The Duett is an

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...

from

Volvo The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...

that was in production from 1953 until 1969. The name ''Duett'' was intended to signify a car that could be used as a delivery vehicle during the week and as a comfortable sedan away from work. The Duett was produced in three body styles: an

estate car A station wagon ( US, also wagon) or estate car ( UK, also estate), is an automotive body-style variant of a sedan/saloon with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door ( ...

(or

station wagon A station wagon ( US, also wagon) or estate car ( UK, also estate), is an automotive body-style variant of a sedan/saloon with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door ( ...

), a

panel van A panel van, also known as a blind van, car-derived van (United Kingdom) or sedan delivery (United States), is a small cargo vehicle with a passenger car chassis, typically with a single front bench seat and no side windows behind the B-pillar. ...

, and, in small numbers, a bare chassis with no body from the windshield rearward.

Ladder frame design

The design is based on the

Volvo PV Volvo PV is a model name that Volvo used on a number of automobiles during the company's first forty years: * 1928-1929 Volvo PV4 * 1929-1936 Volvo PV650 Series * 1935-1938 Volvo PV36 * 1936-1945 Volvo PV51 Series * 1938-1958 Volvo PV800 Series ...

sedan and shares its engine and front suspension with that model. However, unlike the PV, which had a

unibody A vehicle frame, also historically known as its '' chassis'', is the main supporting structure of a motor vehicle to which all other components are attached, comparable to the skeleton of an organism. Until the 1930s, virtually every car ha ...

design and a

coil spring A selection of conical coil springs The most common type of spring is the coil spring, which is made out of a long piece of metal that is wound around itself. Coil springs were in use in Roman times, evidence of this can be found in bronze Fib ...

rear suspension, the Duett used a ladder frame with

leaf spring A leaf spring is a simple form of spring commonly used for the suspension in wheeled vehicles. Originally called a ''laminated'' or ''carriage spring'', and sometimes referred to as a semi-elliptical spring, elliptical spring, or cart spring, it ...

s supporting the rear. 1965 Volvo P210

While the Duett has been criticised as a regressive design by those who point out that the ladder-frame car was based on Volvo's first unibodied car; the use of a separate ladder chassis provided Volvo with an easy solution in their desire to produce a suitable commercial vehicle. The availability of the bare chassis also allowed Swedish coach builders such as Grip, Valbo and Nordbergs to build Duett-based pickup trucks,

convertible A convertible or cabriolet () is a passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary among eras and manufacturers. A convertible car's design allows an open-air driving expe ...

s and specialised commercial vehicles. The versatility of the ladder-frame design also made the Duett a popular choice as a base for customised vehicles such as hot rods and EPA

tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most common ...

s. The Duett was the only automobile marketed by Volvo in the United States that used a separate frame. All other models were of

construction.

Model designations

PV445

The PV445s bodywork was based on the PV444 saloon car and shared its two-piece flat paned windshield.

P210

The P210 replaced the P445 in the fall of 1960. It is most easily distinguishable from the PV445 by its use of a single-piece curved windshield, which it shares with the

PV544 The Volvo PV is a series of two-door, four-passenger car models — the PV444 and the PV544 — made by Volvo from 1947 to 1965. During World War II's early stages, Volvo decided that a new, smaller car that could deliver good fuel economy woul ...

Demise and replacement

The final P210 rolled off the line in 1969, four years after the end of production of the PV544 on which it was based. The Duett was replaced by the Volvo 145 Express, a more modern design by

Jan Wilsgaard Jan Wilsgaard (23 January 1930 – 6 August 2016) was the Chief Designer at Volvo Cars from 1950–1990, having studied at the Gothenburg School of Applied Arts (now HDK, Högskolan för Design och Konsthantverk, at the University of Gothe ...

which is an evolutionary advancement from his earlier work on the platform of the

Volvo Amazon The Volvo Amazon was a mid-sized car manufactured and marketed by Volvo Cars from 1956 to 1970 and introduced in the United States as the ''122S'' at the 1959 New York International Auto Show. The Amazon shared the wheelbase, tall posture and h ...

and it is unrelated to the Duett in terms of its engineering.

Gallery

References

{{Early Volvo Cars timeline Duett Station wagons Rear-wheel-drive vehicles Cars introduced in 1953 1960s cars