Volvo Caresto V8 Speedster Concept

[Vaigra]

Volvo Caresto V8 Speedster Concept

Hotrod with a Volvo heart

Leif Tufvesson is one of Sweden’s most skilled specialist car constructors, with many of his cars having received serious international acclaim. The hottest of them all right now is the new Caresto V8 Speedster, a mid-engined car with an ethanol powered Volvo V8 unit. With the advent of the V8 Speedster, the term Sport Rod has been born. The car will be given its premiere public outing at the SEMA show in Las Vegas.

Leif Tufvesson, who in 2004 won the prestigious “Hotrod of the year” award from Hotrod Magazine, now returns with a completely new car. Leif previously worked for the Volvo Concept Center, and for 6 years was responsible for the development department of the Swedish sports car manufacturer, Koenig. He has now started to construct and manufacture his own cars. His cars have won innumerable prizes over the years and, among others, have received a great deal of acclaim at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas – the largest exhibition platform for specialist car constructors in the world.

The latest project is a mid-engine Hotrod powered by a Volvo V8. The car is completely constructed in aluminum and carbon fiber with an advanced sports car chassis fitted with Öhlin shock absorbers. The question is whether or not this is a genuine Hot Rod that Leif has now built.

“Actually, it’s a sports car with a design idiom that is a further development of the classic Hotrod. Perhaps it could establish a new school of thought and coin the term Sport Rod. My idea was to build a car that was as much fun to drive as it was to look at. Road-holding characteristics have never been the hallmark of traditional Hotrods,” says Tufvessson.

The cars are designed with just this in mind – excellent road holding with an ideal 60/40 (back/front) weight distribution
The car is extraordinarily well built, with millimeter precision in every part of the bodywork. The leather interior is exquisitely crafted with a nostalgic retrospective feel. The steering wheel, instruments and gear selector come from Volvo, as does the V8 engine, the 6-speed automatic transmission and the car’s electrical system. The engine is tuned with the environment in mind, and has been converted to ethanol by Scandinavia’s leading car tuning company BSR.

Leif Tufvesson has built and designed the entire car himself, though he has taken advantage of his wide contact network of sub-contractors in terms of paint finish, interior fittings and CAD-milling. Everything else is manufactured and assembled in his workshop in the old brickworks outside Ängelholm in the south of Sweden.

It has taken Leif less than two years to build his SEMA display car and one similar to it, which is residing back home. The two cars are identical, though in different colors. Leif and his company, Caresto, a name also sported on the grill of the car, had two objectives when building the cars: “On one hand the aim is to sell the cars and it is my hope to build at least six examples of this particular model. On the other hand it is, in fact, for my own enjoyment’s sake, because I love building cars. It’s my hobby and at the same time, it’s my job.”

An interested buyer would have to be prepared to pay around 2.5 million Swedish kronor (approximately $338,000). But then, he would also have a tailor made and unique car, manufactured in extremely high-tech materials and with the high performance of an advanced sports car.
Many experts within the motoring world have praised Tufvesson for the high level of quality and attention to detail on his cars. The whole exterior and interior design has also received equal amounts of acclaim – an area where Leif has collaborated with car designer Per Gyllenspetz, who, with his 20 years of design experience, has guided the design.

A number of the car’s different components deserve special mention. The removable composite hardtop is a great example of Tufvesson’s craftsmanship. The three integrated rear-view cameras, the advanced techniques of the rear lights as well as the CAD-milled aluminum details such as wheel spindles, exhaust panel, interior details and the lamp housing for the Hella Xenon headlights. A detail such as the temperature controlled hood that opens automatically for additional cooling just shows how everything has been completely well thought through.

And finally, Tufvesson has also succeeded in producing an extremely inspiring exhaust note from Volvo’s new V8 engin. It sounds more racing than cruising, which is perhaps the hallmark of a real Sport Rod.

Technical specifications:

Chassis:
Custom built tubular-steel frame with front and rear sub-frames.
Suspension:
Front:
* Double A-arms of polished stainless steel.
* Öhlin’s coil over shock absorbers, mounted inboard.

Rear:
* Double A-arms of polished stainless steel.
* Öhlin’s coil over shock absorbers.

Body:
Hand crafted aluminium. Carbon composite.
Removable roof panel/hard top.

