The Volvo Venus Bilo was a

concept car A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle, show vehicle or prototype) is a car made to showcase new styling and/or new technology. They are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or ...

unveiled by

Volvo Cars Volvo Cars ( sv, Volvo personvagnar, styled VOLVO in the company's logo) is a Swedish multinational manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Torslanda, Gothenburg. The company manufactures SUVs, station wagons, and sedans. The company ...

in 1933. It was a

streamlined Streamlines, streaklines and pathlines are field lines in a fluid flow. They differ only when the flow changes with time, that is, when the flow is not steady. Considering a velocity vector field in three-dimensional space in the framework of ...

design with rear hinged doors and conventional doors in the side to access the engine bay. It was designed to have good loading capacity. Nine specially designed suitcases could be fitted into spaces in the back and compartments in the right front fender (the left fender contained a spare tyre and tools). A second spare tyre in the rear was used as the

bumper Bumper or Bumpers may refer to: People * Betty Bumpers (1925-2018), American activist, First Lady of Arkansas, wife of Dale Bumpers * Dale Bumpers (1925–2016), American politician, governor of Arkansas and senator * Bumper Robinson (born 197 ...

. The design was by Gustaf Ericsson, the son of

Lars Magnus Ericsson Lars Magnus Ericsson (; 5 May 1846 – 17 December 1926) was a Swedish inventor, entrepreneur and founder of telephone equipment manufacturer Ericsson ( incorporated as ''Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson''). Lars Magnus was born in Värmskog ...

. The car was based on the chassis of the Volvo PV655, with coachwork by Gustaf Nordbergs Vagnfabrik AB in 1932. The name was a pun referencing the

Venus de Milo The ''Venus de Milo'' (; el, Αφροδίτη της Μήλου, Afrodíti tis Mílou) is an ancient Greek sculpture that was created during the Hellenistic period, sometime between 150 and 125 BC. It is one of the most famous works of ancient ...

, with ''bil'' meaning “automobile” in Swedish. The concept was a four-door, four-seater saloon and led to the

Volvo PV 36 Carioca The Volvo PV 36 Carioca is a luxury car manufactured by Volvo Cars between 1935 and 1938. The word ''Carioca'' describes someone from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and was also the name of a dance that was fashionable in Sweden at the time when the c ...

production car, which was also a four-door saloon. The fate of the concept car itself is currently unknown. It was sold to a buyer in Denmark after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and in the mid-1950s was owned by the son of a

scrapyard A wrecking yard ( Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian English), scrapyard ( Irish, British and New Zealand English) or junkyard (American English) is the location of a business in dismantling where wrecked or decommissioned vehicles are bro ...

owner in

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

, who rebuilt it into a pickup truck. It was used as late as 1956, after which there are no records of it.

References

Venus Bilo Rear-wheel-drive vehicles Cars introduced in 1933 Luxury vehicles Sedans {{Classicprw-auto-stub