Contradicting the intent declared at the launch, most of the forty-four cars produced in 1956 were sold in Sweden, closer to home where their inevitable faults could be dealt with more easily.

With production continuing in the first quarter of 1957, nineteen Sports were made in March, suggesting an annual rate of better than two hundred cars. Slowly but surely, it seemed to be finding a market with virtually all the production now going to America. An important “sale” was the allocation of chassis No. 49 on 2 April to Gunnar Engellau. With the car’s number matching his age, trained engineer Engellau had been running Volvo’s aero-engine joint venture with Saab for thirteen years before being tapped to take over the vehicle company on Gabrielsson’s retirement.

Engellau was unimpressed by the Sport. “I drove it one weekend for 450 miles,” he told author Gladys Nicol, “and I thought the doors would fall off, and it was noisy and I didn’t like the wheels, and in any case we were losing huge sums on each car we made.” In one of his first management decisions, he said, “That car was one of the first things I destroyed. I killed that car!” Engellau directed that it be phased out as soon as possible. The last Sport left Gothenburg on 21 May, California-bound.

That concluded the Volvo Sport story, with sixty-seven production cars built in addition to the three prototypes and Glasspar’s concept car. “It was a failure, more or less,” reflected engineer Raymond Eknor, “and it was intended to be.” The Sport had been an experiment in fiberglass. By definition, not every experiment can succeed.

https://www.collierautomedia.com/plastic-fantastic-volvos-sport