Well, you know it was bound to happen.
1. Volvo was founded as a ball bearing manufacturer in 1924 by Assar Gabrielsson and Gustaf Larson, and the first Volvo automobile was produced in 1927.
2. Volvo is the first person singular present tense of the Latin volvere, meaning "I roll." If you really want to be pedantic, it's pronounced "Wolwo."
3. The circle and arrow symbol is for the shield and spear of the Roman god Mars, who in addition to his day job as the god of war, also sidelined a bit as the god of iron. The same symbol is also used on engineering drawings to denote steel.
4. The Volvo High Mileage Club is open to owners whose cars have gone over one hundred thousand miles. Upon receipt of a simple form, the company will mail the owner a lovely badge. (I will be receiving two. And it is a badge, not a badger.)
5. Volvo is uncomfortably close to a certain word referring to anatomical matters.
6. You do not have to be a yuppie to drive a Volvo.
7. Every Swede receives a free Volvo every year on his or her birthday.
8. If every Volvo ever made was stacked one atop the other, the resulting wobble in the Earth's rotation would cause the Earth to plunge into the Sun.
9. - 14. [Reserved]
15. People will point and laugh at others who drive old Volvos, but it is intended as a sign of respect and admiration, not derision.
16. Good GRIEF, those crappy plastic headlights are expensive!
Thank you for your indulgence. Other interesting non-information will be available in the coming years.
Posted by Terry Oglesby at May 4, 2005 10:44 AMWhat's Swedish for "Moron Project?"
Posted by: skinnydan at May 4, 2005 11:25 AMI believe fåntratt försöksverksamhet would work. Although to create the same terseness of the Possumblog version, a better styling might be fåne projekt.
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at May 4, 2005 11:35 AMI'm thinking Vulcan, as here, would have been a lot more "iron" than old Mars. OTOH, being lame, I guess he'd have been inappropriate for what became a car company.
Posted by: Ed Flinn at May 4, 2005 11:47 AMThose plastic headlights may respond pretty well to equal parts elbow grease and polishing compound. I did Lily's Subaru right after she bought it and the improvement was remarkable. A year later it took just a couple minutes of rubbing to get them bright again.
Posted by: Nate at May 4, 2005 11:53 AMWell, Ed, for a company that has started making high-center of gravity SUVs in droves, having them all say "I Roll" is probably something to consider.
You're right, Nate--I was going to try polish before I trashcan them, but the plastic on the lenses and taillights doesn't age well at all and becomes very brittle and cloudy. But, if there's something morons have, it's plenty of elbow grease.
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at May 4, 2005 12:02 PM