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Volvo cars pulled the cover off an
exciting new concept car at the 2005 Specialty Equipment
Market Association (SEMA) tradeshow in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The T6 Roadster takes Volvo to the drag strip with
its 1930's inspired body, fat rubber and low beltline.
T6 Roadster is a hand-built hotrod based on Volvo components
and a twin turbocharged inline six-cylinder engine
from a car manufacturer more widely known for safety
and function. Fabricated entirely by hand, painstaking
effort went into creating every part.
You won't find a mail-ordered headlight or a grille
on the T6 Roadster. What you do find are OEM Volvo
parts including a 200kW twin-turbocharged 2.9-liter
inline six-cylinder engine from an S80 donor.
Where
you find the engine, however, isn't under the bonnet.
Behind the doors neatly tucked under the bum is the
engine and automatic gearbox. In the transplant process,
the engine and five-speed Geartronic automatic now
spin the rear wheels.
Far from standard and nearer to the extreme, the engine
stays comfortably cool via some lateral thinking.
The deck lid automatically lifts when a preset temperature
is reached inside the engine compartment.
In the nose
behind the fabricated egg-crate grille is a small
compartment containing the mechanicals for the functioning
ABS brakes and the top-notch audio equipment.
The custom fabricated frame utilizes rear subframes
from the donor S80. If you didn't notice, the stainless
steel wishbones for the independent front and rear
suspensions are fabricated. Makes mounting the 20x8.5-inch
front wheels and 22x10-inch rear wheels that bit easier.
Volvo C70 spindles, custom carbon-fibre leaf springs
and a shortened S80 steering rack can be found up
front. Around back are S80 front spindles and lower trailing
arms with remote-reservoir Ohlins shock absorbers.
The rear coil-over shocks, incidentally, are centrally
mounted in the engine compartment. Braking up front
is handled via six-piston calipers and 330mm discs.
The rear discs carry across from the Volvo S80.
Inside,
the T6 Roadster looks as if it rolled off the Volvo
factory line in Torslanda, Sweden. Aside from the
seats, the instruments, headrests, shifter handle
and pedal assembly are all tattooed with a Volvo part
number. A steering wheel from a Volvo S60 adds a sporty
look, while the instrument panel has been hand fabricated
to locate the gauges centrally in the passenger compartment. |
