The Volvo 66 sprang directly from the DAF 66, which was originally styled by

Giovanni Michelotti Giovanni Michelotti (6 October 1921 – 23 January 1980) was one of the most prolific designers of sports cars in the 20th century. His notable contributions were for Ferrari, Lancia, Maserati and Triumph marques. He was also associated with ...

. The compact car was introduced in August 1975, almost exactly a year after

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 ...

bought DAF, and before production of the

Volvo 300 Series The Volvo 300 Series is a rear-wheel-drive small family car sold from 1976 to 1991, both as a hatchback and (from 1984) as a conventional notchback saloon. It was launched in the Netherlands shortly after Volvo acquired a major stake in the ...

began. The Volvo 66 was known for its

continuously variable transmission A continuously variable transmission (CVT) is an automatic transmission that can change seamlessly through a continuous range of gear ratios. This contrasts with other transmissions that provide a limited number of gear ratios in fixed steps. T ...

, the

Variomatic Variomatic is the continuously variable transmission (CVT) of the Dutch car manufacturer DAF, originally developed by Hub van Doorne. It is a stepless, fully-automatic transmission, consisting of a V-shaped drive-belt, and two pulleys, each o ...

. The Volvo version of the car was slightly restyled and given larger bumpers compared with those of the original DAF model. Although this was in keeping with Volvo's emphasis on safety, it also increased its cost of production. The Volvo 66 was available as a two-door saloon and three-door estate, whilst the two-door DAF 66 Coupé was dropped, and therefore was never sold as a Volvo. The other major features in which the Volvo 66 differs from the DAF 66 are also mostly safety related. It has different seats featuring headrests, a safety steering wheel, steel side-impact bars in the doors, a declutching servo which enabled the driver to change gear with the choke engaged (In the older DAF models this was not possible, because the increased idle caused the centrifugal clutch to engage). The Volvo 66 also has a 'park' mode in the CVT, which locks the driveline. From 1977 the estate version featured a window wiper on the bootlid.

Number produced

Volvo produced roughly 106,000 units of both the saloon and estate 66, and no more than 14,000 were sold in the United Kingdom. The majority were sold in continental Europe rather than in Sweden, where the car was never accepted by Volvo buyers.

Engines

* B110 Renault C-series OHV 1108 cc

inline-four A straight-four engine (also called an inline-four) is a four-cylinder piston engine where cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft. The vast majority of automotive four-cylinder engines use a straight-four layout (with the e ...

, * B130 Renault C-series OHV 1289 cc inline-four,

Gallery

References

66 Cars of the Netherlands Vehicles with CVT transmission Rear-wheel-drive vehicles Cars introduced in 1975 1980s cars VDL Nedcar vehicles Station wagons {{Modern-auto-stub