#TBT: One of the fastest Volvos before Polestar? The 740 Turbo. | Articles

The Swedish Connection

The early Turbos have a black egg crate-style grille, while later models sport more aerodynamic front end styling.

Maybe the whole thing should be blamed on Saab, who made quite a name for itself in the late 1970s and early 1980s by stuffing turbochargers under the hoods of their cars.

Sure, other folks had dabbled in turbocharging, most notably BMW with some 2002s, GM with a few Corvairs and Oldsmobiles, and Porsche with the legendary 930, but Saab really went whole hog with the idea of bringing turbos to the masses. And since Saab was, relatively speaking, just up the road a bit there in Sweden, Volvo had to take notice. What Volvo noticed was this: They were sitting on some slightly underpowered but seriously overbuilt four-cylinder engines, an engineering department that had tons of experience in turbo-diesel freight trucks, cars that could use a performance boost, and an image that could be perked up as well. It was a natural fit.

So in 1981 Volvo began putting Garrett T3 turbochargers in some of its 240-series cars. While the concept seemed solid, the definitive Volvo turbo was still to come in the excruciatingly square shape of the 700 series, which was introduced in 1983.

Just a year later, in 1984, Volvo took the turbocharger system already devised for the 240 and stuck it under the new sedan’s hood, creating the 760 Turbo. Horsepower was nearly one-third more than the normally aspirated 760, and the car immediately provided the oomph—both on the road and in the showrooms—that Volvo needed. Volvo claimed the original Turbo would outrun a BMW 325e. A year later the 760 Turbo was joined by the less expensive, lighter 740, which shared the 760 Turbo’s drivetrain but lacked a few options.

Alongside the new 740, Volvo also…