Watch: The coolest Volvo museum is not in Sweden but above a dealer in China

Outside of doing PR work for Geely, the Chinese automaker’s External Communications Director, Ashley Sutcliffe, better known as Ash, is also in charge of a YouTube channel called China Uncut. In his latest video, Ash and a friend stumbled across a secret Volvo museum above a Volvo dealer in China.

This secret museum contains quite a number of classic Volvos, some of which are the rarest in the world, and even features a touring car champion along with a concept car.

Let’s start with the oldest car in the museum, a 1927 Volvo PV4. The PV4 is a covered sedan version of Volvo’s first-ever car, the ÖV4 also known as the Jakob. The original Jakob was an open-top cabriolet that did not fit well with the cold Swedish weather.

The PV4 also introduced Volvo’s signature logo which was based on the symbol for iron, not masculinity. The PV4 isn’t quick with a top speed of 90 km/h coming out of its 1.9-litre 4-cylinder engine (28 PS/100 Nm).

Next in the video is the 1944 Volvo PV444 which Ash and his friend described the design to be more suited for espionage work. The PV444 and its curvy, compact shape was quite reminiscent of cars at the time like the Volkswagen Beetle and it was Volvo’s first unibody car.

After that is the model that brought Volvo’s name into the mainstream market, the P120 Amazon. Though the description mistakenly calls it a 1956 model, the 2-door version shown in the museum is likely from the 1960s.

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Not only was the Amazon the model that brought the Swedish carmaker to a global audience, but it was also very revolutionary in terms of safety. The Amazon featured three-point seat belts for the driver and front passenger as well as a padded dashboard at a time when road safety wasn’t even considered a priority.

Also read: Volvo crashes a car a day to keep accidents at bay

Following that, we come to one of the most beautiful Volvo ever, the P1800ES. The station wagon version of the P1800S coupe is recognisable from its glass tailgate, a feature that is seen in the later 480 and C30.

Also read: Volvo 480 – a Volvo with pop-up lights & doesn’t look like a brick

The next Volvo model featured is the Volvo 164 which was Volvo’s first luxury car in decades. Regal is probably the best word to describe it with its quad headlamps that resembled a Jaguar and large grille with the signature diagonal slash.

Then, we come to the Volvo 780, one of the most obscure Volvos ever with around 8,500 units made. Designed and built by Italian design studio, Bertone, the 780 was powered by a 2.8-litre V6 engine that made 150 PS which struggled to move the 1,500 kg coupe.

The Volvo 780 isn’t the only boxy Swede on display in the hidden museum, there is also a Volvo 850 Saloon that competed in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC). Though many fans would recognise the 850 Estate, Volvo only competed with the estate model for one season in 1994 before switching to the saloon the following season due to regulation changes.

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The 850 Saloon proved to be more successful than the Estate winning 11 races in 1995 and 1996 and secured Volvo third place in the manufacturers' standing for both seasons.

Finally, there are a few modern Volvos featured in the museum including a Volvo C70 that underwent a crash test, a 2014 Volvo Concept XC Coupe that would eventually become the basis for the design of the Volvo XC90, and some mysterious Volvo covered with a red cloth.

So, those are some of the highlights shown at this hidden Volvo museum. Perhaps once international borders reopen, avid Volvo fans can check it out and learn a little bit of history on some really interesting and sometimes rare Volvos.

Also read: Have you been to Malaysia’s National Automobile Museum? It’s really small