a "tiger" volvo - just what I had been dreaming about...

Check this out: while Apple fans rave about the newest OS (10.4 a.k.a. "tiger") and volvo fans go on about, well, volvo models, this guy seems to have combined the two of them: the "tiger volvo"! A modified 740-turned-convertible with, er, tiger fur cover. Wow. A dream come true, as two of my passions merge into one INCREDIBLY AWFUL MUTANT-MOBILE. But cool, in a very weird way ...;-)

So here it comes:

eBay-Artikel 4564315558

By the way, if you want to see the "real stuff" check out these links about the volvo 480 (the car that got me into this), which was the rare and unrepeated attempt of volvo designing and building a sports car. It is somewhat of a "Swedish Ferrari" for connaisseurs, if you associate ferrari with, um, unreliable electrical parts. Or great street performance. Or mysterious leaks in impossible-to-find places. Or incredibly cool looks... Anyway, these cool and unusual rides come (a bit) cheaper than their famous Italian cousins, but they are nonetheless the center of a cult-like fan community, which probably outnumbers the Ferraristi by 10. But then, there have always been more, like, strange people around than, say, REALLY RICH people...

Judge for yourself, here is a selection of volvo 480 sites (yes, they are all about this one model!):

The German 480 Club "Der kleine Elch" (i.e. the little moose)
there is even a German Wiki about it (sorry, no English version - yet)
The European 480 Club's website
A volvo 480 registry website from the Netherlands
The fan community in Lithuania...
apparently, there are some in Estonia, too (actually, two...)
look here if you understand any Polish
here comes some stuff in Danish, too...

So you see, that little car is BIG in Europe. It never quite made it Stateside, though, which is a bit ironic considering that it was designed after US specs and meant for the export market. Only about 80k pieces were produced between 1987 and 1995, so it is quite amazing what impact it seems to have, even ten years after the last rolled out of the assembly hall.