Engine:
Mid-mounted V8, 4.4 litres, Volvo B8444S.
Ethanol converted by BSR, Sweden

Power output:
* gasoline, 315 bhp at 5850 rpm.
* ethanol, 340 hp at 5850 rpm

Gearbox:
Six-speed Geartronic automatic transaxle with sequential manual shifting.

Brakes:
Anti-lock brake system. Brembo 4-pot callipers.
Ø 355 mm (14”) brake discs.
Wheels:
Colorado Custom Gunnison
Dimension front: 20 x 8.5”.
Dimension rear: 22 x 10”.

Tires:
BF Goodrich G-force
Front: 245/35/20
Rear: 295/45/22

Fuel tank:
Aluminium. Volume: 65 litres.

Curb weight:
1200 kg (2646 lbs).

[Vaigra]

Volvo Caresto V8 Speedster Concept #2

[lightweight]

Seems like Volvo is very keen on making hot-rod-esque concepts.

After the T6 concept that they showed last year, now they introduce this.

From what I understand they took the front sub-frame off one of their production cars and put it in the rear of this concept.

Volkswagen were playing around with this idea also, as they wanted to do this with the front sub-frame of the Polo. But they need to think carefully before they introduce a mid-engined VW with McPherson struts in the rear

EDIT: The car seems like a computer model to my eyes....

[Vaigra]

It's a genuine car. It's for sale, along with the T6 Roadster.

[henk4]

Originally Posted by lightweight

Seems like Volvo is very keen on making hot-rod-esque concepts.

Remember Volvo now belongs to Ford, hence we are now getting these sort of hideous contraptions

[lightweight]

Originally Posted by Vaigra

It's a genuine car. It's for sale, along with the T6 Roadster.

You mean that you can buy it?

I don't think so....

[Vaigra]

http://www.caresto.se/carsforsale.htm

[lightweight]

Originally Posted by Vaigra

http://www.caresto.se/carsforsale.htm

The cars are branded as Caresto. Are they sold by the Volvo brand? What is Caresto? An engineering partner of Volvo?

How can they sell this car? It was unveiled only yesterday...

[NSXType-R]

This reminds me so much of the Plymouth Prowler.

[Klemmel]

The Amazon in pic 4. is created by one of Christian von Koenigseggs co-workers. It's got a blown 2.5 liter Volvo 960 engine with about 600 HP.
The transmission is a Toyota Supra unit.

[Egg Nog]

Man, that is too cool. I love seeing companies like Volvo churn out original stuff like this

[carweb]

Originally Posted by lightweight

The cars are branded as Caresto. Are they sold by the Volvo brand? What is Caresto? An engineering partner of Volvo?

How can they sell this car? It was unveiled only yesterday...

If I remeber correctly, Caresto is a brand created by some guys who (previously) worked at the Volvo factory in Torslanda, Gothenburg. Nowadays they are only making special cars like these I think. They have nothing to do with Volvo in business, except for the SEMA show, as obvious. I believe the T6 Roadster was made just as a personal project in the first place, later Volvo got interested in it and decided to let it be shown in the Volvo stand at 2005 year's SEMA.

How they can sell it... Well, probably they are not giving the car away to the buyer 'til the show is over. But I don't know, I didn't even know they were for sale...

If I only had a little money...

Edit: How silly I am... All of the story is told in the first post... Meh.

[Mr.Tiv]

I like it. It's got those classic lines, but is thoroughly modern and very original. I am extremely impressed.

[Vindesh17]

Not bad but I bet you could build one for less.

[KonaGreen]

Originally Posted by carweb

If I remeber correctly, Caresto is a brand created by some guys who (previously) worked at the Volvo factory in Torslanda, Gothenburg. Nowadays they are only making special cars like these I think. They have nothing to do with Volvo in business, except for the SEMA show, as obvious. I believe the T6 Roadster was made just as a personal project in the first place, later Volvo got interested in it and decided to let it be shown in the Volvo stand at 2005 year's SEMA.

How they can sell it... Well, probably they are not giving the car away to the buyer 'til the show is over. But I don't know, I didn't even know they were for sale...

If I only had a little money...

Edit: How silly I am... All of the story is told in the first post... Meh.

I'm with this guy. IIRC this is the correct story.^