Volvo Cars of North America pulled the covers off two new concept cars at the 2005 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) trade show in Las Vegas, Nevada last week.

The two cars take diversity to extremes. Painted a glittering Saffron colour reminiscent of a desert sunset, the XC70 AT (All Terrain) takes the production Volvo all-wheel-drive XC70 wagon to the off-road extreme. The T6 Roadster takes Volvo to the drag strip with its 1930s inspired body, fat rubber and low beltline.

T6 Roadster
T6 Roadster is a hand-built hotrod based on Volvo components and a twin turbocharged inline six-cylinder engine.

Fabricated entirely by hand, painstaking effort went into producing 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-litre inline six-cylinder engine from an S80.

Far from standard and nearer to the extreme, the engine stays comfortably cool via some lateral thinking. The 'boot' lid, which covers the rear-mounted engine, 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 utilises rear subframes from the 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 supplied 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.

XC70 AT
The XC70 AT features a turbocharged 2.5-litre inline five-cylinder engine normally found in the V70 R sport wagon. But where the V70 R cranks out a digestible 220kW, the XC70 AT gets very busy with a Garrett GT2835R turbocharger and ipd/MTE Stage III software to lift the output to 305kW at 6,200rpm.

The torque curve gets big and fat consuming 398 lb-ft at a low 4,000rpm. The XC70 AT uses the same six-speed automatic transmission that is standard in the XC90 V8 and the 2006 V70 R. Making sure all four wheels get the most of the broad torque curve is Volvo’s computer controlled all-wheel-drive system by Haldex.

New on the production XC70 for 2005 is Volvo’s Four-C dual-mode adaptive chassis control system. The driver can choose between Sport and Comfort. Taking this concept to the next level, ipd developed a customised independent air ride suspension offering 100mm of adjustability via dash-mounted buttons. Add in the ipd designed 100mm lift kit and the XC70 AT can ride up to 200mm higher than the production Volvo XC70.

Additional accessories include a generator, high-lift jack, spare jerry can and tyre and remote exterior battery terminal connections.

The Volvo XC70 AT (All Terrain)

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